The San Francisco call., 1897-01-02
GUN AND GAME.
Rain Has Scattered the Wild Ducks
In All DIreotions-HowC Corbett
Lost a .WaQer,

so plentiful on the bay few weeks ago.
The birds have doubtless travelled south,
where they will play havoc with the grain
fields. The widgeon are very destructive
to young grain. Some oi the hunters
who shotyesterday on the Alyiso marshes
returned with good bags OF game. Spoon
bills and sprigs predominated.
Jim Chesley and A. Burlingame bagged
fifteen mallsrd duck by means of sculling
the sloughs near Suisun last Sunday. Ed
Ladd stopped the flight OF five canvasback
last Sunday while shooting from sink
box" in Richardson Bay:
T. The Sportsmen's Protective Association
will meet in K. of R. B. Hall on Tuesday
evening. The following brief Instructions
relative to the Davis slough matter were
received a few days ago from Washington {:
That the Government will not Interfere in
the Davis slough matter unless the slough
is obstructed to navi CATION; that the Gov
eminent will not take a hand in any quar-
rel among hunting organizations. The
same dispatch directed the United States
Attorney to investigate and ascertain If
Davis slough: isa navlgable body of: water
and if it is obstructed.
I The Petaluma Sportsmen's Club held a
meeting few days ago and .reorganized.
A new constitution and set of bylaws were
adopted and new officers elected, as fol-
lows: President, r. S. Brown; vice presi-
dent, f. NJ. Collins; secretary, z. E. Drees /;
treasurer, p: j. Steiger; directors, S. j..
Hopkins, Lyman Green and e. D. Hedges.
The mem bershIp in this new organization
is limited to- thirty, and there are. now
twenty-four names on the roll.
The sea brant which have waXed fat in
TomaIes Bay since tneir arrival from the
far north will receive very warm recep-
ton to-day and tomorrow when the NAL
lard Club duck-nunters open fire on them.
The party is composed of: "Bitl Nye, I"
captain; Lloyd Eaton, cook; Vic Harrier,
bottle-washer; Al Newman, butcher; E.
J..Zimmer, chaplain; Bob Boyer, fireman,
and Frank Hoffeling, general utility man.
"Bogie" O'DonneI gave Harry Corbett
quite surprise few days ago at CaIifor-
MIA City. A party con sisting of ODon-
nell, Tommy Nolan, E. Heffernan, L.
Cohen and Captain Mcneil steamed over
to the pleasure resort in the launch Nor
wood. After catching several colds and
number of fish "Bogle'! challenged Cor
0Donnei wagered. French dim
ner that he could put more shot
into a sheet OF paper a certain size at
twenty yards from the shooter than Cor
bett. OF course, the latter accepted the
challenge instantly and the party quit
fishing untilt the contest was finished. The
'.bogle" boy beat Corbett badly and the
pooiseller could not understand how the
trick was accomplished until yesterday,
when friend wrote Corbett to examine
his. cartridges the next time he has
match on hand. O'Donnell had cartridges
prepared for Corbett, which were Toeded
with wheat, and as q consequence oIbett
lost French dinner and his temper. and
it is said that.he sold his newly purchased
gun for song to o. 'Donnell, who is still
laughing at the idea of polished sport
ing man being done. up in such an easy
manner. 1t is rumored that Corbett will
retaliate' in the near future by inviting
"Bogie" to sack and candle snipe shoot.
Possibly the largest moose head that
has ever been seen in this City is at
present in the possession of Mr.. Ladd, the
gun merchant. The animal was killed
last year by Mr.. Wetherbee, who is fore
man of the Alaska Packers Association,
on Kussillof River, near Cooks Inlet,
Alaska. The head is an enormous thing,
the horns measure forty-one inches in
length, head thirty-two inches, base OF
horn nine inches in circumference, width
of horns sixty-tiye inches from tip to tip.
Last year moose was. killed in Maine,
the horns of which did not compare with
the Alaskan animal in length or width,
but still some of the Eastern papers made
quite sc nsation cutof 1t.
On his return from the North Mr..
Wetherbee received from Russian hun
ter the head Of musk OK, which is. also
beautiful specimen, The horns from
base to tip are twenty-three inches in
length and the width of horns at base is
twelve inches. From nose tip to base OF
horn is twenty-five inches. Howard Carr,
the celebrated rife shot, who hunted for
many years in the Arctic, said that he had
never seen finer specimen.
The moose is the largest OF the deer
family, and most ungainly in form. The
head is long and narrow, with eyes small
and sunken; nose long ana flexible and
covered with hair with the exec ption of a
spot between the noslrils; ears very long
and coarse; antlers large and spreading,
broadly. palmated with numerous sharp
points; neck short and stout and nearly
horizontal, higher at lhe withers than al
the hips. The meat of the moose is good
at any season of the year, and especially
the hump on it's nose, which part of the
animal is highly priced by epicures. In
describing a moose hunting expedition in
the Rocky Mountains Newton Hibbs, who
was noted hunter, states that the largest
pair of antlers be had ever seen were taken
from the head OF moose that was killed
in the Teton Basin, near the head OF Snake
River. They measured from tip to tip
eight and half feet.
The musk-ox derives its specific name
from the peculiar flavor by which the
meat is tainted. In size the musk-ox is
about two.thirds that of a bison, and
seems to form come citing link between
the OK and the sheep families having
many of the characteristics of each. On
der his heavy coat of hair the musk-ox is
covered with thick sheeiing of soft wool
of the finest texture and OF light brown
color. The horns, which are large and
broad, are formed somewhat like snow
shovels, and are used in removing the
snow in order to reach their scanty food
during the winter months. The meat of
the animal, although coarse-grained, is
generally juicy and tender, and the pc
culiar musky favor is destroyed to a
great extent by dressing the OK as soon as
it is killed.
The animals range is very extensive
They abound on the northern shores OF
Greenland, east and west, and on both
sides of Smith Sound and in Arctic Amer
ica from latitude go deg. to SO deg. north,
longitude 81 deg. 30 min. west to near the
Pacific Coast
J. S. Tanning, well-known trap
shooter who has won many prizes in live
and inanimate target-shooting contests,
met his match few days ago IN Bakers
field, as will be seen by the following score
in 21-bird race: Reed 81 Tanning 19,
7. E. Taggart II, McLane IS, II. l.. Pack
ard Is, Thurlow 6, Ferguson Z, Park s.
The sportsmen of Truckee have or gan
lied a gun club, and, like prudent men,
built themselves clubhouse on the island
above the Truckee Lumber Company s
mill. The house is well arranged and ad-
mirably adapted for the purposes for
which it was built. Other improvements
are contemplated in the near future. It
is the intention of the club to equip itself
as completely as any club in the State.