The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-19


Easily Accessible sn,pe Shooting q
the Kankakee Marshes In nlino
Long and short Guns Compare
Phases OF sprtns shoeting-O
deal Of the Ducks-Pigeon Trappinl
KIPr, Mon, April 1.-THE remote regior
Of the Rocky Mountains are known to man
Eastern sportsmen who. brea king ava
from business, annually seek health an
recreation by camping for few week
IN their high, dry attitudes. II Is strenuou
sport. breasting the steep slopes and climb
ing the beetling cliffs in search of game
and for that reason many are Obliged to e
without the coveted head Of mountain ran
or other trophy
But there is a way TO get magnificent speci
mems OF Western game without climbin,
to dizzy and dangerous heights. One hai
but to start from Fort Burton, ant
BY skif or houseboat drift down through
the bad lands Of the Missouri to find al
that any reasonable sportsman could de
sire.
From Fort Burton the Missouri runs
southeastward for several hundred miles
and then turns sharply northward for an
other hundred miles. All along this grea,
bend one Is far from railroads and all signs
OF civilization.
Years ago, before the advent OF the rail-
roads, the Missouri was the great artery
OF commerce between the East and the
West. Here and there were busy posts
OF forts. Then came the railroads, the
buffalo was exterminated. steamboats,
and traders and Indians alike deserted
the upper river. leaving the Bad Land coun-
try to relapse into its pristine wildness.
No longer pursued by man, the game
rapidly increased. To-day the cotton
wood groves bordering the stream shelter
countless numbers OF the Virginia, or white
tail deer. Back in the brakes, from a half
mile to two miles from the stream. are plenty
OF mule deer and mountain sheep. Still
further back antelope range on the level
tablelands, and in many localities along
the timbered bottoms back in the pine
clad centres still roam fair numbers OF the
grizzly, the dreaded white bear 30 often
mentioned by Lewis and Clark in their
Journal
With their slow loading lintlock guns,
the hunters OF those days had good reason
to fear the grizzly, which often charged
them without the slightest provocation
II IL different with the modern hunter
His high power repeating rife is a deadly
weapon one well placed shot from which
will disable the largest grizzly. With
such an arm. just enough In left to chance
In an encounter with one OF these animals
TO make II exciting sport.
There arc wolves along the river, and
coyotes. And there are birds; myriads
OF geese and ducks in season, countless
hocks Of the sharp-tail prairie chicken,
which know not what the crack OF shot
gun means.
Last autumn . party Of Philadelphians
and Aontanans, six In all, had a house,
boat built at Fort Benton for trip down
the river through the bad lands. The
boat was kept In the channel by means Of
q long sweep at each end. and Nature pro-
vided the power. When the wind was
favorable they put up large square SAIL
and when II was calm they drifted with ,,
the current, averaging in that way about
thirty miles a day.
During the long trip Of 3s4 miles TO the
mouth Of the Milk River they never once
ran aground nor were laid up by head winds. !
When the wind did blow upstream, two |
vide planks were dropped down astern, f.
and the resistless current pushing against
hem forced the craft on at a three mile-an |
hour gait In the face OF the strongest
breeze.
From the very start game was in evidence
There were many beaver slides along the
banks and fresh cuttings Of cottonwoods
md willows had been sunk in large piles
nero and there In the deep water. A few
niles below town some OF the party landed
q the skin and shot a dozen and half Of
oh To h., Ia l<.r e.
For twenty miles below the fort the
abroad parallels the river, and then at
he Coal Banks the two separate, the river
vay running northeast. There the party
ut civilization behind. and a few miles
slow entered the typical bad lands.
There are bare buttes and slopes OF clay
nd silt, black, brown, red and yellow earth.
Inns OF sandstone shoot up through them
nd parellel the river, carved into thou
and fantastic shapes by wind and weather.
iere and there thin volcanic bikes tower
bove the waters edge: dark walls Of OBJ !
Ping stone blocks lying tier above tier. with I
he precision and regularity Of a wall built {
y human hands. !
From the Coal Banks to Cow Island. about I
ne hundred miles. there Is scarcely any
re rarely seen. There are a few mule !
Ger In the coulees. A few big horn make
heir homo along the cliffs. The good shoot
ig really begins at Cow Island, and re- =
lains good as far as the mouth OF Milk 4
liver. q
The party always arose at 400 o'clock \
! the morning and az soon as there was
nough light cast of from where the boat I
I'D been moored for the night. The first n
our OF sunlight was worth all the rest Of v
he day for a view Of the game the country Y
Imported, for nearly every living thing Ii
lme to drink from the river at that time. 4
Deer they aaw by ones and twoe and Y
rised In sood-sized bands. and many a p
,eaking wolf and coyote looked long and n
iriously at the craft before bounding
Ack into the brush. or all the game they r
over got sight Of big horn nor bear along
10 stream. although their frequent tracks | A
, the sandbars proved that they came TO
often. but not likely at night.
IL was good fun 10 watch the prairie
ltcken on those early mornings They o.
aggregated on the sandbars by hundreds, | L
mixing and uttering their harsh, uncanny NJ
'tes. They seemed TO be very Quarrel :,
me, with ruined neck feathers and droop- u
& wings chasing one another around at a a
rious pace. They never really fought. hi
'wever; II seemed as IL the bullies wero ~
raid OF one another.
The sage hens. on the other hand, beau ",
[ul large birds, sat eide by side at tie 81
vers edge and drank together n the 10
'eatest amity. The beat often foated by OF
thin few feet OF them, but beyond NJ
aiming their necks and staring they never a.
owed from their poeition Neithe were VI