The sun., 1900-12-30

| he will generally force the birds to lie inside
| of ffty yards from the spot where they are
| feeding, The dog should be white In color.
or at least liver and white or lemon and white.
| for the reason that In the woods dark col
| ored dog Is not readily visible. and he may
be upon stanch point thirty yards away
| and his master be never the wiser II should
! be- a dog taught 10 quarter his ground thor
our hly and never more than a hundred Yards
from his companion. In this way. and in
! this way only. bit Of woods may be we'll
worked II will make no difference whether
this dog has been instructed to flush the birds
/ himself or permit the man with the gun to
! do the flushing. because the rufed grouse
! Will flush of their own voliion when the
| man comes ny behind the dog. and gen
| orally from ten 10 fifteen yards away
! II Is frequent trick Of this bird for two
members of the covcy TO flush and dart
| away through the trees. generally in op
! posite directions The others rise when
! tho guns have gone on In knowledge of
| this fact some old stagers make handsome
| bags by magnanimously permitting their
/ less experienced friends always To have the
| iir-t shot. Ii is not wise To believe that all
Of the grouse have arisen until the mon have
gone in front of the dog OFTEN somo sly
| cock will lie hidden for a minute after his
up almost between the legs Of the advancing
gun men. and unless n cartridge has been
saved will roar away unscathed
Another rxasperating peculiarity Of the
grouse is its habit of freeing when il thinks
that freeing will be good thing The pointer
or setter having winded n covey and pursued
II cautiously for hundred yards or SO. the
birds knowing that the dog will not see them
will swiftly and soundlessly fit up into the
trees overhead. generally at height Of oftwenty
feet from the ground. and sit there The man
comes along urging his dog In excited whis-
pcrs Finally the scent grows so strong that
the dog refuses to hudge another inch The
man with the gun. every nerve In tension.
walks forward He gets TO the dogs tail
and no thunder OF beating wings greets him.
He goes on and stll there is no flushing
He gets ten yards in front Of the rigid dog
and hears and Sees nothing He swears at
the dog and calls him a liar
"Nou have been pointing a rabbit-form,
YOU villain. he says. and I've a good mind
to Kick your spots of
The tense tail fcobly wags a half inch and
then droors a little but its owner, true TO
his trust, remains stiN The man, both irr-
tated and foolish. looks around. throws his
gun open and inspccts the butt ends of his
shells. lie finds that they are all right st
that moment there Is roll of wings over his
head and a large brown body shoots away
through the branches Before the barrels
have been snapped into place there are moro
roars The man Jumps wildly To one side.
throws his gun 10 his shoulder. gets some
where within ten feet Of the vanishing target
and pulls the rjgger He does this also with
the other charge The chances are 10 to 1
that he gets nothing He has been taken at
a disadvantage and besides the tree shot NJ
the rufIed grouse l. probably the most diNn-
cult among all the infinite variety OF shots
I'm the field There is everything against
the man and not thing in his favor THERE'S
but one way in which TO hold on flyer Of
this character, supposlng that the line Of
flight be Reasonably straight II must be
kept within full view over the gun, and az the
moment the trigger is pulled the end Of the
barrel must be not less than ten inches under
So held, If the man is lucky. the bird will
| fly into the shot. centrns the pattern.
There is one method Of hunting the rufred
grouse much practised by Wisconsin
countrymnn. which has the element Of GER
tainty in IL, though no spOrtsmanship In
this hunting any sort OF dog will do, pro-
vded he knows what is wanted and will
bark. He scours the woods in late autumn,
when tho trees are bare. and finding a covev
PUSHES at il savagey The birds fy into tho
nearest tree and sit there, craning their necks
and looking down upon their noisy opponent,
who dances about In frenzy and yelrs like
coyote The grouse are so busy watching
him and wondering what IL is all about that
they pay no attention TO outside matters
The owner Of the dog approaches leisurely
slipping from trunk to trunk and keeping
himself hidden as much as possible When
arrived at a proper distance he sights the
lowest bird on the tree and lets drive The
others keep their eyes on the dog Apparently
they do not hear the gun. In this way the
entire covey is often shot from a tree the
gunner gradually working his way up from
lInp to limb. If the topmCSt bird he shot
first the body falling through the hranc.!es
Will be ant to disturb the others In this
sort of shooting there is not 3" Rreat deal Of
noise Not moro than quarter charge or
nitrate the explosion j. not louder than that
Just now the hlgh-wooded bluffs Of the
Mississippi back of Ferryyille provide many
oa and ihr hay man NOV, %n@ Eh'T W. hdad hmie1t and
Earlier in the season the birds feed almost ey-
clpsvey upon the mall adhesive pods,
tiinS a sweet white kernel in taste not un-
like r.. ean1'; no. ebrd are living upon
the buds oi the ironwood tree, WHICH grows
it, limbs are small and bare Of leaves, they are
conspicuous n any part Of the highlands
be- found. The favorite feeding time i near
sunset. but they ar" in the neighh"rh"o of
thc-, trees all day long, particularly If there
b" hriar- growing near. The light snow
makes trailing them AN easy task and they
are found almost rs readily Without a dog ~
with one. though the POINTER or setter -
valuable In placing scattered individuals.
lhcr" j. much cliphhn@ IN tl,s sport, seal
inc of bluffs, sCramlliug over huge bOulderS,
and 80 forth. II j. hard on the legs, hut IL
paws The air il like wine The cold makes
the blood tingle and steadie> the nerves and
clears the eyes Whrlnc away above tho
white surface, the mimic thunder of It's wings
spring mark Also. il is good on the Cridiron
or -wothered in the pan.