The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-01
NEW HUNTING GROUNDS.
Old Mexico Offers a Tempting Field to
American Sportsmen.

Old Mexico Offers a Tempting Field to
American Sportsmen.
II wish to bring to the attention OF
sportsmen a large, new and practical.
ly unvisited region where game in
great variety is still as plentiful as in
the old pioneer days." writes Dillon
Wallace, in Outing. 1T is a region,
too, as quickly and easily reached as
the overturned districts Of our own
Rocky Mountains or the Canadian
wilderness. In this country, as for
merly in the West, there are no game
laws and no restrictions upon the
chase save aim and conscience.
"The region referred to is in old
Mexico. It may be said that every
species of game animal found on the
North American continent south Of
the fftieth parallel Of north latitude
except moose, caribou and elk, Is
found in Western Mexico. The silver
tip bear ranges all through the high
Sierra Madres wherever there are
good feeding grounds, and wherever
there are grizzlies you may expect
also the huge cinnamon bear, the
grizzly's close neighbor.
"The common brown bear Is not SO
numerous, but the black bear is quite
plentiful. The white faced bear. is
more rare, though it Is sometimes
found in the coast mountains. I could
not learn that this species had ever
been seen in the Sierra Madres.
"The higher mountains at all eleva-
lions and even the lower foothills
abound with Whitehall deer. On the
Pacific side they are numerous almost
to the coast, and I can vouch from
personal experience for the quality.
of their venison.
"The mule, burro or blacktail in
habits portions of the States of Chi
huahua, Coahuila and Sonora, and in
this section are also found mountain
sheep. Perhaps the best section for
bighorn in Mexico, however, is in
Lower California, but to hunt there
you must have leisure. The game Is
too remote to be reached on an ordi-
nary expedition.
i@The mountain lion turks in all the
high country and along with him is
sometimes found but seldom killed
the American panther. All the Amer
lean great cats in fact inhabit both
the Pacific and Gulf coasts and the
foothills. The small American
leopard is very numerous all along
the hot country coasts, and the Next
can jaguar, known locally by foreign
ers as the tiger, preys upon cattle and
ranch animalss nIch.a degree as to
be very much Iance.
Ascending the ley of the Santi-
ago Rio huge alliG ltors were seen
basking in the sun on every sandy
reach along the river bank. Coveys
of quail rose before us. Deer scam
pered away as we approached their
feeding trysts by the ,brooks1des.
Ph~easants and wild turkeys fed in
the foothills, and in mountain and
jungle lurked big game animals, as
was evidenced by numerous signs.
"I was also impressed by the fact
that our sportsmen are rarely if ever
seer in this part of Mexico. Why this
is so I cannot say. One reason pos
sibly is lack of information as to ex-
listing conditions, and many doubtless
hesitate on the erroneous assumption
that all Mexico Is an unhealthful
country, sweltering under the trop-
ical sun and infested with venomous
insects and reptiles. In the month
of November. 1907, my guide and I
were lost in the snow in Mexico for
two days, and during this period, and
in fact during my stay in the noun
tains, the heat was not so assertive as
to be noticeable. OF snakes and in
sects there vas none-not even a
mosquito"