Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-08-22
CHICKEN HUNTING.

Chicken hunting is among the most
exciting sports we have. There is some
thing about the sound prairie hen
makes as she comes out Of the grass
that is captivating and exciting to the
hunter. Anyone who loves hunting for
change Or pass time will tell you that
chicken hunting gives him about as
much delight, if not more, than any
other game. Twin Cities are the home
of many hunters and many valuable
dogs who delight in this sport AS
soon as the law expires they all turn
out for good time. This year the
time expired on the 10Th of August and
nearly every hunter was out. The
early morning Of the Goth tuesday
was rainy and wet until 8 o'clock when
the sky cleared and gave them a
delightful day with strong breeze
blowing. Everything was favorable for
a good days sport. An interview with
those who went out elected the fact
that prairie chickens were scarce,
particularly on the grounds where they
used to be quite plenty. Just how to
account for it is the question. Hunters
disagree. We are of the opinion that
they were burned out last season dur
ing the great forest fires in this section
of country. What few were left found
refuge in the highlands adjacent to
streams where water is plenty. The
territory west and south of these cities
where chickens used to be plenty is
dry, sandy and parched where formerly
it was wet with heavy growth of grass.
These changes in conditions give us a
reason for the scarcity Of chickens.
The writer was one of II party of four
who went out hunting On Tuesday and
what we thought was rather a poor
days hunting proved to be pretty good
as compared with other parties who
were out. We append list of those
who went out and the number of birds
they bagged:
To the north of the city, in the
neighborhood of Biron went a party
consisting of Messrs. Chas. F., Will F.
and +. c. Kellogg, Amos Hasbrouck; A.
w. Kellogg, of Neenah, and E. H.
Kellogg, of Chicago. We asked Mr.
Will kellogg the number bagged and he
said he was little bashful as to results,
but to say IA. We telephoned Amos
Hasbrouck and he told us 10. Our
position is that they didn't get many.
Guess for yourself.
A party went south on the Centralia
side with j. r. Chapman, DR.. A. L.
Ridgman, r. c. Worthington and Frank
Sweeney in the load. Six chickens
were shot in the days work.
Out on the big marsh Will Carey, G.
w. Mason and Will Johnson were
shooting and they made one of the best
records of the day Twenty-Five
chickens were brought home by these
three gentlemen.
South of Centralia along the Valley
track were Alfred, Edmond and Amial
Rossier aud Walter Dixon. They
downed eight chickens among them.
Messrs. Chas. Belknap, Geo. Aysh-
ford, Geo. N. Wood and A. L. Fontaine
were looking for chicken on the marshes
south of FitcE's and 10 of the feathered
kind were dropped into their baskets.
Only a chickens were seen by this
party during the day. Ask Wood if he
shot any out of the 49,
Chas. Bnere and two sons were out
for the first days hunt and did not even
see a single chicken. They had to
shoot in the air.
Messrs. Nick Thomas, Fred Miller,
Herman and John Podawiltz drove
northeast from the city and came home
in the evening with chickens. They
had Il hard dog to work behind or
would have been more successful.
Mr.. G. w. Friend, prominent paper
mill man, of West Carlton, Ohio, in
company with l.. NJ. Nash, Phil Ward
and +. Garrison, spent the best part of
day on the Bennett and Potter marshes,
taking in most all of the good chicken
country south of the Green Bay track.
They shot six out of eight chickens
seen. Mr.. Ward, who by the way
knows what good hunting is, says he
never before went over so much terri
tory and found so few chickens. He
thinks they have gone to water, and the
marshes travelled oyer by his party
were comparatively dried up.
G. +. Lester, of Bearss, has had a
couple coveys of chickens planted in
the neighborhood of his marshes for
some time and as soon as the law was
open, company including himself and
Messrs. H. II. Noss, Walter Gardner.
of the twin cities; F. w. Burnham and
II. B. Allen, of Richland Center, went
after the fruit of his Watching. They
got an even 20 chickens Tuesday and II
Wednesday morning. Mr.. Lester
agrees with others in that the
chickens have gone where its
damp and will probably be found
down along the Hemlock bottoms and
the Wisconsin river marsh beds. The
prairie chicken is really scarce bird
around its old habitations in this section
of marshes