The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-07
LUCK OF THE DEER HUNTERS.
The South's Own Way Of Run.
ming Down Bears.
Numbers OF Ducks Are FoGnd-A Little
known Paradise for Spor,smen--An
ohio Hunter SIN After Deer al 10
Display NJ strength by . Trapped
Hear Adv an age Taken OF the
beers Love OF Fresh Vegetables.

beers Love OF Fresh Vegetables.
over Refdgio county, Texas. salt air
from the Mexican Cuff sweeps softly and
irfreshluglv. The season Of storms is
pas' ana nVsl Of the days are suushiuy,
f.lowci Toy ~tariit nights. II L. a winter
cliriaLe mu,h superior 10 thai Of Florida,
because m ch frcer from Atlantic gales
aud ali the land thefcabout il populous
With winter game.
40 raiir iaG., pierce Refugio county and
i, isl OF py'rruu with sport-mcn II is thinly
.ettl,d 10y a fcs farmers and by ranch
mon VITO have from a few 10 many thou
sands ui aces under bar bed wire fences
A"No ~ .ntiag" sign is a rarity. A man
with a GU &c VII there tramp- pretty much
where he y ,ca ~ aud shoots what he pleases
and there IL no one 20 say him nay.
II is dificI i 70 give an idea of the quantity
If waterfowl y nov in refuge in Refugio
county The numbers Of almost every
edible species are accountable, and in al
dition there aip dozens of varieties never
put upon The Ia bie.
Far Over the prairie one will see low
fviuc. crclng Cocks of the bronze Ibis.
the white his, Zoo. Beautifully marked
ayocat~ Hhi-tlr overhead BY the edge If
some small -rdyv salt pool the pink fiamingo
stands In grutrsuu gravity.
Dozens # small heTons and cranes with
names known only to the naturalis, fsh
indus riousiy or dig for gruh- in the mud
Ivory kind of shore bird from the little
piprr 70 the great golden plover il on the
wing Sickle-hilled sI,l small-hilled cur
lcWs call 'dreary glea I. about the moor
land, aud in the cumps of oaks which grow
like islands on the far stretching rolling
plain the mocking bird sings Of moonlight
nights
The land in that part ,2f Texas Is almost
wholly prairie, with high rolls Between
many II these rolls are 'epr"ssions filled
with fresh water. The people call the de-
rtc--iuu- -wal"S and the POI Is in them swale
ponds or '"nna ponds, from a tall dry weed
which grows in them bearing a black seed
IN a long pod much like a bean pod
Wiliiowls come to these ponds for fresh
water, A ing in from the Gulf edge, and
they come also for the black seeds, Of which
they are fond Each pond Is filed with
ducks, the places Of those which depart
being taken 10y others coming "a straight
AMI fast
4t' l"lli~ VII dN'lbbf a mali mic IN
lengl h 10y a quarter of mile in width and
they are seldom deeper than thre,. feet
even in the middle. Now and then one is
found with al island in it's centre, a half
aero in extent and rising three feet above
the water. These pond islands con ain
lve-oak trees and lots Of fallen timber,
and are ideal blinds
tn" SIENNA weeds themselves furnish
sufficient cover, tor man dressed darkly
To match their color, and The number of
ducks u good shot may kill in DAY when
properly placed ia one of these ponds is
limited only by the number Of hiS shells,
hi, endurance or the intensity Of his desire.
II a pond "a milo long I've found and three
men station themselves in It, one at each
end and one in the middle, the reports of
their guns will keep The birds moving and
each If them will get shot every ten min
I - all day long
No one has ever attempted to calculate
the number of ducks held by one of the
larger ponds. They are literally in thou
sands. II photographer should focus
his camera twenty feet above a pond and
thirty yards away, fire both barrels of a
gun and make "A snap-s hot when the ducks
rose. his negative would show probably
only solid black wall. In the foreground
the dim figures of ducks would be discern
Idle, but beyond them would be solid dark
mad" of the indstinguishable bodies Of
the myrlads
On bright day man squatting at one
end OF pond when the ducks have been
flushed 10y some one at the far end will be
shaded from the sun 10y the stream of birds
passing over him a. cFcctuay a. II he held
up a large umbrella. Two hundred yards
nigh. u hundred yard, wide and many
feet thick, IA" rapid stream of feathers
flows over him, and in the sunshine all
culoi~ flash and glow with the splendor
~ JcU"l-- black and white, gray, brown
red, blue, green and their mixed tint..
a trgnulouN roaring iridescent torrent Of
IOVcln"--.
Sometimes a duck hawk or two or a
dozen s"oop down GA one Of these ponds
ana the hunter on the prairie two miles
away viii hear IA" nufIled thunder of the
wings a. the hord"~ rise. Similarly when
IN" tenants of the ponds have been flushed
by IN" disCharg" OF a gun and stream away
- her To- IN" Gulf or to some other pond five
miles distant above the pouring body of
them, IN" hawks hover and dive and strike
IN their talons.
man below can tell where the hawks
Il iae 10y the hellying down Of that portion
II the torrent, hilt he cannot zee the hawks
lie could not see an elephant through the
PRACTICALLY solid mass. The remarkable
d'ii'S VI NJ W steer themselves even
when packed in frightened flight is shown
by the fact that they never come into COL
liSion one with another, though only an
inch or two separate their wings.
All Of the southwestern coast Of Texas
has ducks and geese in nu nbors because
that part of the country j. one OF the winter
homes of Widfowls, but there are more
OF them IN Rctugin county than elsewhere
because the land IL not thickly settled and
Is rather difficult To ge, 10 and compare
lively f." hunters have visited il MANY
Of it, ma shes and ponds are unvisited bv
any sportsman and it IL in the main virgin
tarritoIy
IL would bo difficult to name another
! lace In the Union which presents such a
variety Oi game and il AT the same time not
-hot ont, or AT least shot over, often, There
re deer il R"fugio county, wild turkeys
in plenty and thousands Of prairie chickens.
IN Its lower part " here the rivois make
down Ia the Nult,are leagues Of rice lands and
on thcs" rice llnu- me water birds swarm
Rails are there "hoh Fix weeks ago were
chatter ing and pIattsrlng n the wild riee of
the ppei hi5eas ppi River ebrds which
have deserted South Carolina in theiI
I'M ual tour 20 IL" Gulf islands, iacksnpe
hich ave Of svlitcr fight. occupy less time
n passage and batten on the iiCh soil ali
inter long; wuodo ocks, which spond I'M
StuNci months close to the sal, water
imosl every !ur!ln IN fact, of tcathcrcd
'weri'gn GGTN
= \ Gay on a he,ugi' pran 10 is FER hgrs the
MD. a ~ f.NVNV Of mi