COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13159, 4 July 1908, Page 10

COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

HALF A DAY'S HARE SHOOTING

(erECiALLT writtes fok press.")

(By G^terbtctby.)

"The hares arc eating all the turnips that the blight left mo. You might have a look round when you want a bit of shooting," said a friend, a fewdays ago, so this morning 1 decided to leave something else undone, and go in search of the evil-doers. An early start had been planned, but, as it happened, the morning was the coldest we have had since winter sot in; an ovorcast, snow-threatening sky above, and the ground iron hard below, consequently it was midday before I began the four miles drive to the scene of action.

The horse's hoofs rang loudly on the frozen road, stray pools by the wayside were covered with ice, and an occasional stuniDlo warned mc that it was necessary to give all my attention to tae business of driving, if I wished to arrive in safety. Presently we turned into a side road and headed for the hills, along a track sningled here und tliere, but with long grassy intervals of very bad goiui;, whero the turf had been out up by carting and hardened into ridges by the trost. At a black, flax-bordered creek 1 had a serious dilterence «f opinion with my mare, who etrougl> objected to breaking through tb© thick skimming of ice at the edges, but a few "long oats" persuaded her to cross it in tiio end, and sue was tied up n< a sheltered corner to console herself with a feed of moro satisfying grain.

An obstacle of manuka poles and dax barred the road; ifc served the purposes of a gate—l suppose—but evidently, to open it would be a wgra of time, so I clambered over and came to my shooting ground.

Down-land—up-and-down land is a bettor term— stre-tched away in front and to the left, intersected by ferny gullks*, and gradually ascending by higher terraces to the mountain range in the distance; on the left lay a waste of cnttygrass and rushes, through which a deep, narrow brook seemingly endeavoured to prolong its course by endless twists and turns.

Any question as to whore we should •<> first was decided by my dog, who, ile I was sorting the cartridges— imber four's, into the off-side pocket, .hree's in the other—departed on a quest among the rushes, from which h<> quickl) routed out a hare. As a rule "Shot" is a well conducted dog, quite amenable to the rate of "ware chase," but this occasion was'the exception. I think the first hare jumped up unexpectedly right under his nose, so ho made a spring to try to drop it, and immediately another got up a few yards away, and yet another further on. Then "Shot" forgot himself, and, regardless of maw winged worde, chased wildly in all directions. Qurte a little colony of hares had taken up their abode in tho rushes, and he had them all out before he had finished. Three passed mc within easy distance, of which I β-tonped two, and mieeed tho third with both barrels; but half a dozen or more got off uninjured, and when at last the erring dog came to heel, he received something quite different to the praise he pretended to expect. • ■ ■-. The reet of the afternoon was* spent in workiinc tlhe fenny golißes near the turnips. There were plenty of hares, but they were very wild, and as I make a point of never firing at a hare more than forty yards away, the bag was not so large as it might have been had I taken all chances. Very few seemed to be lying up in the nearest cover to the roots, while any likely looking place half a mile or so distant was a sure find. Of all places they apparently preferred the shelter of a clump of nigger-head or outtyeraes, right at the bottom of a gully, where one would have thought the lying mu«h too wet to be comfortable. ' In crossing theturnips I noticed that tney had certainly suffered severely from the depredations of the hares, whion had gone from one to the other, taking a nibble at each, until tihey found a root that wae quite to their liking- A good many of those they had bitten into were going bad, and there was a distinct sense of raWsfaettom. in the tibougjht. itihut one was re-aMy shotftanis; ftomftifasng Iwhich was doing haVm. Twice I jowrnwyed to tfoe -braip tv.Mk a load of four, and finally wMi -Khree more, anid a fcouple of rnbWts, wWcfc "Shot" doscorfcred v.r<3rt some dn-?«d mannlba that bad He«n cut and 'left on the ground. A hladrrabbit t?ave Mβ a great bun*, but I wMVsed Mm tHrioe rartiher lwdJy, bod he got away among a. tihfek-e* <rf lawyer vitre*. Late in ifoo afternoon, tho wearier changed to a ©old* tihaw ; a wihd'te .mist carnie stealing down tV< vniUers ifrom the hills, and ac d'lsik tfb-sod' in tv© started earefuUy on fhe Ticmoward way.