The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-25
A PARADISE FOR sPoRTsMEN.
Forests and Jungles of Philippines
Abound in Big Game.
CField and stream)

CField and Stream.l
In many ways our new possessions
in the Orient are we'll entitled to De
styled a hunters paradise. for the ISL
ands of the Philippine archipelago are
filed with game animals and game
birds swarm in the forests and junSles,
While the inland waters in many IN
stances are literally covered with many
varieties of water fowls.
For those who incline to hunting big
game there is the boar. fierce and
savage beast which runs wild among
the dense tropical jUngleS, where CO.
coanuts and other tropical fruits afford
abundance of food TO satiate his appe-
tite. All over the wooded parts of
LuzOn great numbers of deer roam, be-
ing little troubled by the natives, who
are not much given 10 hunting and who
have little craving for a meat diet.
During those days when our army lay
in Manila Immediately after its fall
there were many hunting excursions
into the interior and plenty of big
game was usually bagged.
While monkeys. which seem to be
more numerous than most any other
wild animal to be found on the ISL
ands. are not to be considered In the
legitimate class of game. yet one can
scarcely resist the temptation to try
shot at the leader of the great army
of these chattering creatures which IS
always present in the pictm esque jun
giles of LuOnz, MindanaO, Negroes.
Panay and the other islands. Coming
down to smaller game. the tagua or
guigas, a kind of flying squirrel. seems
70 be in every tree, and a rather odd
webbed foot furry animal ii is The
natives make pets of this queer squir-
rel and one can see hundreds displayed
in cages about Manila. Another little
animal which attracts ones attention
in the Philippine jungles is the ma
sigen. 1t is natural enemy of rats
and mice, but has no value to the
sportsman. Vampires and great bats
fit aimlessly past one in the stiffness
of these tropical woodlands, and par
rots and other tropical birds in their
brilliant plumage are ever present
wherever there is foliage in the land
Of everlasting summer.
While game was plentiful everywhere
in the Jungles, in those days before
the Filipino insurrection opened there
was a time, after the fighting in the
JungleS about Manila began, that al
most all animal life disappeared before
the onslaught of our forces. The heavy
firing, kept up night and day for a
time, drove the wild things back into
the mountains, but as the fighting SUBJ
sided they gradually ventured back to
their favOrite haunts along the rivers
and streams, and today one can see
plenty Of game within A dozen miles
of the capital; but as vet it is not safe
to venture even that distance in quest
of sport. for the insurgent bands and
the brigands never lose an opportunity
70 !,
be found outside the military lines.
IN the days before Dewey's guns be
gan their fUsillade against the insur-
gent positions about Manila bay, thou
sands Of wild geese and wild ducks
could Re seen daily Along the Pasig
those fowls congregated in myriads;
and about Laguna de Bal, the largest
lake on Luzon, located some fifteen
miles UP the Pasig from Manila, the
water at times was black with many
varieties Of water fowl. The tipOl. a
species of crane. which stands FIVE feet
high, probably the largest water fowl
TO be found in the islands. was in evil
dence about the lace by the hundreds.
There were great flocks of wild geese
and swan OF the wild duck family
there seemed to be every representa-
tive present. There were eanvasbaeks,
members of the duck genus There
were some varieties never seen about
our nOthern lakes, but none of the
specimens bagged by sportsmen in this
latitude seemed to be absent. Before
the instruction, and when the first
troops reached the lake on the advance
70 the campaigns in the jungle. many
o. our soldiers enjoyed the sport of
duck shooting. A month after the ad
vance of our army the great fiocks of
water fowl had disappeared. nor did
they return until long afterward, when
the sound of battle had left the coun-
try about the lake.
The sportsman who chances to try
his luck in the Philippines can find
plenty IF good shooting at wild pigeons
and wild doves; and there are loriots.
WoOdcOck and many specimens of mag
PIE. 4 trip through a Philippine Jun
gle, even in times Of peace, is one never
10 be forgotten. There is always some
thing new and interesting passing be-
lore the eyes, and while one is always
seeing some kind Of animal, he is never
Just certain whether the next step for
ward will not bring TO view an i'm
niense anaconda, a ferocious boar. a
great antler, or some other Of the great
animal tribe OF the islands.