Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-11-25
A HUNTERS PARADISE
Iowa's Virgin Game Preserve Where
Ducks Resort in All Their
Primitive Numbers.
Birds Always Plenty in Spring and
Fall-Place Not Widely
Known.
Twin Lakes the Center of the Hunt
ing Territory-The Big
Sloughs.
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times-Eepublican
Des Moines, Nov. 25.-The great, flat
wet county of Calhoun and it's sister,
many years furnished some Of the best
sport in the country. There is proba-
bly, no other place in Iowa that has Of
fered such duck shooting in the spring
and fall, during the periods of flight,
and there is no better place during the
entire duck season. 1t has not been
great railway organization to boom it.
The comparative few who have discov-
cred it have told a few friends in whis-
pers and cautioned them not to tell.
They didn't want too big crowd to go
in and spoil the shooting. This fall has
been the poorest season for years on
account of the warm weather. which
has kept the big birds back and confined 4
the shooting 10 natives almost alto
gether. But it has nevertheless been
quite good The number of teal of all
kinds has been astonishing. One old
hunter. who has been going to Twin
| Lakes for fifteen years. says he never
saw so many teal there. even late in the
| season. The interesting and attractive
| but worthless mud hens are the first to
| go south, and they are followed by the
| teal Then the mallards. red heads and
canvas backs, noblest birds of all the
| duck family.
Twin Lakes, the center OF this great
duck preserve, lie four miles east of
| Jolley, 103 miles northwest OF Des
/ Moines, in Calhoun county. The south
| lake, in which the shooting has usually
been done in the past. has gone almost
| dry during the past few years and the
/ larger lake, which still has plenty OF
sport has been transferred to the north
/ and larger lake. which Still has plenty
1 of water. A scheme is on foot 10 Dam
! up the famous Gunbarrel slough. which
J flows into the south lake. In way that
! will raise the water in the lakes three
feet and restore them to nearly their
4 former beauty. Some years ago com
/ pany of capitalists from Fonda built
4 fine hotel on the high land between the
i two lakes. and tits still in operation the
yeP.- around and is in good hands,
j though the business is not 10 per cent
4
4 to the high banks. several feet higher
/ than it is now. Then steamer was
operated on the north lake, sail boats
we're plenty and the place was pre-
i tentious summer resort, literally pat
ronized. Even now. it is a beautiful
and attractive place in the summer and
iif the water is raised as planned peo-
pie will flock there as OF yore.
\ |
/ The residents are unable to explain
the cause of the drying up of the lakes.
They say there has been no draining to
do it directly. though much of the coun-
try around has been brought under cult
tivation by tile draining, and this mas
no doubt caused the water to go down
Lin the lakes or rather, not to get into
them. Many farms are pointed out as
having once been nothing but sloughs
the year around. and one may walk. If
he is yenturesone and looking for shots
at stray mallards, through marshes
that would have been wholly impassa-
BIZ. with anything but a fat boat ten
wears ago. There is a we'll defined trail
across one of the great sloughs. where
one may safely walk without going
II deeper than he is protected by high
rubber boots. providing he is careful
This is a good place 20 be about sun
} down. for the mallards. and sometimes
smaller ducks, fly in there at that time
All this country is full of big sloughs
The Gunbarrel slough is said to be thir-
Ity-five miles long in its winding, twist
ling length. Then there is Purgatory
slough and He'll slough, famed and aw-
full bogs in which death has come tc
many a living thing besides birds
There is a tradition of the locality thai
4 man undertook to cross Purgatory
slough with a team and wagon anG
Went entirely out of sight in it and was
7. never seen or heard of again. The
! marsh sucked the whole outfit under
Over in He'll slough a rusty gunbarre
4 and human skeleton We're found sons
$ wears ago. marking the spot where
some poor fellow met Il frightful death
1t was no uncommon thing in thos'
T days for hunters, staying out too lonG
at dusk, to be hours. or all night, get
I ting out of these sloughs. A pecuiarit,
i of some of them is that of an island il
i the middle. on which large trees ar
r growing on high Ground. never reached
by water.
d For about week or ten days in th'
spring. usually about the last of March
and when the cold weather drives tn
:. big birds back from the north, tn
shooting is at its best. That is whel
the big bags are made, though when tn
Illegal season opens Sept. there i
! something very choice in the thousand
), of young birds that have been bred Il
the lakes and sloughs roundabout dur
:, ing the summer. These are mostly tea
: but there are some mallards. Durin
!, the periodical flights the air is simpl
! black with ducks. Millions fly over an
:, most of them stop day or two TO fee
/, in the lakes. Some celery was plante
:, in one of the lakes and this brought tn
big birds and induced them to tarry. /
the old days there was simply no limi
= TO the birds man could kill if he wa
l. lust an ordinary shot. He might stan
S. still in the ''fly-away" between the tw
IF lakes and slay them by the score a
a they flew over. He could get all tn
,f ducks he might want even If his want
,e were very large, in any OF the man
ways known to duck hunters. Shootin