| OCR Text |
Show Auto in the Hunt -" OUTSTRIPS HORSE IN COURSING FLEET-FOOTED ANTELOPE. Party of Montana Nlmrods Try the Up-to-Date Method and Declare That It Is the Most Exciting Excit-ing Kind of Sport. Even when coursing tho fleet-footed deer must tho horse glvo way to the automobile, for the speedy buzz wagon has been pressed Into service by tho rosourceful hunters of Montana, and now a 40-mila an hour clip Is hit up , ovor tho prairies us tho fleetest of all animals of tho western plains tho antelope Is pursued. Such Is the twenttoth century method of hunting, for tho first tlmo practiced by a party of four Helena men. Lewis Ponwell, W. F. Parker, C. D. Witter and C. H. Fllckongor aro the men who havo resorted re-sorted to this unlquo method of bringing bring-ing tho fleet-footed gomo within rango of their rifles, nnd they declare It Is moro exciting than running horses, stoeplo chasing or any of the other sports which are so popular through the element of excitement Involved. It Is dangerous, too. A hidden ravine, ra-vine, the mound of earth at the mouth of a badger or gopher bolo. or tho thorns of a prickly pear, are obstacles to test the nervo of tho most venturesome. venture-some. Let the driver turn his attention atten-tion for tho fraction of a second from his machine, and a Jumbled mass of twisted stool, splintered wood and mnnglod bojlos will Utter the veldt. Hut tho oxhllaratlon of the now sport, tho rush of wind ngatnst tho chock, the blurred vision, of gophor colonies, patches of prickly pear, sage brush, the momentary glimpse of deep coulees, or ditch, as tho driver sharply sharp-ly turns tho whocl and guides the ma-chlno ma-chlno past safely, and the white and brown dotB ahead running on a straightway courso, becoming larger and more cloarly discerned, and then receding again as tho machine swings out of Its course because of a coulee; and finally, tho Jumping specko on tbo prairie assuming deflnlto shapo as an telopes, tho quick stop and tho running shot those aro tho elements which comblno to mako antclopo chusmg by automobile worth tho whllo of nny sportsman. Tho noxt day tho home ranch of tho Pcnwell Ranch Company was reached nnd the next morning the party went out for antelopo, on the gently sloping flats' from tho Musselshell river, toward tho Little Pelt mountains. A mllo from tho ranch a band of two wero sighted and tho result was tho same, so it was determined to glvo chase in tho auto. Two miles away two antolopo Jumped up and sped on a 'direct courso toward tho mountains, Tho power was turned on and the' novel race was under way. Tho first quarter of a mllo the animals ani-mals (I row away, Tho machine was traveling at tho ratq.of 40 miles an hour across tho pralrio and soon tho gap began to dlmlnsh, Tho machine had gono threo miles when tho animals ani-mals had a lead of only nbout BOO yards. A quick, short spurt was mado and tho machine broughjt to on abrupt stop. An antelope, when hard prossed, will not attempt to dodge, but unfailingly unfail-ingly anglos across in front of Its pursuer. pur-suer. It was thlB trait which tho hunters doponded upon, and when tho antolopo crossed, W. F Parker dropped hlm.ln its tracks. Soon n bunch of ton was sighted nnd thoy headed for tho Llttio Dolt mountains, moun-tains, 12 mllos distant After a bard run of live miles tho machine was running parullet with tho band, aud about 200 ynrds distant. Again tho machine stopped, tho untolopo swung ncross tho Hat in front of' tho hunters and a second animal dropped. Two moro wcro shot In tho samo way, ono by Mr. Wlttor and tho other by Mr. Fllckenger. Ono of theso was wounded the first shot, but the hunters hunt-ers followed It up In tho machlno and killed It as it leaped across a ravine. The Helena men, who havo Just returned, re-turned, declare tho sport la unsurpassed unsur-passed and that It excels any. other kind of shooting. |
