Ways of Living.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 356, 5 March 1903, Page 2

Ways of Living.

POACHING. SfoIKANY shoot grouse; the CJfSflp Scottish moors, some in Wales, "££?££, some in Yorkshire, Westmorland, and other Northern countries; many more who never fired a shot in their lives will be eating them, and by the time our readers open their morning, paper many a brace of *muir fowl' will b"« hanging in the poulterers' shops, labelled 'Fine young pTouse, 143. per brace/ The price to be obt&iaed for grouse on the < pening day certainly places a premium on poaching, and on more than one moor, gangs of ne'er-do-well rascals have been "at work dragging the heather with nets a day or two before. In other places, men who. have no soul for sport have set up their engines of destruction in the shape' of standing nets on land ownad or rented for the pnrpose, and into these the birds fly on their way to their feeding grounds in the'morning and evening, while, a?ain, in other places the poacher has spread his ; entanglement of snares where some scanty wind-blown patch of oats fringes the moor. May be, too, if he knows the keepers are out of the way, he will crouch behind a wall and knock over a few brace as the birds pass over it in their evening flight. The Sportsman's Market. Nowadays moot men sell their game, and it is, therefore, not unreasonable that they should, to a certain extent, try and recoup themselves for iha heavy outlay tbat a grouse moor entails. In the very far North distance from railways precludes getting the first birds bagged, to London, Manchester, Liverpool, or any of the large towns in time to obtain the big prices that mle on the opening day ; still, on many a moor birds killed legitimately may be sold at fairly rfrauneiative prices the day cfter being killed, and so it is no unueuil thing for sportsmen t;> astir with a view i f sending off their first consignment of birds to the dealers, from whom they may obtain bolter prices than they would if they sent thorn later, when the market is glutted. A Day on the Moons.

We are a party of four, and in two paities make an early start —3ay 7 a.m. lhn heather is in perf cfc the day cloudy, and the air cooled by a pleasant brut zo as we separata at the front door. Below the ledge ripples a little trout si ream, where the peat-stained waters gurgle and foam over moss-grown boulders, here forming a dark pool, there dancing over a pebbly shallow. Grossing this by a rustic bridge, we uncouple the dogs, and putting a 'stout heart to a stae brae,' slip the cartridges into our guns, and face the slope before us. Ha! a point already, fur see Belle is already drawing up to birds; now she halts, then creeps on delicately as if treading on eggshells, then becomes rigid and motionless as a statue; indeed, if it were not for that almost imperceptible quiver of her thin tail you would say she was carved out of stone. Nell backs her to perfection, as we walk up to a thick patch of heather and coarse grass. Thsn up gets an old cock grouse, as black as your hat; he has got nearly foity yards start, having run on before the dogs, but our powder is straight and down he comes. At the report the rest of the covey—eight in all—rises; we kill one with cur second barrel, and I also get a brace. A good beginning., this, but we will not follow these birds, as it is a bad plan to kill the whole of a brood, so giving the dogs the wind we pursue our way. Alternate success and failure attend our efforts, tut the birds he well, and by the time we join our comrades for lunch c nr united bags amount to forty-five brace ot grouse, three hares, and a snipe. A pleasant half-hour while we discuss our luncheon, and the game is laid out to cool. Thu Chabms of G bouse Shooting.

Tke Archie, the keeper, is instructed to send off forty brace ot grouse to Mr. Pa/weD, the dealer, by six o'clock train, and the remaining fire braca to our especial friends, who will undoubtedly appreciate the compliment, for a brace of the first grouse is looked upon by most people as a qu : d pro quo for their hospitality to us in town. In the meanwhile wo have continued s* ooting and though we expect to get the cream of our sport in the evening we are disappointed. Still, we have had a gocd day,, and sixty sev.-n braca of grouie, besides sundae?, conit'tute our bag. We hare breathed the iresb, pure air of tbe hills, and had healthy exercise, while pleasant comradeship has added to the epjoyment of the day. Day by day cur muscles harden, our lan; power increases, and < hough birds get fewer and wilder, we feel new men. and at the end of a month return to our various occupations more bitten than ever with the charms of grouse shooting.