rounds were made by a flotilla of boats,
and the hunted birds were given a bom-
bardment that sounded more like a naval
engagement than duck hunting. Long-
range shooting wounded more birds than
were bagged. This questionable system
soon became an abuse. The conditions of
this pursuit eliminated all phases of le-
gitimate sport, and, what was of more im-
portance, the incessant harrying of the
birds threatened to drive them away en-
tirely, to the detriment of the sport in
all of the surrounding marsh shooting
grounds.
Relief was afforded bv legislative ac-
On Big Basin Pond.
DUCK SHOOTING IN CALIFORNIA.
443
lion, which prohibited the pursuit or
hunting of wild-fowl by motor boat ap-
proach. Whilst the bay flocks of ducks
soon become exceedingly wary of launches
or rowboats, sailboats have but little diffi-
culty in working up into range, particu-
larly so with the canvasbacks, which bird,
by the way, is exceedingly stupid at
times.
One deterrent feature for the future
that will materially cut down the annual
sojourn of wild- fowl on our bay waters,
is oil and oil refuse. This nuisance ad-
junct of present commercial conditions is
becoming more apparent every year. Hun-
dreds of ducks and seabirds are captured
every year so permeated with oil that the
poor creatures are unable to fly, and in
some cases even to swim, but they float
about helplessly with the tides until they
are drowned and washed ashore or die of
starvation.
Few canvasback ducks breed in this
part of the State. Now and then, cripples
escape the hunter and his dog, and a
wounded "can" is very clever in getting
away, and will recover and stay in the
marshes and breed. The mating of these
birds is often Hobson's choice. Some pe-
culiar and interesting hybrids are the re-
sulting progeny.
The mallards have a peculiar custom in
the early October days of flying up and
down the coast in large flocks. Why they
do so before settling down to winter quar-
ters is unknown. This duck breeds to
quite an extent in many tule and marsh
sections of this State; in fact, covers a
wider range of breeding localities than
any other variety. The Alaskan country,
Vancouver Sound, and British Columbia,
Oregon and Washington, all furnish pro-
lific breeding grounds. Mallards have been
seen in flocks of thousands in the marsh
ponds and lakes of the far-away Kurile
islands as late as August.
The dainty cinnamon teal breeds in the
Suisun, Sacramento and San Joaquin
marshes in considerable numbers. They
take flight to warmer southern territory,
however, when the cold weather sets in.
The Mexican tree duck and the beautiful-
ly feathered wood-duck are now rather
rare visitors ini the up-river tule country.
Sprig breed in this State in consider-
able numbers. Home-bred sprig have
ifj Basin blind. Green Lodge.
444
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
been more numerous this season than for
many past years. Our main supply of
these grand birds come from the North.
The Northern ducks can easily be dis-
tinguished from the home-bred article.
Their plumage is in better condition and
of different color. When the sprig come
in from the North, their pelage is almost
white. One infallible token of a North-
ern duck is the appearance of its intes-
tines. The viscera are literally covered
with layers of almost transparent fat.
Such birds are always in the best condi-
tion.
Most sportsmen fancy the sprig as the
table choice of all the varieties early in
the season. Spoonbills are also in succu-
lent condition at this time.
The Northern spoonbill arrives rather
late, but makes up for his tardiness in
brilliancy of plumage and palatable table
condition. But of all the webfooted deni-
zens of the marshes, the teal is the draw-
ing card.
Sometimes whizzing by like a badly-
fircd bullet, and again almost noise-
lessly darting into the decoys and drop-
ping contentedly to rest with but a
half-stifled quack to betray their presence,
these little wills-o'-the-wisp fill a space
in the sportsmen's calendar that is not
quite taken up by any other bird. Can-
vasbacks are great in their place, but that
place is not on every hunting marsh. Mal-
lards are but occasionally customers at
decoy stands south of the Suisun marshes,
and the big, slow-sailing sprigs occupy a
niche that in no way conflicts with the
teal's title. He is a sprightly chap, more
like a quail im his demeanor than like a
duck, and his pert ways endear him to the
gunner so markedly that his devoted little
plnmp body is seldom lacking from any
limit string.
Shooting sprigs is rather a hard game,
mainly because the big, white-bellied beau-
ties are chary about confiding in any
lumpy heaps of tules that have been known
to belch forth veritable volcanoes on pre-
vious occasions. But the teal, and his
bosom companion the spooney, are eter-
nally willing to take a chance, and they
are the ducks the novice first becomes ac-
quainted with. Getting them, especially
the little green-winged chap, is mainly a
matter of pointing the "lead spout" right,
for long shots are not necessary. At times,
however, the teal will baffle some of the
keenest shots, particularly when they take
it into their pretty little heads to "tower/'
or when on a iiightway they are going at
top speed bent on business miles away.
There are days when the big duck sup-
ply fails, but the teal seldom go back on
the gunner, and therein lies another rea-
son for their popularity. Like the English
snipe, they are always ready to give the
hunter a run for his money, and to their
oredit be it said, the run is usually a good
one.
Over a decade ago, when the preserve
system was placed on a permanent basis
by a number of wealthy sportsmen's clubs
located on the Suisun marshes, it was be-
lieved that the first day of the shooting
season would be made notorious by pitched
battles between the clubmen, their keep-
ers and a small army of individual shoot-
ers, whose sole grievance was that the
hunting grounds over which everybody
had shot ducks for 30 years past unmo-
lested were to be closed against them for
good. Common sense and a recognition
of legal rights prevailed, except in a very
few instances, one or two .serious in re-
sults, and now about all of the best hunt-
ing territory, marsh and upland, within
a radius of one hundred miles of San
Francisco, has been sold to or leased by
gun clubs and individual sportsmen, who
now solely enjoy the shooting offered.
Marsh land that ten; years ago was re-
garded as not worth more than $5 an acre,
cannot now be purchased for $50 an acre.
An instance of the present value of Suisun
holdings is the Chamberlain tract of pos-
sibly 2,0^0 acres. This was bought
for $120,000. "Within two years, half of
the tract was sold for more than the pur-
chase price. The last open piece was sold
a year ago, two hundred and fifty-one
acres at about $35 per acre, to the Sey-
mour Gun Club. The total cost of the
land and improvements will reach nearly
$20,000. Another sale recently was that
of an 1100 acre tract for over $40,000
the former duck-shooting preserve of the
late Herman Oelrichs reaching from
Cygnus Station to the foothills south.
James Irvine, Guy Earl and associates
were the purchasers. This tract will be
developed into one of the finest preserves
Shooting lodges on the Suisun marshes.
Two veteran duck hunters, W. B. Bradford and Dr. W. F. Sharp, at Green Lodge.
on the marsh. A palatial new club-house
will be built, new ponds dug, and many
other improvements made. During Mr.
Oelrichs' holding., one could go out to the
blinds 'in a dress suit and pumps, shoot
ducks and come back to the club-house
without a change of raiment being neces-
sary, so convenient and handy were the
appointments.
On the Suisun marsh are established a
number of commodious and comfortable
club-houses, some of them more preten-
tious than well-equipped city residences.
Windmills and pumping stations furnish
water for all purposes. Lighting plants,
granaries, storage houses, kennels, bares
and every accessory required for comfort,
convenience or utility, are there.
Green Lodge is the shooting preserve
of Mr. W. W. Richards, of Oakland, em-
bracing about two hundred acres. This
beautiful shooting estate is worthy of a
brief description. It is located at Cyg-
nus Station, a run of about two hours
from Oakland. The "layout" is most
complete to the very minutest detail, from
the daintily furnished living rooms in
Mr. and Mrs. Richards' cottage down to
the kennels. In rotation, connected by a
wide, cool veranda, there is the guests'
rooms, lounging rooms, keeper's quarters,
bath house, granary, game house, tool
house, duck pond, where live mallard de-
coys are kept, barn and kennels.
Board walks lead to different ponds and
blinds. One pond is for the exclusive use
of Mrs. Richards, and is but a few hun-
dred yards from the lodge. The "big
basin" ponds, a series of ponds nearly a
mile in extent, will accommodate five
guns. The blinds are comfortable, and
boats are ready at hand for use. The levees
running through the marsh, built up of
thousands of clods, are planted with vines,
"fruit trees and a sprinkling of eucalyptus
trees. A slough, half a mile long, was
DUCK SHOOTING IN CALIFORNIA.
447
recently dammed up. at the railroad track
end. From this blind slough, which is des-
tined to be a refuge for canvasback ducks,
an 800-foot ditch connects with a navi-
fable slough that runs into Cordelia
lough. Scull -boats for "jumping" mal-
lards can be taken through the ditch into
the main sloughs. The hunter can, after
making a detour of several miles, land in
front of the cottage.
The flower garden is also worthy of
passing remark. In it are sweet peas in
great profusion, roses, many varieties of
fruit trees, berries, vegetables, melons and
everything that goes to make up summer
gardening in a rich soil. Vines trail all
over the spacious verandas. Burbank's
creations are visible here and there.
The laying out of the entire preserve is
a work of art, and Mr. Richards was the
artist who is assuredly deserving of much
praise for the taste he has displayed in
converting a mud-flat into a beautiful
country residence. The game-book shows
that the leathered dividends are on a par
with the other pleasant accessories of a
model duck-hunting preserve.
A station further north is located El
Allegre, Mr. Achille Roos' preserve, con-
taining about seven hundred acres, where-
on is located the famous Whittier pond,
and also a mallard pond unequaled on the
marsh. The main lodge is perfectly ap-
pointed in every respect, even to beautiful
stained glass windows. Outbuildings,
fruit trees, vegetable gardens and all,
make up a resort that any sportsman
would envy.
Detailed description of the manifold
excellencies of the different gun club es-
tablishments would be endless. Among
other noted shooting preserves are Frank
Maskey's preserve, 380 acres, where John
W. Bourdette has shot several j^ears; Cor-
delia. Club, 700 acres (owned by Louis
Titus), where Hall McAllister, E. L.
Cuihbert, Ed. Goodall and Dr. Davis burn
smokeless powder; Teal Club, 700 acres,
where Louis Titus, H. L. Tubbs, Wickham
Havens, W. G. Henshaw and Tyler Hen-
A ft unify of Chesapeake Bay dogs.
448
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
shaw do expert wing shooting with ham-
merless breechloaders; Jaeksnipe Gun
Club, where W. C. Murdock, Jas. Prior
and James Rolph, Jr., get limit bags ; Ibis
Club, 200 acres, where Henry Pfortman,
Judge Henshaw, Ed. Graney and several
other sportsmen know the duck possibili-
ties of these ponds; Seymour Gun Club,
251 acres, the members of which are
Henry Klevesahl, John Seymour, A. R.
Harper and others; the Family Club of
San Francisco now owns the preserve for-
merly known as the Canvasback Qlub.
The Marsh Club just south has a member-
ship composed of E. L. Gerstle, H. E.
Rose, George A. Story, F. G. Phillips,
George R. Hughes. The club holding
comprises 700 acres and provides splen*-
did shooting.
The above clubs are located in the cen-
ter of the marsh, which is about fifteen
miles long and eight miles wide, account-
ing for a tract of over 2,500 acres. Numer-
ous other clubs are located here and there
throughout their expanse of tule and
marsh sedge. Among these -may be men-
tioned the Prinigle Pond Club, one of the
best canvasback shooting resorts on the
marsh. Amby Buckley and B. P. Up-
ham have shot there several seasons. The
Stewart Ponds have been leased this year
by Dr. Clyde Payne, Guy T. Wayman,
Templeton Crocker, Lem Gray,' Frank
Anderson and associates. This preserve
*s located a few miles from Suisun;.
East of the Suisun marsh, on Joyce
Island, the Volante Gun Club preserve
covers about 25,000 acres. The new club-
house is fitted up for fifteen members and
guests. The hunters are conveyed by
launch from the railroad station to the
shooting ground, a method of quick con-
nection in vogue with several other clubs.
The preserve of Patrick Calhoun lies be-
tween the Volante and Joyce Island Gun
Club preserves. The duck, snipe ancpgeese
shooting here, particularly on the Volante
preserve, cannot be excelled anywhere in J
that region noted for wildfowling sport.
The Alameda Gun Club preserve is lo-
cated on' the. JSonoma marsh, near Mc-
Gills. Several seasons ago, nineteen mem-
bers each shot limit bags of canvasback
950 altogether.
The Napa, Sonoma and Petaluma
marshes are dotted with gun club bunga-
lows. In sheltered sloughs innumerable
hunters' arks are anchored. These dis-
tricts contain quite an area of open
ground; the best hunting sections, how-
ever, are preserved.
Down the west shores from Petaluma
Creek to Greenbrae, wherever the marshes
offer opportunity for a crack at a duck,
will be found a club-house, ark or shack,
resorts for hundreds of gum-booted hunt-
ers during the shooting season. In this
territory the sport has been of a desultory
nature, for several seasons past. At times
when the birds are storm-driven for shel-
ter on that side of the bay, good shooting
falls to the lot of the hunters.
From San Leandro bay down south to
Alviso stretches the Alameda marshes,
along the southern bay shores. To enu-
merate the hundreds of shooting clubs
and resorts would be a task. One of the
best fitted up shooting preserves in this
A good day's bag.
In Little Basin pond.
territory is Curlew Lodge, two hundred
acres, where Phil B. Bekeart is located,
near Mowrys.
The Alameda marshes are patronized
mostly by the independent hunter who
seeks his sport on open ground.
On the west side of the bay, from San
Bruno down to the Belmont marshes, the
best shooting is found in the preserved
sections, where well-baited ponds have
been maintained. Many individual shoot-
ers, however, who know the intricacies of
the marsh, get excellent duck and rail
shooting during the season.
Between the Key Eoute mole and
Selby's Smelting works, following the
bend of the east bay shores for a distance
of over twenty miles, the shallow mud
flats are dotted with hundreds of duck
blinds, some of them in dangerous prox-
imity to each other. All this water ground
is open.' to the gunner.
Many San Francisco sportsmen will
shoot ducks this season at Newman's, Gus-
tine, Firebaugh's, West Side, Los Banos
and other resorts down the San Joaquin
Valley. The club holdings cover thou-
sands of acres and the shooting, both for
ducks and snipe, holds good throughout
the peason.
It would hardly be fair to pass the Em-
pire Gun Club and the three thousand
acre preserve in Monterey County, on
Elkhorn slough. The club has thirty
members, prominent business and profes-
sional men of San Francisco. The club-
house anid all other appointments are up
to date.
When conditions in this vicinity be-
come unfavorable bad weather, scarcity
of feed or too much hunting the birds
work south through the San Joaquin Val-
ley. From there the Colorado delta and
Imperial Valley feeding grounds engage
their attention, but that is another story.
It is estimated that at least five thou-
sand gunners left San Francisco and Oak-
land bound for many duck and quail
hunting resorts, October 1st and 2d. Here
it may be mentioned that our sportsmen
are singularly fortunate as compared with
most Eastern shooters. Sunday is barred-
ini the East and Middle West, for indul-
gence in sport by either gunner or angler.
The limiting season in California is
now at its height, for nearly every form
of game, except deer, the open season
for which ended on November 1st, is
now lawful prey for the hunter.
Gamiest of all, however, is the vallci/
quail, which abounds in many parts of
the State.
Reports from various parts of the
State show that the valley quail is not
in danger of extinction. While numer-
ically fewer in some sections, this sporty
bird is apparently increasing in num-
bers in others. On a crisp, cool autumn
morning there is nothing more invigor-
ating than a quest of the valley quail ,
say in the mountains of Mendocino or
Sonoma County. With a good dog and
a ready aim, a fine bag may be brouf/lii
down almost any day now. There is a
keen zest in quail shooting, a keener
one, in the minds of m<any, than in duck
shooting, which is so popular around
our larger cities and towns.
The call of the quail is a kind of call
of the wild that has the most earn**!
of answerers.
THE CALL OF THE QUAIL
BY W. E. HUTCHINSON
In the morning, when the dew is just a winking on the grass,
When the robins all are singing and the jay-birds giving u sa-~."
And the flock of crows are cawing 'round the edges of tin- com.
And every one just feeling good to think that they were born :
Then I hear a sound that thrills me, as it comes from hill and dale,
And echoes down the valley 'tis the calling of the quail.
At noon-time, when the orchestra of crickets draw the how.
When the 'hopper and the locusts join the chorus, doifi you kn
And you hear the bees a-humming like a liddl" with one string,
And the air is just a-throbbing with a soothing kind of rinir.
There comes floating 'cross the meadow from the ha/els near ilu- swale,
Full of cheer and woodland music, 'tis the whistle <f the <[iiail.
Tn the evening when the shadows linger 'minid the garden gate,
And the turtle-dove is calling to its drowsy little mate,
And the swallows twitter softlv from their Bests linn-atli tin- eaves,
And the squirrels scold and chatter as they hide li,-neat!i the Ira
There comes from out the orchard, when-, pen-hed upon a rail.
He sends his pleasant challenge 'li* the "good-night" of the quail.
SUGGESTIONS TO THE HUNTER
BY E. M. STETSON
Taking Care of a Deer.
MUCH TIME is lost, and some-
times considerable meat is
wasted by a hunter who does
not carry with him sufficient
materials and implements for taking care
of the body of a deer after it is killed.
This could be saved if he would go pre-
pared to take care of one, instead of think-
ing the possibilities of getting one too lim-
ited to take along necessary things.
If there is to be quite a long stay in the
camp, and a hunt to last over several
weeks, the hunter should take a sack of
salt to cure the venison, after it is cut into
strips and hung on the line to dry. A
generous covering of salt keeps away the
yellow jackets and other' insects that come
to devour the meat. If this will not do,
then a covering of thin netting should be
placed over it. The salt can be more eas-
ily washed off when the meat is later be-
ing prepared for eating than the insects
can be controlled or the flies prevented
from blowing it.
In skinning the deer, it should be hung
up, hind feet highest, and drawn first, by
opening the pelvis, very carefully skinning
the body backwards from the stomach to-
ward the sides. If the animal is to be
shipped, a generous covering of salt and
some saltpeter should be rubbed in the in-
side of the carcass. These two articles,
A camp on Fend O'Eeille.
"A long chase, but we got him."
salt and saltpeter, and a great many sharp
knives, a broad axe, and a chopping block,
are as much a necessary part of the hunt-
ing outfit as the guns and shells.
The broadaxe is especially good for
chopping up the leg bones and ribs for
stews and short rib roasts and broils. These
are the very best part of the animal for
food, the venison steak being liable to dry-
ness and toughness; and there should be
provision made to take care of and enjoy
these more tender and juicy parts of the
body, else there is a great loss ini the kill-
ing. A little foresight in preparing for
the taking care of the game after it is
brought in makes all the difference in the
world in the success and enjoyment of a
hunting expedition. Go prepared for
game and get it.
Dangers to the Hunter After the Killing.
There is often a great deal of danger to
a hunter after he has struck an animal
with a rifle ball, and it has fallen appar-
ently dead, if it is a fierce and large ani-
mal, and one capable of putting up a big
fight. Some animals will feign death just
to get the hunter near enough to kill him,
and others may be really stunned or suffer-
ing from the shock, so that they cannot
rise until the hunter is close and bending
over their prostrate body.
Then, with a spring and a ferocity that
is maniacal in! strength and suddenness
and intensity, they will spring upon their
adversary and oftentimes do him to the
death. More hunters have been injured in
that way than in any other. The fear hav-
ing passed away by the shock of the bullet,
the animal is prepared, nervously, to do
terrific damage.
A deer will often arise and charge, strik-
ing with its front feet and tearing the
clothing and flesh from a man's body in
a short time. They have very sharp,
pointed hoofs, so sharp that they can hit
454
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
a snake's head off as smoothly as if it
were done with a knife. Their horns are
not any pleasure party to meet up with,
either. They are especially forceful in
aiming for the face and the pit of the
stomach. They seem to know the vital
parts as well as a human being. Even
when tame and in pastures, they will often
attack their friends and keepers without
any provocation 1 .
The cougar, a large species of mountain
cat or lion, is especially liable to feign
death, and then arise with a sudden
spring, biting and tearing with its claws,
and especially the hind claws, in a most
deadly fashion. They can hold on with
their teeth and front claws, and with a
ripping, tearing stroke of the back feet
and claws, they can disembowel a person
or animal with as much surety as can a
surgeon with his knives.
It is just as well for a hunter to put one
more bullet into the body of the slain
animal before coming too close. The risks
are too great to trust to the fatal effects
to the one that brought the beast to the
ground.
Numbers of Unknown Animals and
Insects.
Insects and small animals offer an al-
most unlimited field for exploration. In
1895 Sharpe, the naturalist, estimated the
number of known species of insects at a
quarter of a million, and expressed the
conviction that ten times as many yet
awaited discovery. Small animals, in
large numbers, also, are on the list for the
explorer. Larger animals, and especially
mammals are not so numerous as unknown
quantities. The total number of animal
species known in 1840 was over 70,000 :
in 1 1880 the number had increased over
300,000. Allowing the average number
each year discovered to be not less than
12,000, the total number of species now
known must exceed 600,000.
But the number, especially of the
smaller animals not known, must be much
greater even than this number. This
gives a wonderfully large field of explora-
tion in the animal kingdom, and the insect
division especially, for the would-be hunt-
ers and discoverers. People are inclined
to think that the day of exploration and
discovery is over, when if they did but
know it, there are opportunities for such
discovery almost at their back door.
At any rate, they need, if they would
find the knowable thing in life, go out in-
.to the 'woods and hit the trail of something
new in the animal world at every turn.
The}'' do not need to depend upon the books
for a classification, at first. Just go out
into the woods, go "bugging," if for noth-
ing else, and bring in all the curious-look-
ins: things that they can find. It will not
])e long- before the classifications will be