The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-11
STAL KING
BIG GAME.
How the Four Day Season
Is Spent On Long
Island.


peculiar affair. 1t is but four days
long, covering the four Wednesdays
in November. Although the country
in which the deer are found in the in
terror of the island is heavily wooded,
it presents no difficulties to the start
ing of the game from cover with
hounds AS the south shore which
skirts the so-calIed wilderness is
thickIy settled a host of sportsmen is
on the hunting ground by dawn OF
the first day of hunting. There are
a hundred men with guns ready to
pour a hail of buckshot in the direc-
ton of the fleeing deer. Rifles are
not used, because the hunter could not
pull a trigger without bringing down
| some fellow sportsman within range
of the bullet. On Tuesday night be-
fore the first Wednesday In Novem-
Der, Sayville, Patchogue, Bay Shore,
Shutdown and other places on the
south shore and to the north of the
! Ronkonkoma Woods are in q feverish
state of preparation for the opening
of the deer season with the first light.
The sun has just tipped the horizon
when the Wilderness" the tracks of
the Long Island railroad running
! through it and the roads bounding it
resound with the report of shotguns.
The battle is on.
The Long Island chase has devel-
Oped a peculiar kind of deerslayer,
the like of whom is not known in 9TH
er countries. He is called a track
hunter, because he takes his stand on
the ties of the Long Island railroad
where they run through the woods.
The bay of hounds at once calls the
track-hunters by hundreds to the
steel. rails. Often they are to be
seen as thick as mosquitoes in Jersey.
The deer breaks and dashes for the
track to escape the hounds. Then a
| mighty fusilade wakes the echoes.
The nimrods within sight of the ami
NAL have filed the air with lead. OF
course, the deer falls, and the sports
men swarm around it's dying form
like crows about a carcass. The ques-
ton of who shall have the antlers If
it be a buck. who shall have the hide,
and among how many the meat shall
be divided are rarely settled except
after a riot. Any one who can squf4t
along a barrel and press a trigger
may be a track-hunt.. The utmost
woodcraft is required to locate the
Long Island railroad in the wilder
ness.''
All the Long Island deer hunters
are not of the grotesque type describ-
ed, however. Fair sport may be had
on any of the preserves of some of
the clubs; sport that requires a good
| eye and quick hand and some degree
of skill. 1t is not to be compared
with deer hunting in the AdirondackS
or the Maine wilderness, but it gives
the deer a running chance for its life,
and men may engage in it without a
loss of self-respect.
From Waverly on the south, nearly
to Wading River on the north and
east, and Shutdown on the west, the
deer abound in great numbers. This
territory embraces Lake RonkOnkOma,
where the Indians used to lie in wait
for their game. The country is fiat.
and covered with scrub oak and IN
derbrush, through which even the
guides sometimes have trouble in
pushing their way.
From Oakdale north, and embracing
a strip about two miles wide and Eve
miles long is the preserve of the
Southside club, an organization of
wealthy gentlemen. who, by observ-
ing the law themselves and compelling
it's enforcement by others, have sue
ceeded in increasing the number Of
deer to such an extent that the farm
ers have good cause for complaint.
The latter argue the injustice Of al
lowing the deer to destroy their crops
while the law protects the deer from
being shot.
The change in the game laws dis
tributing the season over four weeks,
is generally regarded by sportsmen as
a vic DrnvfnncIXv fOTIr
secutive days were set aside. and
then the woods fairly broke loose into
a pandemonium.
For four days there would be a
scene of carnage, not limited alone to
the deer. Stray shots found resting
places in human targets. The lust
for the chase became wild. All else
was forgotten. Private preserves
were invaded and despoiled.
The game keepers were in open war
fare with the less scrupuIous hunts
men, who respected neither the law
nor the proprieties of sport and fair
play. But a great change has been
wrought. Last year the cunning was
followed with equal zest. but the one
day of each week set apart and the
six days intervening had tendency
to check any attempt at laWlessness.
And the game that was killed! On
the opening day of the season it was
estimated that no less than $50 deer
succumbed to the hunters prowess.
Next day the trains on the Long ISL
and railroad fairly grOaned under
their weight of venisOn. Others of
tba sportsnen carried their trophies
away by wagon, and still others,
hound for the ducks of Great South
Bav. had recourse to boats.