Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-06-20
GEESE HUNTING OXEN
MAY SOUND A LITTLE QUEER, BUT
THE STORY COMES STRAIGHT.
In the Early Days of California Wild
Geese Were so Plentiful That They Both.
cred Cattle Raisers, and Fortunes Were
Made shooting the Birds.

cred Cattle Raisers. and Fortunes Were
Made shooting the Birds.
II made good deal of money In the
early DAYS OF California when we used to
stalk wild geese with oxen, said ex Game
Commissioner James Wistar of Pasadena
Stalking geese with oxen may sound O
little queer, but that's the way we used to
hunt 'em in the early days A good stalk
ing OK, want To tell you, was valuable
bit of property 40 years ago in California
and we used to talk about him and dis
cuss his points just about the same rs
sportsmen nowadays discuss the points Of
their bird dogs. A good stalking OK could
earn his owner anywhere from $50 10 800
day If the owner himself was any good
81 went TO California in 1851 and
promptly dropped every cent / had in 0
gold mine venture. In all the counties
bordering on the bay, and, in fact, all
along the coast, wild geese occupied the
wide and open plains by the hundreds of
thousands. / have seen more than "a thou.
sand acres OF these big fowl pasturing in
solid block, and that many cattle feeding
couldn't have cleared the grass away us
completely as those geese did. l heard
that the killing of these geese for market
some men were getting rich at IT, Ranch.
ers were also offering a bounty for the
geese, as cattle raising was becoming an
important business, and the geese pre-
empted 80 much OF the pasture area that
the loss was serious TO the cattle men.
scraped enough money together To buy
gun and abandoned gold mining for goose
hunting.
"When hunting for wild geese on those
plains first began, the hunters were able to
crawl up on them as they fed and get
within easy gunshot. But the geese soon
got on To the sportsme and by and by no
one could get within half n mile Of "a flock.
Hiding in grass blinds was tried and
worked well for a time, but the cunning
geese sized the blinds up at last and
wouldn't come anywhere near n bunch OF
grass So something had to be done.
Some one had noticed that cattle feeding
on the plains could crop the grass almost
on the heels of host of geese, and the
fowls took no notice of them. He had an
OK that was even tempered and accommO-
dating, and one day nc turned il loose and
let il feed along toward where tremen-
dous flock OF geese were pasturing
Now and then he'd hurry the OK up a
lutte, walking close to il on the side away
from the geese BY and by the OK got close
enough to the geese to satisfy his owner,
who stood still until the OK had passed on
out Of the way. Then he emptied one
barrel OF his gun into the flock on the
ground and gave 1t the other as the birds
rose. He picked up 62 geese. Tho OK was
somewhat surprised, but didn't object TO
repeating the operation next day, when it
was equally successful. Geese were worth
81 apiece That was the origin of stalking
wild geese with oxen In less than u
month there wasn't goose hunter along
the coast who didn't have goose stalking
OK.
1.-THE oxen soon fell into the full spirit
Of the hunting Some were better than
othcrs An OK that understood his husE
ness would feed along toward flock Of
geese or pretend to be feeding, not directly
( toward them, but carelessly and by many
turnings, because he had discovered that
4 the geese had grown suspicious even of
/ cattle, and would invariably rise before an
OK that wasn't cute enough to dissemble
in the course of his feeding. Another
thing we soon discovered that spoke vol
umes for the astuteness of the California
/ wild goose. made this discovery myself
\ l had been shooting for week over n big
brindle OK that had developed special apti-
/ tude for the work and enjoyed it hugely
My success had been great, when one day
/ | was astonished to see big flock of geese
that my OK and were stalking get up and
\ fly away long before we had got within
/ any kind Of gunshot The OK was lust as
much surprised as l was and gazed after
the departing flock for a moment and then
/ turned and looked at me as If demanding
some explanation of that flock's singular
conduct. 1t seemed to me as if he suspect
ed me of having been indiscreet in some
way and spelling tie hunt. Old Brindle
I went back home wing his disappoint-
ment plainly and brooded over it all the
rest of the day.
Next morning we went out TO try the
flock again, for they were sure to be on
the feeding ground The same thing hap
pened again The birds got up quarter
of mile away or more. felt sorry for
the OK, for he took the matter a good deal
to heart. And fell TO thinking on the
way home, and it was there that came to
the conclusion that the California wild
goose was an able bird To test my belief
next morning / turned old Brindle into a
white OK by whitewashing him At first
he protested, but IL seemed to suddenly
strike him what 1t was being done for.
and he started out on the hunt feeling
good. was right In my opinion of the
California wild goose Those geese had
been shot at over that brindle OK until
they recognized him every timo he drew
near, and knowing what he was there for
took TO getting away when they saw him
drawing near. But the white OK they
didn't mind. They associated only brin.
die OK with danger, and so sat still as we
approached, and / tumbled a LOT of 'em be.
fore they got out of reach. And old Brin.
die seemed all but ticklcd to death at the
success OF the masquerade. In course of
time had to change him from white OK
TO a red one then to a spotted one, then to
black one, and by and by ventured to
send him forth in his natural brindle
again. The ruses all worked for found
that while those wild geese had !. emory
IL was short, Ind could play the same OK
on them time and time again after an in.
terval Of "a couple of weeks or so And. OF
course, this changing the color of geese
stalking oxen became universal on the
plains.
For two or three years every one who
followed wild goose hunting I'm this way
made lots of money Then busted miners
and even broken down sports took IL up.
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