The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-08-05
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SNAKE STALKING.
The sport Has Been Followed Many
Years In mt Least One Mary
land County.

IL read an item copied by the Sun
from a Maryland paper the other day"
said an old-time Marylandcr, (which
spoke of snake Shooting down there MS II
new sport that had come into vogue
among gunners. The man who wrote
that item never lived in Anne Arundel
county or he would have known more.
Long, long ago the native sportsmen
of that country discovered that along
in the spring of the year blacksnakes.
garter snakes and moccasins, of all OF
which Ann Arundel county has good
many TO the acre, gathered in their an
nual lovc-making affairs in great mum
bcrs. 1t was also discovered that the
snakes at that particular time OF the
year were bold and fearless, ard
would not hesitate to attach on
sight any intruder in their tryst-
ing places. This gave the idea that it
would be great sport TO make targets
of the scrpcnts, and such proving tn be
the case the sport Of snake stalking
came into existence, and has been a
branch of the art of cunning, in that
part of Maryland at least, for more than
80 years. The mOccasin snake and his
cousin, the cottonmouth. are the two
snakes that the stalker particularly
loves to make his game.
"Thc moccasin looks dull and rusty
on land, but his back lights up into
beautiful Kaleidoscope markings when
in the water. When the warm spring
sun casts its rays down on the pools in
which the moccasin lives and finds his
prey, he comes to the surface and
hangs on to a jutting bush or strong
weed, or crawls out upon the banks and
lies stretched ut full length on the grass
or sand. lie is shy and will hurry away
quic&ly ut the approach of man, ex-
cept ut mating time, and then he will
show you pretty fight. And you had
better not let him bite you. His bite
may not kill you, but IL would be better
if whole nest or hornets rested on
you and enjoyed themselves there than
that one little water moccasin should
touch you with his fangs. But his
cousin, the cottonmouth, or stumptail
moccasin, will bring your last will and
testament into service as certainly as
cholera or yellow fever. The poison
tooth of the cottonmouth is as deadly as
the rattlcsnake's, and when he hears
you coming he won't run away or warn
you like the rattlesnake. lie will lie
low and wait for you, and plug venom
into you il he possibly can. There is
considerable fun in stalking n stump
tail moccasn when he is absorbed in
his love-making, and you want to make
sure of your aim when you draw u
bead on him.
THE proper and sportsmanlike way
of cunning for snakes in Anne Arundel
county is to carry snake rifle and
shoot for the head. The sportsman
who doesn't bag his game by shooting
its head off isn't looked up to much.
The man who would go out after snakes
with n shotgun in Anne Arundel coun-
ty would be sadly talked about. The
favorite rifle is OF 22-caliber, and 20
yards range is the least an expert
snake stalker asks. A moccasin head
can be plainly seen Mt that distance.
and many shot among the snake hunt
ers doesn't brag any IL he doesn't knock
Oft eight heads out of ten that show up
at that distance."-N. Y. Sun.