Sport Across the World

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18950, 20 May 1933, Page 11 (Supplement)

Sport Across the World

WILD BOARS are dangerous at any time, tout to be attacked by an intoxicated troop of them must be an experience no hunter wishes to have twice. Count C. A. C. de ■Lewenhaupt, a Swedish sportsman, tells us In “Sport Across the World,” that -when he was hunting in Florida a rich harvest of acorns had recently fallen from the oak trees and, “intoxicated by the quantity they had eaten, these black creatures were in a state of frenzy.” Quickly he climbed a tree, dragging his dog up with him. He awaited developments:— “At first I found it amusing, there being about thirty of them, including sows and young ones, all behaving in a manner infinitely grotesque and laughable. The males had most formidable tusks, and all were clearly fuddled; even the smallest or the young pigs seemed affected. Evidently our successful retreat had annoyed them; they snorted and grunted, then the big ones started to dig up the earth with their snouts and feet. ... . “The situation -began to grow serious when the chief of the troop started digging a trench round the roots of our tree/ The oount killed one with his rifle, but this only spurred the others on to greater ■efforts. The tree was nearly down before he had time to wound five or six of them, frightening the troop away. In Florida, too, he indulged in a spOTt that for sheer excitement must be hard to beat— l Crocodile Shooting by Night. In Intense darkness he tied his small heat to a tree, lit an eleotrio lantern, and fastened It to his forehead with a handkerchief. He sat motionless for some time, and after about a quarter of an hour 4, 1 saw two faint little points -of light oomlng towards me. Looking to the side I saw others. I knew they were crocodiles’ eyes, and that their ■owners were quietly but Irresistibly attracted towards the light. ... “When the nearest of them was only three yards from the boat, I fired. An eddy ■of foam assured me that I 'had not missed. All the others disappeared as though by magic—though only for a few moments. Soon further glow-worm eyes began to show here and there. My next shot missed, for a blaok hand with long olaws oaught hold of the side of the boat, making it seesaw 1 plaoed the muzzle of my Winchester against the temple of the uninvited guest, iflred, and saw him sink.” In all, he says, he bagged eight crocodiles, finding them In daylight floating stomaoh upwards in the water. But crocodiles can he Extremely Tenaolous of Life. Count Lewenhaupt was ouoe skinning one lie had shot, and had already stripped Its forepart when “the first out into his thighs seemed, to disquiet him. The tail, two , yards long, became suddenly animated and K struck me a blow whioh knocked me down. As with snakes, there is, if not life, at least sensibility and motive power in the part of the body looked on as the least Important for some hours after the rest of the body is dead." Off the coast of California Count Lewenhaupt went shark shooting. A large lump of meat was trailed along by a pieoe of rope; soon a fin appeared, and the bait was jerked sharply from time to time, bringing It gradually closer to the boat. When the shark finally swallowed the meat he was only three yards away from me; I fired a shot at the spot where I imagined his Bloodthirsty Little Brain Was Situated. It is common knowledge that dum-dum bullets flatten out like mushrooms on coming In contact with a bone; the shark, however,

Huntsman’s Interesting Reminiscenses.

did not seem in the least put out by it, continuing to chew' his food and pulling the line after him as he drew' away from the boat ... ■ We saw that the enemy w'as beginning to feel uncomfortable; he dived and twisted and came up to the surface as though foi air; at the end of a quarter of an hour he was floating stomach upwards, dead and harmless. During his life Count Lewenhaupt has collected all kinds of strange pets, from bats to vipers. In Alabama he adopted a tiny flying squirrel, which proved to be a delightfully mischievous companion. At Savannah he took It in his pocket to a gala performance at the Opera. All was well at first, but unfortunately, we are told, the priina donna let herself go on a top note so high and so false that he buried his teeth in my thumb with all his strength. I pulled my hand out of my pocket, and with it came Kick. Letting go his grip lie dropped on the neck of a lady in full evening dress a 1 ting directly in front of us. The miraculous appearance of a little hairy animal caused her to let out a shriek which Pierced the Ears of the Listeners like a gimlet, and the audience, imagining that the prima donna had surpassed herself, broke forth into thunderous applause. While the decolletee lady fainted away, I furtively removed little Kick from her shoulder and put him back in my pocket. But the prima donna’s fortune was made. Next day, says the Count, “all the newspapers in Georgia announced in huge type that iic.' singer in the world had ever sung the C double-sharp with such verve as she” ! One of the Count’s most adventurous hunting trips was a three months' stay with his w’ife—she nearly always travels with him —at Moon Lake near the Mississippi. He bought some 'land on which to build a but from a certain Mr B , who apologised for shaking hands with his left hand, explaining that he had got a bullet in his shoulder recently:— "Poor you,” I remarked, sympathetically. “One of these devils of niggers did it, I suppose?" “No, this one was a white man; the blacks don't know how to shoot.” "And what became of the white man?” I went on, sympathetically. “He’s dead,” Mr B answered, imperturbably. Visiting one of his few white neighbours, ■the Count asked the owner of the house why the place was surrounded by a strong palisade. This was the 'comforting reply he received: — “I oan see that you new arrivals. It is absolutely essential to have some sort of enclosure round your house. Not that it exactly Prevents Those Devils of Blacks from breaking in, if they want to, but custom allows you to fire from your rooms and yard. It Is always dangfirus; to , wait until the niggers have climbed up to your windows; when necessary, I polish them off from inside the palisade. It is easier and ■cleaner ...” Once a company of Negroes arrived, saying that they wished to catch spoon-fish—-a large fish, often six feet in length, with a spoon-shaped growth something like that of a swordfish. The Count asked them why they bothered to catch this fish:'— “You know they are uneatable on account of their coarse, oily flesh." ‘‘That doesn't matter,” the leader informed me, showing his thirty-two magnificent teeth. "We out the fish open and take out the eggs—the roe, you know—and •sell it in New York as Russian caviare. Then we slice up the fish ourselves, smoke them, and sell them in Chicago for a good price as Swedish smoked salmon."