Wild fowl shooting is poor, there being no lakes or feeding-grounds. The best sport of that kind I ever had was in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
WHAT TO DO, IF LOST ON THE PLAINS.
There have been several instances in which gentlemen, led away from their party in the excitement of the chase, when wishing to return, suddenly found themselves lost. Judge Corwin, of Urbana, Ohio, separated in this manner from his party, wandered for two days on the plains south of Hays City, subsisting on a little corn which had been dropped by some passing wagon. He was found, utterly exhausted, by California Bill, just as a severe snow-storm had set in. Persons thus lost should remember that buffalo trails run north and south, and the Pacific Railroads east and west. It will be easy to call to mind on which side it was that the party left the road in starting out, and it then becomes a simple matter to regain the rails, and follow them to the first station.
THE NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN.
South of Kansas is the Indian Territory, which probably has within it a larger amount of game than any spot of similar size on our continent. It fairly swarms with wild beasts and birds. At sunset one may see hundreds of turkeys gathering to their roosts. Buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer of several varieties, may be found and hunted to the heart's content. Within the next two years this territory will be the paradise of all sportsmen. It can now be reached by wagoning fifty miles or so beyond the terminus of the A. T. & Santa Fe Railroad. But the savage, hostile and treacherous, stands at the entrance of this fair land and forbids further advance. While there is good hunting, there is also a disagreeable probability of being hunted. Many of the tribes which formerly roamed all over the plains are now gathered in the Indian Territory. Jealous of their rights, they are apt to repay intrusion upon them with death.
The white kills for sport alone the game which is the entire support of the savage. I have often stood among the rotting carcasses of hundreds of buffaloes, and seen the beautiful skins decaying, and tons of richest meat feeding flies and maggots; and, standing there, I have felt but little surprise that the savage should consider such wanton destruction worthy of death. In the States, game is protected at least during the breeding season; but no period of the year is sacred from the spirit of slaughter which holds high revel in Buffalo Land.
It is manifest, however, that over the Indian Territory history will soon repeat itself. Railroads are pushing steadily forward; 1872 is already seeing the beginning of the end. The savage must flee still further westward, and the valleys and prairies which he is now jealously protecting will be invaded first by the sportsman, and then by the farmer. Perhaps, before that time, Congress may have taken the matter in hand, and passed laws which will have saved the noblest of our game from at least immediate extinction.