Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-04-06
A SPARROW HUNT.
Eight Thousa and Birds Killed In
One Afternoon.
Ohio Farmers Get Together Every Year
and vote u Thy - the Exter-
r.i. .4ticn c. tia Little Eng
Ii>h t,..ts.

il~n ~ IS.
The annual "lnrrcU hunt is n big
event in several Ohio counties. 1t seems
to have originated in Summit county,
and to this day the hunt is coE.lucted
on n mere elaborate scale in that part
of the state than anywhere else. Only
Eng fish sparrOws are shot, and no mat
ter how many are killed like Koku'a
victims. they never will be missed"
Early in the month of December The
farmers, having got everything stored
away neatly and safely. having pro-
vidCd plenty of wood and having
boarded up the cattle sheds for the
winter, decided that it was about time
10 go on the warpatl for sparrows. A
notice was posted up next day at Rich
field Center to this effect:
The annual sparrow hunt will be
held tomorrow. All are invited. Please
be on hand not later than eight O'Clock
n. ~, lothian Potter and Cyrus Hop
kins will be captains of the two teams,
respectively, and will choose sides at
7:45 a. M
On the following morning nearly 100
men were ready for the hunt. 1t
doesn't take long to circulate such an
announcement in farming ccmmuni-
~ in Ohio. Especially is this true dur
ing the winter season, when there is
nothing that the younger people like
better than to visit around.
When the hunters came together it
was noticeable that nearly all of them
carried guns of modern make. Very
few old-pattern pieces were shouldered
by the stalwart sons of the county, and
The army muslset, which was so con.
spicuous Immediately after the war,
vas no longer noticeable. "Citv foil;
lcz done it ALL" croaked Elder Paine.
They've come out here m shot quail
with brich leaders m now nuthin' will
10 but that ev'ry boy in the neighbcr.
hood must be armed with new-fangled
gun wuth more'n hull summers
work"
AS soon as the contestants could be
placed in line the captains chose their
men. 1t didn't take long to do that, for
it doesn't require much skill to shoot
English sparrows. They are so tame
ihatanyone can get close enough to pop
them over as fast as he can sight his
gun. The hunters with the guns that
can be operated with the most speed
are almost certain to be those to make
the largest scores.
One side went up the valley and the
other side went down, the agreement
being to hunt in a circle and come to-
gether again at the center at a stipu-
lated time in the afternoon, all sparrows
10 count up to the time that the con-
tcstants should report to the score
keeper al the center.
In five minutes from the time that the
men started on their way the guns
Logan to bang. All up and down the
valley during the entire afternoon the
reports filled the air until the inhab-
itants might have been excused for be-
lieying that a war skirmish was going
ON in the neighborhood. The spar
rows never had been thicker. In fact,
they had been so thick during the sum-
mer months that they threatened to
eat the farmers out of house and home.
One peculiar fact about shooting spar
rows is that the noise of the guns seems
TO frighten them only temporarily.
They rapidly become accustomed to
the report, as they do to everything
else. They are the most complacent
littleupstarts that ever immigrated into
the country. On Fourth of July the
same characteristic is noticeable. In
early morning, when the first few fire.
crackers or miniature torpedoes are dis
charged, the sparrows will fly away
to the topmost branches of the trees
or to the caves of the barns and houses,
where they build nests, but before
nightfall they are back again on the
streets as clipper as ever, and only
mind a tirecracker long enough to fly
n few feet away and sputter like the
mischief when it bursts. So it is
when hunting. The first discharge of
weapons early in the morning sent
the sparrows away to their safest re-
treats, but by noon, between hunger
and the fact that they no longer
dreaded the noise, they were out on
the roads, in the fields, about barnyards
and stealing the grain away from the
chickens, as though they never had
heard shotgun.
AS the sun began to sink iii the west
the pile of sparrows began to accumu-
late. Some of the hunters were lucky,
and shot themselves out Of ammunition
before they had been out two hours.
Others We're not so fortunate, and
struggled in just as daylight was about
finished. 1t has been one of the best
days that the sparrow hunters ever had.
In round numbers 5000 birds were
slaughtered. That averaged about so
TO Il man. Stretched bill to TAIL" as
Farmer Garretson put it, "them birds
would have reached nigh seven miles,
allowing five inches for a bird" The
next morning, however, there seemed
to be just as many sparrows in and
about ltichfield Center as ever.
lothian Potter's side killed the most
Sparrows, and therefore Cyrus Hop
l-ipG' ci1n will haua fp ,Npot-;1a ~ G,,,+