The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-08
HUNTERS ARE LADEN
They Report Prairie Chicken
Unusually Plentiful.

Prairie chicken will be a delicacy
served today for dinner in the homes
of hundreds of ST. Paul huntsmen
The season for killing the birds opened
Tuesday, and so -plentifupis the game
this year that many of the hunters,
who left for the stubble land of North
ern and Western Minnesota early in
the week, have returned laden with the
toothsome spoils. hr
I'VE found no difficulty in winging
daily the twenty-five birds which the
law allows hunter to KILL" said one
of the returned sportsmen yesterday.
In fact, the chickens are so numer-
Gus that if one wanted to violate the
game laws it would be no great feat to
get fifty or seventy-f1ve birds during
a days hunting"
Although the prairie chicken is plen-
tiful this year, but few wild duck and
geese have been, seen so far The men
who returned with a great abundance
of chickens say that the water fowl
Is scarce and that but few birds are to
be seen in the lakes and marshes with
in radius Of 100 miles Of ST. Paul.
Farther to the north, however, the
geese and ducks are more numerous,
and the hunters who went into the
Cass and Leech lake regions, have had
no Difficulty" in0 finding good sport.
Fred Schiffmann, who spent several
days hunting last week. says that he
had no trouble in landing his full
quote of game.
But there was certainly a good deal
of shooting done before the season
opened" said Mr.. Schiffmann. "The
covies are badly broken, indicating
that there was a great slaughter of the
birds prior to Sept. 1. But our party
was well satisfied with the results Of
our hunting expedition"
Hunters returning from all parts of
the state corroborate Mr. Schiffmann's
statement regarding the premature
hunting. Among those to return yes
terday from a weeks outing spent in
shooting prairie chickens were: L. T.
Chamberlain, A. E. Boyeson, ]. f.
George, Jacob DAM, w. F. Towle,
Frank Murray, T. l.. Wann and DR..
Quinn.
According to the statements of the
different railroads which traverse the
prairie chicken stubble land, there has
been larger exodus of hunters this
year than ever before. Consequently
the slaughter Of the birds will be
great, as the season does not close I'M
til Nov. 1. However, the birds depart
from the northern ATTITUDES long before
the season ends. They are now on
their south bound fight.
1t is estimated that more than 1000
st. Paul and Minneapolis men are
chicken hunting this season. Tuesday,
which was the opening day of the sea-
son, the trains running to Western and
Northern Minnesota were packed with
sportsmen. The railroads never make
special rates for hunters, but on last
Tuesday the regular homeseekers rate
was In force, so many took advantage
of the cheap fare to go hunting.
The Great Northern, 500 Line and
Northern Pacific carried the great ma
jority of the sportsmen to the hunting
grounds. but a large delegation was
also carried into South Dakota by the
Milwaukee. The chicken season also
opened Tuesday in South Dakota and
the birds are very numerous in that
state.
Prior to the opening of the season.
the sporting goods houses of ST. Paul
and Minneapolis were very busy.
There was a large trade in shotguns,
many old hunters equipping them
selves with new weapons this season.