The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-07-05
HITS and MRS. man
Went HUNTING

EDITOR PIERCE TELLS OF THE
SPORT HE HAD-THREE or
THEM SLEPT I'M HAYsTAcK,
But TWO HAD no KEEP AWAKE
TO SILVER FOR THE THREE.
p. =. Pierce in his July Hits and
Mrs. magazine gets OFF the following:
Several years ago i displayed my
courage in Joining a. couple of ready
to-Wear hunters in a warfare on ducks.
Besides those mentioned there was a
dog, the color OF a buffalo overcoat,
He was a year old and large and for
war for his age. The dog added e.
good deal to the enjoyment of the trip
when not asleep and even then he did
not cease to be entertaining. snoring
like a man, and occasionally going
after a flea under his nickle plated
collar, he made a noise like an iron
rake annoying a stone pile. We made
the trip hastily In two automobiles,
the dog falling out Of one and being
run over by the other without pune
ture or loss of dog. We arrived al a
hay stack near a big slough about 4
Io'clock. A steam shovel was working
at the north end digging a big ditch.
and property for miles around was to
come to the surface and receive per-
manent benefit and the benefit was to.
be added to the taxes as soon as the
uncovered real estate could be ound
by the assessor. We did not bother
the steam shovel or shoot at the soft
local smoke which flew over like a.
flock Of black ducks. About 8 o'clock
you could heal us standing in the wa
ter, ordering the dog around, now n
then shooting to let the ducks know
what we were there for. II a duck
dropped the claim agent get busy and
the duck wiggled behind a muskrat
house before ownership was establish
ed. Personally i did not do very we'll,
but fortunately there were others who
made up for my stage fright and
was allowed to carry a few ducks out
of the slough which had dropped near
my place of business. We walked
around awhile before we found any
good reason for standing on dry
ground. After a little conversation
we picked out the wrong haystack. but
ance OF the dog. Supper was served
in courses, the opening number being
canned harness, followed by profan-
Iity and salad dressing. After the
dishes were washed n put in the
pantry, the floor swept and the oat
meal put to soak for breakfast, in a
rubber boot, I made one Of a party Of
two, followed by the dog, which start
ed for the cook shack of the ditching
crew. The cook was alone. He was
a tall, digniied old gentleman, wear
ing a checkered apron and long beard
which added seriousness to the occa-
sion. We liked him from the start,
He gave the dog a good feed, including
twelve doughnuts, and allowed him to
lick out the spider and several other
course looking dishes. We then lis
tened to short responses by the cook.
There were sever men in the crew and
two horses. The man who owned the
outfit drove the horses and paid for
the groceries. There were two crews,
a day crew and a night crew. The
day crew slept nights in a narrow
wasted shack or pen hard by and a
little harder by in a tent the night
crew slept daytimes. BY this arrange.
ment there was sleep enough to go
round, or almost, the cook being short,
haveing to serve meals at all hours
and coo and bake in between. He
carried water from the ditch and aft-
er 1t had sat around for a few hours it
became quiet enough to drink. After
securing a knife on a brick bat the
cook offered to cut a pie. Offer ac-
icepted. We then withdrew, after hav-
A LID ~ SAA ~ AAlNVoS IA u N&INI1I LII L. ~ u
1t was decided best to take the water
out of the radiators Of the cars as
frost was seen glistening on the wad-
ing suits in the m~oonshine. 1t is
bound to be a cold night ewerytime !
sleep near a hay stack or a place ex-
posed to the sky. After a little ordi-
nary conversation we crawled into the
hay and prepared to sleep. 1t was a
frosty job. two of us having to stay
awake to shiver for the three of us.
1t was 5 o'clock when we opened the
day officially, and after reading the
minutes, which seemed hours, we adj
Journed to the cook shack and secured
a prominent place near the stove,
which was flushed with an oyerfeed of
soft coal. Soon the day crew and the
Ithe proprietor came in for breakfast.
The boss shook hands and told US to
set in. 1t was a fine meal and plenty
of 1t. After the cakes had gone around
for the third time and the slack taken
up in the morning appetite, the pro-
pr1etor began to josh the fireman, who
had tried to operate the crane on the
d1tching machine. It seems that the
operation was not successful. One
scoop had brought up a piece of the
boat and then the wrong lever was
pulled and the shovel hurried back and
bit a piece off of the engine house.
The fireman helped himself to another
piece of ham and said the trouble was
the keyboard was different on the
typewriter he had learned on. The
cook wondered if anyone was going to
town as he was out of potatoes and
chewing tobacco. After breakfast we
wandered into the slough, but found
business very light. The ducks were
not very numerous and we got even
less than that. Jacksnipe shooting
was then opened UP in a meadow. a
jacksnipe is about the size of sone-
thing you would throw at the cat; it
has a telephone call of its own which
II uses when on the wing. This is the
time to shoot as the next day would
be too late. A dozen snipe were SCI
cured. One, of the party shot seven.
another five. This left me with very
little to do. We then went up to the
camp, hung up the game and watered
the automobiles. While we were law
ing around smoking, the boss of the
ditching crew made us a sociable call.
He said he had a contract to dig q
ditch eight miles long. When he eot
through he would get something like
$4,000. He was digging 700 feet 4,
day, including night. His cooks name
was Niles, and while 1T was the au-
thor of several kinds of pie. he had
nothing to do with Niles g~eography,
He came from Diamond Bluff. Wis
and had cookedso steamboats, ali the
way from st. Paul to New CLEANS. He
had beAen with him a month and he
cooked SO fast he was always out of
something. On our way home we
4 Q~.1~7 ~ys4 Exnl.