NCE more the yearly cycle has brought us round to the season when all good sportsmen are planning their Christmas shoot. 'There are those, not of the fraternity of the shotgun' and who will reflect on the bloodthirstiness of the average male of the human species, probably not realizing that in many' cases the killing of "certain so-called game birds and animals is merely the excuse and not the reason for the annual outing. Deep down in the souls of many men is an abiding and indestructible love of the wilds, but to live in the wilds means that one must be a hunter or perish, therefore all Nature overs are, more or less, hunters. It is the call of old Mother Nature that is dragging them out from their comfortable homes to face the hardships of the wilderness much more than any instinct to go and kill something. It is the sheer love of the untrammelled freedom of it all, the feel of stubble under foot and the sighing of the pines overhead that call them. Nevertheless, we cannot deny that the hunting instinct is still a strong one within the human breast, and #o your lover of the silent places takes with him his trusty gun, and, in making his choice of locality, picks out some district where he knows he will get something approaching the thrills of the chase that were his ancestor's when the earth was young, The Christmas shoot in China is a very different thing from what it is in England. There are no such things as house parties in the country where the host lays oper his grounds to his visitors and provides them with shooting. In China if one wants.to do a bit of shooting one must go after it, which leads to the perennial question in' the mind of every sportsman: where can he go for-his outing?
There are many who are satisfied so Jong as they can be sure of a few shots a day at birds, such as pheasants, ducks, snipe or even quail, and who never ask for more than a comfortable walk across the fields accompanied by their trusty pointer or setter. These do not have to trouble 80 much ubout choosing their grounds, since they can get what they want in many places without much journeying.
But there are men who want something strenuous, who demand the backwoods, the great rugged ranges, and whose quarry must be something worth while, something rare and hard to get, since they are willing to put the whole success or failure of a far as the bag is concerhwell-directed shot. These ther afield and must make a much more careful selection of their hunting grounds, China as a game country offers a wide range of sport, but it will be found that to get the larger animals the sportsman will have to seek the wilder. parts and high mountainous areas of the north, west or centre, or, failing these, the jungles of Indo-China, 'The game to be found in the east and south mainly consists of birds, with here and there more or less limited spots where big game, such a8 pigs, serow, goral or spotted deer may be' found, though most of the hilly or mountainous areas harbour such predacious animals as wolves, leopards and tigers.
But it is to the northern shooting grounds, those accessible from Peking, that the sportsman must go if he wants to bbe sure of some good chances of shots at big game animals. Here there is a remarkable variety of animals that come within the category of big game, and a well-planned shooting trip may yield heads of half a dozen different kinds of animals. that come within the category of big game, and a well-planned shooting trip may yield Keads of half a dozen different kinds of animals. Following is a list of these animals with theft Chinese names and the they are most certain -to be 1. Bigshord Sheep, Ar.
all or Pan Yang...N, W. Shansi. 2 Wapiti or Ma Lu.... N. W. Shansi and 5 ' Manchoria. '3. Sika Deer or Met Hua Lie, sessesns, We. Shan I Grounds Wild \Pig or Yeh Chu. W, Shansi.
6. Blue Sheep, Bharat oF Guai Yang i. W. _Shansi '(orth of OF dos Desert). Serow or Yeh La 8, Shensi.
Roedeer or Prac-tzu Gora, oF Li jos Imperial Hunting Shanet Mancha 10. Goitred Antelope' oF Huang Ye 11, Praewalshi's Antelope oF Huang Yang... Ordos Desert and 32, Musk-deer, Heleng-tou Borde Shens Imperial Hunting Grounds and Manchuria, 17, Tiger or Lao Hu sosu 18, Wolf or Long.....
This makes a goodly list, and the beauty of it is that in each of the known hunting areas several of these animals may be had.
For instance, the Imperial Hunting Grounds, or Eastern Tombs area, now, alas, fast being spoilt by settlers, harbours sika deer, roeder, gorals, wolves, leopards, an occasional black bear and, it is said, even tigers. Here the country is very beautiful, or was till the Chinese began cutting down the forests, cultivating the land, and destroying the game. At one time it offered very good hunting, and, besides the large animals mentioned, very good pheasant shooting. Reeve's phear sant and the pucras or koklas pheasant were to be had as well as the ring-neck. There still remains a small area in this region, where the Black Dragon Mountain (Wu Lung Shan) raises its rugged peaks above the pine and oak covered ridges. To reach this spot it is necessary to travel east from Tung Chow to the mountains and then northward to Hsin Lung Shan, where a settlement has grown up. The Journey is a rough one, but it can be managed comfortably in three days. One well remembers a three weeks trip made into this country before the settlers had come in, and very enjoyable it was, though the net results as far as big game It is rather a remarkable thing that there are no wild pigs in this region, since everywhere else in North China where similar conditions exist these animals are abundant. They must at one time have been here and subsequently must have been exterminated by disease. Pi extraordinarily subject to disease, and it not infrequently happens that an area where they were abundant one season will be completely depleted the next, the remains of pigs that have died being found scattered over the countryside.
The best country for wild pigs is undoubtedly in Shansi, where in the mountains that run from north to south on both the western and eastern sides of the province are more or less wooded and harbour much game. In some places actual forests occur, especially in the west, but pigs are to be found even where there is nothing more in the way of cover than of small trees or low scrub and brush.
All the shooting grounds lie within a few days journey by road from Tai-yuan Fu, at the end of the Chen-Tai Railway. Recently the bultting of good motor roads in the province has brought the hunting grounds even closer, and three weeks is ample time to allow for a really good shooting trip from Peking: say four weeks from Shanghai. The beauty of. the West Shansi shooting grounds is that besides the abundance of wild pigs, there is. the best of pheasant and partridge shooting to be had, whilst roeder are also plentiful.
Ona three weeks trip made bj; the writ-and two friends from Tientsin one winter a few years ago, in about ten shooting days the total bag was two wild pigs, three roeder, a leopard and about a hundred and fifty head of. pheasants, partwidges, and rockdoves. A bustard also was shot on the way to the shooting grounds. The bag should have been much etter, but inexperience in big game hunt ing led to some remarkably bad shootisfg, and found magnificent boars, put up at different times escaped with nothing worst than a bad fright. Roedeer were thick, but were left alone after each member of the party had dropped his buck; while pheasant and partridge shooting was only indulged in on a few occasions between the more strenuous business of pig: hunting.
If one travels far enough into the Shar si mountains and gets into the great fo ests of the Ning Wu or Kolan districts, where the peaks run up to 9,000 and 10,000-ft., there is a good chance of running across the beautiful sika deer. This animal is about the size of the British red deer, and carries a fine head of horns. But it is excessively shy and hard to appro while the Chinese hunters of the district do all in their power to prevent the foreign sportsman getting a shot. The value of the horns, when in velvet, of this deer is so great that the hunters are jealous of anyone from outside getting a specimen. One foreigner, only, so far as the writer is aware, has bagged a Shansi sika, and that was Mr. J. Holmberg, of Tientsin, It is in these high, heavily forested mountains that the Shansietiger is found, but this animal is very rare and only once in a very long time is one secured and brought out to be sold, when it fetches a fabulous price for its' skin, flesh, blood and bones; the three latter being used for medicine by the Chinese. In these mountains also the musk deer is prevalent, but being a shy and much persecuted animal, is seldom seen by the sportsman, Away to the north of the areas just discussed, in the extreme northern and north-western part of Shansi Province, on the Mongolian borders, lie the much' reowned wild sheep grounds, 'These can now be reached by railway, the point of departure from the latter' being Kwei Hua Ting.
North Shansi as a wild sheep ground was discovered over twenty years ago, but the fact was known to very few. It was not till about 1911 or 12, when Mr. F. M. Schroeder, then of the British-American Tobacco Company, and a very keen sportsman, discovered sheep in the mountains within twelve miles of Kwei Hua Ting, subsequently informing the present writer, who, after personal investigation, made the news public, that this district became the resort of would-be big game hunters, Subsequently it was found that further along the range wapiti, or the large Asiatic red deer, were to be found, the writer in company with Mr. Schroeder and two others being the first foreigners to secure these deer in this part of China.
To give an idea of what this region is like from a big game hunter's point of view, it may be mentioned that the writer, accompanied by Major Tom Holcomb, the then U.S. Language Officer at Peking, made a three weeks' trip through it, baggy ing between them twenty head of big game. This included wapiti, big-horn sheep roeder, and goral, amongst which were some very handsome heads.
On the way to these hunting- grounds, while crossing the Kwet Hua Ting plain they ran into several herds of antelope, the exact species of which was not ascertained as no specimens were secured. Quite recently the discovery has been made that further along the range of mountains to the north-west of Kwei Hua Ting, the blue sheep or bharal is plentiful, and several nice specimens have been brought out by sportsmen. All of which simply means that North-west Shansi is one of the finest big game regions China, and a sportsman in a five or six weeks' trip may reasonably expect to get heads of six horn-bearing animals. Add to these the sika deer and wild pig of further south, together with wolves and leopards;"which are common, not to mention the: innumerable: pheasants, partridges, dicks, geese, bustard, snipe and hare, 4b Bhansi Province "becomes the best all'roiind shooting country; in China:
Nearer to Peking than Shansi is Inneg Mongolia, but here the only game one likely to: get is goitred antelope. This animal is about the size of a domestic sheep, though standing higher because of its longer legs. It occurs in immense herds of from 500 to 1,000 strong on the plains or in small herds of six or seven in the more hilly parts. The small herds generally consist of males and good heads should be sought amongst these and not in the big herds, Railway and motorcar have brought the hunting of antelopes on" the Mongolian Plateau within a day and a halt's journey from Peking.
Manchuria as a hunting ground is not what it used to be, but there are still some very good areas easily accessible from the Chinese Eastern Railway, notably between Harbin and Vladivostok. Here in the forests very good bear shooting may be had, as well as wapiti and roeder. The black bear is the commonest, but a grizzly so to be found; while tigers are not infrequently killed by native or Russian professional hunters, pigs are also Prevalent in these forests, as well as hazel grouse, hare, pheasants and sometimes black' grouse. In isolated areas goral and sika deer are also to be found. The only trouble here is the complete lack of transport and the ever-present danger from bandits, called in Manchuria Hung-
Finally the high mountainous area South Shensi_ may be mentioned as an attractive shooting country for such as have the time, The whole range of mountains that runs from west to east in this region, commencing on the Tibetan border and South-west Kansu and ending in North-western Honan is known as the Tsing ling; but different parts are separately named. Of these the most famous is the Tai Pei Shan in South-west Shensi, since here the peaks rise up to 12,000 feet, and the massive ranges har-hour the most coveted and rarest of all the big game of China, namely, the takin. This animal is as large as an ox, but is a member of the goat-antelope family, to which also belong the serow, gor European chamois and Rocky Mountai goat. The' takin inhabits the most precipitous cliffs and mountain tops, being as agile a climber as any of the goat family. It is never found at a lower altitude than 8,000 ft. It can be imagined, then, what a difficult animal it is to hunt, Tt keeps mainly to the rhododendron forests and dwarf bamboo jungles, feeding almost entirely on the young leaves of the bamboo. It occurs' in herds of from two or three individuals up to forty, ix very stupid, and when found in the open, is not at all difficult fo approach. But it is not always easy to. find it in the open, and one may hunt for days in country covered with takins' spoor and yet never set eyes on one of the ai themselves. Full-sized bull takins run up to over 600 Ibs. in weight and develop very handsome horns, which are characteristically shaped and twisted back in a peculiar manner. The hunting of takin is extremely arduous since it involves so much stiff climbing and often long day's travel over the rough est of country, But a good head makes a trophy of which any sportsman should be proud.
In the foothills of the Tai Pei Shan roeder and pheasants are extraordinarily abundant, while the whole of the South Shansi plain, through which runs the Wei River, simply swarms with wild geese, wild ducks, teal, bustards and hard. It is possible to enjoy the finest of bird shooting as one travels across this plain. This region is reached by railway from Peking, by taking the Po-Han Line as far as Chen-chou, and then the Pien-Lo as far as 'Tungkwan. Thence cart must be taken to Si-an-fu, the capital of Shensi, and from there pack-mules, four days' journey to the foot of the Tai Pei Shan. Every thing has to be carried by men.into the mountains, and even so the going is so heavy that only very lights loads can be taken. This means that the sportsman must shed almost every comfort and many necessities, but the scenery of these mountains is so magnificent and the quarry so handsome, that they are well worth the hardships that must be endured.
From all this t will be seen that the sn, of Peking or Tientsin are well situated to obtain first class big game hunting if they can take off from three weeks to a month at Christmas, tint while the Shanghai, sportsman can enjoy the same by adding a week to the time allowed for his trip.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.