The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-20
MANY HUNTING PARTIES.
VIII BE Formed TO Make a Holiday
Search for Game.

-
search for Game.
Many hunting parties will be organ
lied for trips to the surrounding coun-
try this week. The approach of the
Christmas holidays always puts the
sportsmen in good humor, because they
anticipate the pleasures they will find
| in searching for game and tumbling it
over. Christmas day falls on We'd
nesday. and that is a general holiday.
| Many of the huntsmen will leave on
| Tuesday for their hunting grounds, in
order to get afeld early Chris tmas
morning. Still other parties will
spend Christmas at home, leaving for
their hunting trips the next day. There
is usually lull in business after
Christmas, and they figure that they
will not miss very much by spending
the rest of the day in looking for
sport.
The sportsmen who get out frequent
ly with gun and dog say that there is
great difficulty in finding quail at this
time. There are plenty of the birds.
and they could be found without
trouble if they did not stick so close
ly to the little water that is to he
found in the bird country. Sportsmen
say that the weather has been so dry
that the streams and ponds have dried
up. so that il Is but here and there
that an occasional small pool can be
found. Birds do not feed out in the
open. but stick closely about the water,
which is only to be, found in dense
tangles of underground. where it is al
most impossible for the dogs to find
them, or, if they are found. for the
sportsmen to shoot effectively.
This is the reason that there is
much greater demand for quail than
the supply can fill a. sportsman said
yesterday. The price is high because
| the birds. though there are plenty of
them, cannot be found. Last year at
this time, he said. the streams and
ponds were full. and the birds were
| feeding in the fields, where they left
trails that could be found readily by
the pointers and settlers.
Unless the weather should grow
warmer. too, the sportsman said
| there will be difficulty in finding quail
for the reason that the birds seek 10
keep warm by budding in the sun in
some fence corner. rather than circling
about. thus leaving trail for the dogs
| The weather should not be too warm,
| for then the dogs grow tired too soon.
| nor should it, on the other hand, be SO
| cold as to make the birds huddle,
Conditions for ducks. however. have
| been capital. and II is reported that
there is the greatest quantity to be
| found in this vicinity that there has
been in years before This, the hunter
| quoted said is due TO the extremely
| cold weather that has prevailed north
| of Savannah. driving the ducks fur
| ther south than they would otherwise
have come. Another theory that has
| been advanced to account for the in
| crease in the number of ducks is the
law that has been passed in the North
and Northwest, particularly in the
Lake states, against the robbing of the
nests of wild ducks. With this law en-
| forced. il is claimed. the flights OF
ducks southwark will grow larger year
! by year
Deer, too, are found in larger num-
bers this year than for some time past.
! Parties have met with success I'm their
chase Of this noble game. All in all.
II would seem that the sportsmen who
try their luck during the holidays will
have plenty to reward them.