The evening leader., 1916-11-20
Fifteen of the Nations Chief Ex-
ecutives Were Partial to
+. the Sport.
CLEVELAND LIKED DUCKS
Colonel Roosevelt q Shooter Of Big
Game on Three continents-Wll.
! son Takes to oualI-LIneoln's
One Experience.

as following In the footsteps of num-
Der of his predecessors, writes Alex
ander Stoddart in the New York Sun.
The hunting presidents Of the United
States number Is, one more than those
who INDUCED in fishing.
The hunting presidents Of the United
States include the first and present
presidents, also Thomas Jefferson, An
drew Jackson. Thomas Tyler, Zachary
Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Bu-
chanan, Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford
Burchard Hayes, James Abram Gar
field, Chester Allan Arthur, Grover
Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison. and
last but not least, Theodore Roose-
welt.
1t might not be amiss to point out
that Of the Is hunting presidents. the
following INDUCED in fishing also:
Washington, Tyler, Pierce, Lincoln,
Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland and Roose-
velt. -.- -....
Two of them wrote books devoted to
hunting: Cleveland, who left book
devoted to fishing and hunting, which
he called by the modest title Fishing
and Shooting Sketches" and RoOse-
velt, who has written any number of
books, for one of which he received
dollar word for every word in
1t. Incidentally it might be re-
marked that it was not losing ven
ture for the publisher.
Washington was fond of hunting
foxes, deer, turkeys and ducks; Jeffer-
son, foxes, deer, turkey, 'possums and
'coons; Jackson, deer and turkey; Ty-
Ter, Taylor and Arthur, deer; Pierce,
'coons; Buchanan, quail; Lincoln,
turkey (on one occasion only; Hayes,
turkey; Garfield, ducks and quail ;
Cleveland, quail, duck, rabbits and
shore birds; Harrison, quail and
Wilson, quail.
Roosevelt Greatest Hunter.
The greatest of all hunting presi
dents is Colonel Roosevelt, who has
hunted on three continents and has
killed almost every species of big
game. He has one rifle, now a retired
veteran, which he regards as not
heavy enough for steady use on heavy
game, "but it is so handy and accu.
rate, has such penetration and keeps
in such good order that it has been
his chief hunting rifle for the last
dozen years.
Washington, who was the largest,
tallest and strongest of the presidents,
Lincoln not excepted, was an enthusi-
astic fox-hunter. He rode with the
hounds everywhere, was always in at
the death, was fond of shooting wild
turkey and ducks and on his last hunt
in 1855 he killed buck weighing 143
pounds.
Jefferson liked the fox chase and
without leaving his fathers land he
could shoot turkey, deer, foxes, pos
sum- 'coons, quail, squirrel and rab-
bit.
Jackson's shooting at one period of
his life came from necessity, the house
hold needing meat for the table. Deer,
wild turkeys and smaller game were
numerous in those days.
AS a young man Tyler did much
hunting, and Taylor delighted in roam
ing through forests and over prairies
for days and nights seeking game.
Pierce liked to take long tramps and
never went without his rifle. In addi-
ton to having wonderful powers of
endurance. Buchanan was an expert
shot and made it a point to kill all
small game through the head.
Lincoln as a Hunter.
Lincoln'S hunting was confined to
one days sport. More accurately, a
few minutes fun. In fact, he did not
move far away from where he lived to
get his first and last wild turkey. He
shot it from his cabin home.
Following is the curious autobiogra-
son which Lincoln prepared for his
friend:
"a few days before the completion
OF his eighth year, in the absence of
his father, flock of wild turkeys ap-
preached the new log cabin, and Abra-
ham with rifle gun, standing inside,
shot through a crack and killed one
OF them. He has never since pulled
the trigger on any larger game"
Hayes, like Buchanan, was also an
excellent shot with the rife. Garfield
liked to fish and invariably carried
gun with him for ducks. He was also
fond of quail shooting.
Arthur, who was one of the best
fishermen of the presidents, was so de-
voted to hunting that Emperor Will
Ham presented him with a beautiful
gun. While president he hunted in the
Yellowstone country.
Like Cleveland, Harrison liked to go
duck shooting in Chesapeake bay.
'" Cleveland was devoted TO duck
shooting. From the moment that ducks
were reported flying south Cleveland
was eager to get first word of cof,di-
tons, and he could sit in sink box
or blind for hours waiting for a shot.