The San Francisco call., 1896-01-25
THE GUN.

The Wind-Up of a Good Season.
English Snipe Near Concord.
The sportsmen who read THE CALL last
Saturday and remained at home did not
regret having missed one Sunday during
the hunting season from their faYorite
duckshooting grounds.
The heavy rains drove all the birds that
had been "camped" on the bay for several
weeks during the dry weather to the south,
where they will remain during the few
weeks that are left for hunters to enjoy a
favorite pastime.
The canvasback and bluebill will afford
some sport to those who will try their luck
tomorrow near Sausalito and Hunters
Point. Possibly the best location for a
good shoot now is off the old bridge lead
ing into South San Francisco Last
Wednesday evening the boys who were
stationed on the bridge about dusk had
grand sport bagging bluebills and butter
the marsh. One of the hunters bagged
nineteen bluebills in less than thirty
minutes. Occasionally birds are dropped
on the bridge, but in most instances they
fall on either side of the structure and are
picked up by the hunters assistants, who
are in boats under the shelter of the
bridge.
If a strong wind should be blowing to-
morrow some good shooting may be had
from the old Alameda bridge. 1t is doubt
full if the sport on the marshes will be
worth going after, as latest advices from
the Sonoma and Alameda marshes is not
by any means encouraging. English snipe
are said to be very plentiful in the vicinity
of Concord, Contra Costa County. After
one of the big rain storms of last year two
prominent sportsmen of this City bagged
119 snipe IN one days shooting in the
low land between Martinez and Concord.
Judge Carroll, w. S. Valencia, George
Racine and Dr. Heldreth enjoyed few
days of excellent duck shooting near De-
lano last week. Their comb bined string
numbered 349 birds, which included mall
lard, teal, sprig and spoonbill. The Judge
states that the sportsmen of Delano treated
them most Hospitality, and he guarantees
any lover of the gun, who is desirous of
good duck shoot before the season expires,
first-class outing by visiting Delano,
which he contends is at present paradise
for sportsmen.
The Alameda Sportsman's Club has re-
newed its lease of several acres of marsh
lands situated in Sonoma County in the
vicinity of McGills. The club has about
given up the idea of meeting with anv
good success during the remaining days of
the season.
Al Cumming states that during the late
1C DdSStu 1lU IUdllhIQ III Lille
tules near Byron. He caught the birds on
their return from the graintields, and
states that during his hunting trips to
Byron he has never had such grand shoot
ing.
Richard Brooks and friend killed 125
gray ducks on Sunday, the 18th inst, near
Antioch. There is peculiar grass grow
ing on the margin of the ponds about An
tloch which is much sought after by this
variety of duck.
The sportsmen who visited Hamlet sta
ton, Toma!es Bay, last Sunday, met with
good success in sea-brant shooting. They
returned to this City with twenty-five
birds.
The Pail Mall Gazette of recent date has
the following to say regarding the game
birds OF England, Wales and Scotland:
Throughout England and Wales generally
the sport on the moors was altogether quite
enjoyable this year, but bags, owing to scarcity
Oh plros, due to the severity OF the preceding
winter and the unfavorable weather subse-
quently, were not up to the usual standard.
The sport in Scotland particularly in the
Hlghlands-the home par excellence of the red
meager on the whole this year. The rainfalls
IN the lar north were much heavier than in
England at the opening of the season, which
marred the sport, and the birds themselves
were scarcer than they have been for years.
This was due, of course. to the unprecedented
storms OF last January and February, when SO
niaiy Dlius peElsntu III lne SloW pllzzaIuS anu
intense frosts. Consequently, not few sports
men spured their moors-a praiseworthy pro-
ceedlng under the circumstances.
None OF the Scotch moors show such big fig
ures as those given above for England, the
bulk of the shooting in the north country be-
ing done in the old-fashioned way, over dogs,
but few. OF the larger Scottish moors are
adapted for driving" Taking Scotland as a
whole, the average daily bag during the sea-
son, even reckoning the results from driving
along with those over the dogs, would not
nave amounted TO much more than
oyer-dog shooting alone the average would
barely reach fifteen brace or so Black game
have been nowhere in Scotland this year
while very few ptarmigan or capercailzie have
been killed
The black game are decreasing yearly from
their haunts in the heathlands, perhaps owing
70 modern encroachments on these grounds, as
tney are more accessible to civilization than
the more distant and wilder moorlands Of the