The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07

Quick With the Rifle, Yet Fear MouseJhey Love the Exhara
ton Of Outdoor Employment, and Often Excel Their
Male Competitors in Hunting and Driving

iT7ET4 4MERICAN women are rapidly
$50 taking to out-of-door sports. Here
1$Ey are five who have recently won dis
tinction by their ability to lead in the
/ hunt, on the wheel and the racecourse.
! Shooting. cycling and fast driving are
some of the sports which they have
taken up, and not only have they excelled
their own sex by accomplishing extra
ordinary feats in their chosen amuse-
ments, but they are the envy OF many OF
their male competitors.
Three of these women are modern
Dianas and have attracted great deal OF
notice in their respective localities by
bringing down game of all descriptions,
both large ard small. Their unerring
aim with rife and shotgun has gained for
them the admiration of many an older
and experienced hunter.
Another prides herself on having ex-
celled in driving fast trotting horses,
while the fifth has accomplished wonders
as century rider on her bicycle.
There is not the faintest suggestion OF
the new woman" in the domestic life OF
any of these women, and aside from being
highly respected in the communities
where they reside, they are excellent
wives, mothers and daughters, as the
case may be, and sport is followed by
them purely for the healthful exercise
and amusement which it affords.
Mrs. Catherine Helsel is the name of
one of these modern Dianas whose fond
ness for roaming over the mountains in
pursuit OF game has left her, at the age of
81, which she reached this month, a
bright, witty and healthy specimen of
womanhood.
at the present time she lives with her
husband, George HelseI, South Board
man, Kalkaska County, Mich. The
earlier years of her life were spent in
Ohio, where she became a devotee of the
rod, line and gun. She accompanied her
father or brothers on their expeditions
and soon became an expert with the shot
gun, and few birds ever escaped her un-
erring aim.
More than forty years ago Mr.. and Mrs.
Helsel moved TO a small town near Grand
Rapids, Mich. ana every fall spend sew
eral weeks hunting. As game grew
scarce they continued further north to
where they are now located, midway be-
tween the rich hunting district of the
Boardman and Manistee rivers.
Mrs. Helsel early aspired to large game,
and discarded her double barreled shot
gun for Marlin S-pound 3S-caliber re-
peating rife. She has long list of deer
to her credit, and during one season she
killed fourteen of the feet-footed ami
mails.
She is extremely modest in relating her
exploits with the rife, but declares that
she is never happier than when in the
woods with her dog and gun. and av RS
that she now owns the best bear dog that
ever shifted a track. She has one bear
skin rug adorning her parlor which is
pierced by a bullet from her rife.
As an evidence of the esteem in which
her prowess is held by her neigh bors,
this expression of opinion by her friends
is very emphatic: "If you have any
crack marksmen in your vicinity, you can't
trot them out any too quick. We up here
in Northern Michigan will bet our last
cent on Mrs. HeIsel on the run or stand
ing at any distance under sixty yards.''
"The Huntress of Jackson Hole'' is
the title given by her friends to Miss Mil
dred Bevington, a young Rocky Noun
tain girl, living on the border of jackson
Hole, in the western part of Wyoming.
She has recently been successful in
hunting game which men usually find
hard to get. She carries new Sharpless
powder-using 30-caliber weapon, and re-
Gently within a week she has killed half q
dozen black-tailed deer.
She has adopted bIoomers as hunting
costume, but this has been done purely as
matter of convenience, as dresses are
not compatible with the thick sage
brush of the hunting districts. There
is nothing masculine in her manner. how
ever, and when she sits in her parlor at
home there is nothing.in her modest ap-