The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-30
HUNTERS ARE READY
The Season for Prairie Chickens and
Quail Opens Monday and
Birds Are Plentiful.

Birds Are Plentiful.
and the Dakotas Report
the Biggest Crop of Small
Game Ever Known.
:, There will be a. sudden exodus from
the city Monday, or perhaps Sunday night.
when the first detachment of hunters
leaves for the prairies of this state and
the Dakotas. The season for prairie
and quail opens Monday, and the
glowing accounts Of the vast coveys Of
birds that can be found in almost every
part of these three states will draw a vast
army of nimrods from the twin cities and
also from Chicago, Milwaukee and other
points in the north and middle west,
Two or three weeks ago S. F. Fuller
ton, executive agent: Of the game and
fish commission, stated that chickens
were wonderfully thick in all parts of the
state and that thinning out of the birds
by illegal shooters was the only danger
to be apprehended. The fears of the
game wardens, happily, have not been
great northwestern small game states
comes the same story, OF! birds SO thick
that they can almost be killed with clubs.
8 Dealers in hunting supplies say that
never before were the birds so numerous.
They attribute this largely to the ex-
cellent protection given the chickns this
year by the game wardens. One dealer
said to- day: =. - ~.
This may sound a good deal like the
story you have heard every fall for the
last three or four years, but it is the
gospel truth that there never was bet
ter season for small game hunting. Why
in some districts you can actually kill
the birds with clubs. That is no hyperbole.
tits a fact. One man wrote me two or
three days ago from Browns Valley, say
ing that the prairie chickens actually
covered the fields; ;2A7 letter from Wilmot,
S. D., tells the same story Big Stone
Lake reports the biggest crop Of chickens
in. its history. A man who owns a farm
near Stephen, Mimi, writes Come up to
my farm and you can shoot more chick
ems in one day without walking a. mills.
than you can carry away ~
. Birds Well Protected. 90
THAT is only sample Of what we hear
from all parts of the northwest. How do
We account for it? Well, partly by the ex
cellent protection that has been given the
birds. There has been very little Illegal
shooting, and in what few cases have oc-
CURED, the Offenders generally have been
promptly punished, -
EARLY in the, season scarcity of
birds was predicted. on account of the
heavy rains. But you must remember
Throughout the northwest as there were
III Minneapolis and vicinity. Northern
Minnesota and the Dakotas have had real
ly very little rain. To be sure, the Red
River valley got considerab bic moisture,
and there the BIRDS, understand, are
scarce. But that district is an exception
why, you don't have to go twenty miles
from Minneapolis to get all the shooting
YOU want. Right up. fifteen miles north
ga st of. the business district, at a place
called Ladies' Lake Prairie: you can find
birds by thousands. The ground there Is
rocky and wild, and Of no use for farm
ing, and the birds have flourished. The
residents there have been shooting more
or. less. but there are pienty-ef birds left,
:.'I only wish could get out myself Mon
day morning; but I can't leave my busi-
ness, BY the next Sunday after the first
crop of hunters has been out for six days,
the birds will be pretty we'll scared and
harder to shoot Now they are very tame,
indeed, so tame that, there is little sport
shooting them m;zrrt,-ea ~ s,=..,s,
-. Hunters 4N1l 26e1Thick.
:tIIunters Will, be just as. thick as birds
this wear AS an example of the number
Of men who will carry guns this fall, we
got a. carload of shells last week. and be-
tween Monday and Thursday we sold more
than 80, 600. 49,: - =, -.
One hunter was found who actually
complained because the birds were too
thick, why there is no fun in such
shooting" he said. with a good shot
behind the gun, and chickens SO plenti-
full, 1T isn't sport at all, its slaughter.
A prairie chicken isn't like a duck. The
best shot in the world will miss ducks
and geese right along, but everyone
| knows that a chicken is dead easy to hit
for any man who understands gun at
all" =. - - -'r;E:@- 1870 "a
Most nimrods agree, however, that this
contention does not apply to such an ex-
tent as when the season is opened Aug.
| is. Under the former law the hunters got
| to work when the birds were not strong
! enough to fly well, but the extra two
weeks Of protection enables the young
chickens to stretch their wings and conse-
| qucntly they fly strongly and are harder
to hit.
- - Big Game Hunting.
Minnesota and Wisconsin this fall
promise some of the best bear hunting
| Fever known. Black bear to beSfound
| in the woods in northern Minnes
sofa and Wisconsin, while along the LaRe
Of the Woods they have Increased to such
an extent that they have become men
! ace to the settlers. In this locality also
are to be found the only caribou that will
probably be shot this fall. Moose and elk
are prohibited until the stock shall have
| been replenished and the legislature shall
see f1t to include this game, in the open
season. r., -
An apportionment of go deer licenses
has been: sent to IIoughtor1, Mich, by the
secretary Of state. This Is the earliest in
years that the department has issued
/ these licenses License fees are the same
| this year as last and if Nimrods are as
numerous this year as last the quota will
be disposed of quickly Residents of the
state are required to pay fee of IS cents;
non-residents s25.-Reeulatior,s regarding
| their issuance remain unchanged.
WIN Bring: Fishing Tackle.
-Non-residentss who come to Minnesota
wilt of course bring their fishing tackle.
There is no closed season here except for
brook trout. Indeed. this is the time Of
year wnen the maskalonge, black bass
and wall-eyed pike are doing their best
to take the hook Some Minnesota sports
men and they are many, prefer the fset
months for fishing, and will not go out
during the summer. :.
| The fall has its advantages, for one may
/ fish. and shoot ducks in the same lake and
at the same time If 1T is desired. Duck
Eshooting will be very good this fall for
several reasons Wild rice is reported to
hove hnen Y,rolinc- In all of f}a 10 laS 90