The sun., 1902-12-28
Hunting With a House
boat on the Gulf Coast.
SEASONS SLAUGHTER OF DEER.
More Than $4,000 Killed in
Three States in a Month.

Comfort and Health In . Houseboat
wolves and Deer In the Northwest
-Bam Fishing In Texas-Need OF
More Protection for the Muskaiionge.
4 country where the sea runs up to the
outer edge OF the salt marshes and the inner
edge of the marshes runs up to the dry
land, where the horizon is close at hand
and the air il heavy but stimulating where
all sorts Of sea birds call and wild fowas
flock in myriads-that is southwestern
Louisiana.
1t is 90 far removed from New Orleans
that every half acre does not show gun aer.
Men who shot there a decade ago still shoot
there and they do not meet many more
visitors. 1t is vast preserve little poache1
upon by outlanders.
Nature made it for the winter home Of
game birds. They meet in it every con-
dition suited to their well being. Food is
plentiful, the climate is not too severe or
too mild, there is huge amount OF all kinds
OF covers, there is great space.
The wild goose finds prairie for day feed
ing and land-locked salt bays upon which
TO roost at night. Back from the ocean
the woodcock inhabits the wet tangles,
or on the russet side of piney hill dreams
the sun hours through. Ducks have fecund
fresh water ponds and low Gays in blue
waves for noon dozinRs.
Over the broad lowiands the jacksnipe
ecatters and drives its bill into the mould
until il is almost too fat 10 fy. Even the
dove. one Of the swiftest and most difficult
of American targets. is common in the
a a l.. II. L.srll IL Tl,r<~
a man may burn powder until he ia sick OF
Il scent of it and his shoulder aches from
the pounding OF the butt
Up from the misty seascape run arms
of ocean water. narrowing as they go in
land. and running down and into them at
various angles are freshwater bayous.
These bayous in turn are fed by clear, ,gush-
ing creeks from the pinewoods, which come
out of the yellow and red hills boldly, some
of the sweetest water in the world, populous
with jackfish and bass.
So the sportsman may use the double
barrel awhile; or he may take the rifle and
90 into the old woods after the deer; or he
may use the rod or he may hire a boat
and go down the bayou to the sea-arm and
down the sea-aTm to the sea and fight
tarpon and lose it, or he may sprawl supine
upon n fOOt-tnlck Deu ol o)dliSn Iiioss anu
do nothing, which Is one Of the very finest
FORMS OF sport.
81, That is an ideal houseboat country. for
no big waves strain the boat. and its little
doors and windows may be kept open day
and night and every prospect pleasev,
and Only the occasional oyster dredger or
plume hunter is vile. With lots OF wood
for fires, lots Of clean water to drink, only
= L., L.. l,,.l, Il
good, enough of sunshine to make long
tramps blessing, far from I'll human
activities, unworried by busnes9 OF politics,
a man may spend his weeks or month 3
there in a varying round Of opep-air pur-
suits
A hundred miles to the west the Sabine
River empties into Sabine Lake and Sabine
Lake opens into the ocean, and Dutch
money is making seaport there. Much
more than hundred MES TO the east
runs line Of coast fruitful Of sport, and a Il
Of the expanse belongs to the houseboat
party.
Trespass signs are good deal rarer than
white ibises. SomeJ ines a man will come
in a dugout. shooting swiftly down the
bayou, the tic'1lrsh craft as steady as a
rock, or sometimes il will be "A man and
girls. but they all ask after the success of
the sportsUien in the kindliest manner,
and they 90 through the houseboat with
wide-opeh eyes Of admiration, and il they
drink cofIee-as they will-they are certain
to closs the visit with an invitation to come
to their plantation and stay a week, or a
month, or year; it will not make any
difference.
Game laws have not yet forced the LOU
isianian to believe that he may not shoot
any form of game on his own land at any
time Of the year and that busy person, the
game warden. is unknown down there
Perhaps that status tends to the preserva-
tion OF game, because anybody can get
any quantity Of it when il is wanted, and
as there is no market there is no temptation
TO overslaughter
The beauty of the houseboat Is that the
men living in IL are not cablned and con
fined. They may move where they list
Progress is stopped only by sandbars or
shadows
Growing tired of one place they have only
to move to another. The rate of travel is
slow, but very sure Ii they are moored
on a saltwater inlet they have only TO
wait until the tide rises, then cast loose
and the infowing current will bear them
ashigh up the bayou ms they want to 60
II they wish to be nearer 10 the sea simi.
larly the outgoing tide will carry them.
There Is no exertion connected with II be.
yond keeping pipes alight. except that n
man has to stand at the end of the clumsy
craft which happens to be the bow and
fend 1t from the soft banks with a pole.
and he can be elected to this duty bv the
fortunes Of cinch, or euchre, or seven -up.
Or perhaps II will be the intention to 20
up the bayou beyond the sweep Of tide
water and further to the place where it's
waters are cleared and palcd by the in.
rushing of a creek at the base Of the pine
hills. Deer may be wanted or squirrels.
or wild turkeys, or woodcock or ali of
them. Then other motive power will be
The Mosquito Hawk, Ie-gm fripate
now in those waters, was bought and fitted
by a wise man for that sort of cruising
She has crew OF four, not including the
galley-slave, and each OF them, countin o
revolvers, has four pieces Of ordnance.
She is As feet over all with bow al "a oh
end, 80 that she drifts backward or for
ward as fast as she drifts sideways She
has freeboard Of . feet, a draught of
feet, Hat bottom and a centreuoard
which does no good in wind
She has five hunks amidships, a kitcnen
and dining room In the roar, a gmroom
and sitting-room where the fo'c's'le ought
fn ~