The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1943-02-25
BY Paul souder

each was shot, Western Red-Tall,
Swanson, Cooper Hawk, Sharp
Skinned and Red Shouldered hawk
which is very uncommon in this
community as it is the third one
ever to have been shot by the fell
lows in their hunting expeditions.
Grow hunts are increasing in their
ranking as major sporting event.
In the past years a few hunts were
enjoyed in this area, but participa-
tion in the sport has not been con-
sidered to a degree by the local
sportsmen. 1t is just in the past
few months that interest is again on
the upswing in this type of shooting.
Years ago in the Stouffer woods
near the Dean Davis filling station
crow hunt was staged that proved
highly successful. Participating in
the hunt were Shell Dearth, Ken
meth Dearth, Charles Lloyd, Russell
Montgomery, Harold Montgomery,
Ivan Montgomery, and Raymond
Montgomery.
| Sneaking up on the grove of
second growth trees at night the
boys could see that they were in for
big evening! In the light of the
moon the trees seemed to be alive
with the birds roosting above. At
given signal the men were all
supposed to fire their shot guns at
once, but Shell Dearth, the man
agreed upon to give the signal,
blazed away prematurely and inn
mediately the air was in great
uproar! The boys were all equal to
the occasion and fired away.
After the first volley dead birds
were dropping all over the place.
After time the birds would regain
their roosts after the gunners ceased
their firing, and then at signal the
fun would commence again. Many
crows were blasted to eternity be-
fore the remainder of the flock flew
away to safer roosting place.
In the darkness later, at least so
dead birds were counted, and many
more unaccounted for having drop
ped dead after flying a short dis
tance.
Talk about sharpshooting-ffteen
years ago DIR. Gordon Bixel showed
his stuff to the boys of a hunting
party by getting bulls eye at the
| first shot! Seems that Clarence
Kraft, Ezra Moser, and Gordon went
rabbit hunting on the Byron Basing
er farm near Pandora. In those
days there was scarcity of game
because there were no club and
state restocking programs to re-
plenish the supply. After long
time in the field they finally "bag-
ged" a rabbit by chasing him into
stump and catching him by hand!
In the friendly argument following
the capture, they finally agreed to
shoot mark for possession of the
rabbit. Gordon went first and took
aim at a postage stamp on letter
at 60 feet. As Bixel confessed,
Wonders never cease" he got
bulls eye the first shot! Such un-
canny craftsmanship affected the
aim of the other two hunters and
Gordon became possessor of the
days take of game.
Fish stories float around, but the
ones that are remembered are those
that can be proven. Now such proof
of good fishing comes from Ensign
James F. Miller, U. S. Coast Guard
Station, Pigeon Key Island, Mara
thon, Fla. Miller went fishing and
had pictures taken of the catches as
proof. One photo shows Jim with a
buddie holding a stringer of six as
sorted good sized Jack Fish and
Snappers. And on another occasion
Jim with a friend from the Coast
Guard Station snagged two huge
Jew fish. The fish weighed $50 lbs.
each. The hook broke. while pulling
one fish into the boat, but they were
able to grab the fish and land him
in the boat before he could get away.
| (On this particular fishing trip Jim
forgot to enclose the snapshot.) An
other snap shot showed a catch of
nine large Jackfsh and Snappers.
Jew fish sometimes attain the weight
of 500 to 600 pounds and lengths of
6 feet or more. They frequent deep
water in warm seas, have voracious
but sluggish dispositions, and though
not highly valued as food fish, are
regarded as great prizes by anglers.
The Department urges farmers to
leave a row of corn standing as food
for wild life. Sportsman Wade
Marshall believing the idea to be
/ a good one, left patch of sweet
corn stand in the garden on his
farm. At frequent intervals flock
of at least so pheasant hens visit
| the patch and feed on the corn. The
same flock is seen in the patch by
Rural Carrier Woodrow Little which