Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-06-01
GEESE HUNTING WITH OXEN.
Fortunes Made at 1t in Early Days in Cali
fOFnia.

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 little queer, but that's the
way we used to hunt 'em in the early
days. A good stalking OK, want to
tell you, was a valuable bit of proper
ty forty years ago in California, and
we used to talk about him and discuss
his points just about the same as
sportsmen nowadays discuss the points
of their bird dogs. A good stalking
OK could earn his owner anywhere
from fifty dollars to one hundred dol
lars a day if the owner himself was any
good and enjoyed the sport as much as
the hunter did.
81 went to California in 1851, and
promptly dropped every cent had in
a gold mine venture. In all the coun-1
ties bordering on the bay, and in fact
all along the coast, wild geese occu-
pied the wide and open plains by the
hundre DIS of thousands. [ have seen
more than thousand acres of these
big fowl pasturing in solid block,
and that many cattle feeding couldn't
have cleared the grass away as COM
pletely as those geese did. [ heard
that the killing of these geese for
market had grown to be a great in
Tdustry, and that some men were get
ting rich at it. Ranchers were also of
fering bounty for the geese, as cattle
Yaising was becoming an important
business, and the geese pre-empted SO
much of the pasture area that the loss
T
4scraped enough money together to buy
IA GIN, 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 sports
men, and by and by no one could get
within half mile of flock. Hiding
in grass blinds was tried and worked
well for time, but the cunning geese
sized the blinds up at last, and
wouldn't come anywhere near bunch
of grass. So something had to be done.
Some one had noticed that cattle feed
ing on the plains could crop the grass
almost on the heels of a host of geese,
and the fowls took no notice of them
He had an OK that was even-tempered
and accommodating, and one day he
turned it loose and let it feed along to-
ward where tremendous flock of geese
Were pasturing. Now and then he'd
hurry the OK up little, walking close to
it on the side away from the geese.
BY and by the OK got close enough to
the geese to satisfy his owner, who
90 l.
out of the way. Then he emptied one
barrel of his gun into the flock on the
ground, and gave it the other as the
birds rose. He picked up sixty-two
geese. The OK was somewhat sur
prised, but didn't object to repeating
the operation next day, when it was
equally successful. Geese were worth
"a dollar piece. That was the origin
of stalking wild geese with oxen. In
less than a month there wasn't a goose
hunter along the coast who didn't have
1 goose-stalking OK.
The oxen soon fell into the full
spirit of the hunting. Some were bet
ter than others. An OK that understood
his business would feed along toward
a flock of geese, or pretend to be feeding,
not directly toward them, but carelessly
and by many turnings, because he dis
covered that the geese had grown sus-
.picious even of cattle, and would in
variably rise before an OK that wasn't
cute enough to dissemble in the course
of his feeding. Another thing we soon
discovered that spoke volumes for the
astuteness of the California wild goose.
/ made this discovery myself. l had
been shooting for a week over big
brindle OK that had developed especial
aptitude for the work and enjoyed it
hugely. My success had been great,
when one day l was astonished to see
a big flock of geese that my OK and l
We're stalking get up and fly away
long before we had got within any kind
of gunshot. The OK was just as much
surprised as / was. and gazed after the
departing flock for a moment, and then
turned and looked at me as if demand
ing some explanation of that fock's
singular conduct. 1t seemed to
me as if he suspected me of
having been indiscreet in some
way and spelling the hunt. Old
Brindle went back home showing his
disappointment 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 quar-
ter of mile away or more. felt sorry
for the OK, for he took the matter a
good deal to heart. And fell to think
ing on the way home, and it was there
that ! came to the conclusion that the
California wild goose was an able bird.
10 test my belief. next morning
turned old Brindle into white OK by
embarrassing him. At first he protest
ed, but it seemed to suddenly strike
him what it was being done for, and
he started out on the hunt feeling good.
j was right in my opinion of the Cali.
fornia wild goose. Those geese had
been shot at over that brindle OK until
they recognized him every time he drew
near, and, knowing what he was there
for, took to getting away when they