TRICKS.
When it is known that a man's life is one long protest against the Game
Laws he has to be exceedingly careful of his comings and goings. Every
constable, every gamekeeper, and most workers in woodcraft are aware of
the motives which bring him abroad at night. More eyes are upon him
than he sees, and no one knows better than he that the enemies most to
be feared are those who are least seen; and the man who has tasted the
bitterness of poaching penalties will do everything in his power to
escape detection. Probably the greatest aid to this end is knowing the
country by heart; the field-paths and disused bye-ways, the fordable
parts of the river, and a hundred things beside. The poacher is and must
be suspicious of everyone he meets.
In planning and carrying out forays I was always careful to observe two
conditions. No poaching secret was ever confided to another; and I
invariably endeavoured to get to the ground unseen. If my out-going was
observed it often entailed a circuit of a dozen miles in coming home,
and even then the entry into town was not without considerable risk. The
hand of everyone was against me in my unlawful calling, and many were
the shifts I had to make to escape detection or capture. To show with
what success this may be carried out, the following incident will show.
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I conceived the idea of openly shooting certain well-stocked coverts
during the temporary absence of the owner. These were so well watched
that all the ordinary measures at night seemed likely to be baffled. To
openly shoot during broad day, and under the very eye of the keeper, was
now the essential part of the programme; and to this end I must explain
as follows: The keeper on the estate was but lately come to the
district. Upon two occasions when I had been placed in the dock, I had
been described as "a poacher of gentlemanly appearance," and "the
gentleman poacher again." (My forefathers had been small estatesmen for
generations, and I suppose that some last lingering air of gentility
attached to me). Well, I had arranged with a confederate to act as bag
carrier; he was to be very servile, and not to forget to touch his cap
at pretty frequent intervals. After "making up" as a country squire--(I
had closely studied the species on the "Bench")--and providing a
luncheon in keeping with my temporary "squiredom," we started for the
woods. It was a bright morning in the last week of October, and
game--hares, pheasants, and woodcock--was exceedingly plentiful. The
first firing brought up the keeper, who touched his hat in the most
respectful fashion. He behaved, in short, precisely as I would have had
him behave. I lost no time on quietly congratulating him on the number
and quality of his birds; told him that his master would return from
town to-morrow (which I had learned incidentally), and ended by handing
him my cartridge bag to carry. A splendid bag of birds had been made by
luncheon time, and the viands which constituted the meal were very much
in keeping with my assumed position. Dusk came at the close of the short
October afternoon, and with it the end of our day's sport. The bag was
spread out in one of the rides of the wood, and in imagination I can see
it now--thirty-seven pheasants, nine hares, five woodcock, a few
rabbits, some cushats, and the usual "miscellaneous." The man of gaiters
was despatched a couple of miles for a cart to carry the spoil, and a
substantial "tip" gave speed to his not unwilling legs. The game,
however, was not to occupy the cart. A donkey with panniers was waiting
in a clump of brush by the covert side, and as soon as the panniers were
packed, its head was turned homeward over a wild bit of moorland. With
the start obtained, chase would have been fruitless had it ever been
contemplated--which it never was. I need not detail the sequel to the
incident here, and may say that it was somewhat painful to myself as
well as my bag carrier. And I am sorry to say that the keeper was
summarily dismissed by the enraged squire as a reward for his innocence.
As to the coverts, they were so well stocked, that after a few days'
rest there appeared as much game as ever, and the contents of our little
bag were hardly missed.
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Another trick to which my co-worker used to resort was to attire himself
in broad-brimmed hat and black coat similar to those worn a century ago
by the people called Quakers. In the former he carried his nets, and in
the capacious pockets of the latter the game he took. These outward
guarantees of good faith, away from his own parish, precluded him from
ever once being searched. I have already remarked, and every practical
poacher knows it to be the fact, that the difficulty is not so much to
obtain game as to transport it safely home. Although our dogs were
trained to run on a hundred yards in advance so as to give warning of
the approach of a possible enemy--even this did not always save us. A
big bag of game handicaps one severely in a cross-country run, and it is
doubly galling to have to sacrifice it. Well, upon the particular
occasion to which I refer there was to be a country funeral with a
hearse from the neighbouring market town, and of this I was determined
to take advantage. By arranging with the driver I was enabled to stow
myself and a large haul in the body of the vehicle, and, although the
journey was a cramped and stuffy one, we in time reached our
destination. As we came behind the nearest game shop the driver undid
the door, and the questionable corpse was safely landed.
[Illustration]
I need hardly say that in a long life of poaching there were many
occasions when I was brought to book. These, however, would form but a
small percentage of the times I was "out." My success in this way was
probably owing to the fact that I was chary as to those I took into
confidence, and knew that above all things keeping my own council was
the best wisdom. Another moucher I knew, but with whom I would have
nothing to do, was an instance of one who told poaching secrets to
village gossips. The "Mole" spent most of _his_ time in the county gaol,
and just lately he completed his sixty-fifth incarceration--only a few
of which were for offences outside the game laws. Well, there came a
time when all the keepers round the country side had their revenge on
me, and they made the most of it. I and my companion were fairly caught
by being driven into an ambuscade by a combination of keepers. Exultant
in my capture, the keepers from almost every estate in the neighbourhood
flocked to witness my conviction. Some of them who had at times only
seen a vanishing form in the darkness, now attended to see the man, as
they put it. As I had always been followed at nights by an old black
bitch, she, too, was produced in court, and proved an object of much
curiosity. Well, our case was called, and, as we had no good defence to
set up, it was agreed that my companion should do the talking. Without
letting it appear so, we had a very definite object in prolonging the
hearing of the case. There was never any great inclination to hurry such
matters, as the magistrates always seemed to enjoy them. "We had been
taken in the act," my co-worker told the bench. "We deserved no quarter,
and asked none. Poaching was right by the Bible, but wrong by the
law,"--and so he was rushing on. One of the Justices deigned to remark
that it was a question of "property" not morality. "Oh!" rejoined the
"Otter," "because blue blood doesn't run in my veins that's no reason
why I shouldn't have my share. But it's a queer kind of property that's
yours in that field, mine on the turnpike, and a third man's over the
next fence." The end of it was, however, a fine of L5, with an
alternative. And so the case ended. But that day the keepers and their
assistants had forgotten the first principles of watching. The best
keeper is the one that is the least seen. Only let the poacher know his
whereabouts, and the latter's work is easy. It was afterwards remarked
that during our trial not a poacher was in court. To any keeper skilled
in his craft this fact must have appeared unusual--and significant. It
became even more so when both of us were released by reason of our heavy
fine having been paid the same evening. Most of the keepers had had
their day out, and were making the most of it. Had their heads not been
muddled they might have seen more than one woman labouring under loaded
baskets near the local game dealers; these innocently covered with
mantling cresses, and so, at the time, escaping suspicion. Upon the
memorable day the pheasants had been fed by unseen hands--and had
vanished. The only traces left by the covert side were fluffy feathers
everywhere. Few hares remained on the land; the rest had either been
snared or netted at the gates. The rabbits' burrows had been ferreted,
the ferrets having been slyly borrowed at the keeper's cottage during
his absence for the occasion. I may say that, in connection with this
incident, we always claimed to poach square, and drew the line at
home-reared pheasants--allowing them "property." Those found wild in the
woods were on a different footing, and we directed our whole knowledge
of woodcraft against them.
Here is another "court" incident, in which I and my companion played a
part. We came in contact with the law just sufficient to make us know
something of its bearings. When charged with being in possession of
"game" we reiterated the old argument that rabbits were vermin--but it
rarely stood us in good stead. On one occasion, however, we scored.
Being committed for two months for "night poaching," we respectfully
informed the presiding Justice that, at the time of our capture, the sun
had risen an hour; and further, that the law did not allow more than
half the sentence just passed upon us. Our magistrate friend--to whom I
have more than once referred--was on the bench, and he told his brother
Justices that he thought there was something in the contention. The old
Clerk looked crabbed as he fumbled for his horn spectacles, and, after
turning over a book called "Stone's Justices' Manual," he solemnly
informed the bench that defendants in their interpretation were right.
We naturally remember this little incident, and as the law has had the
whip hand of us upon so many occasions, chuckle over it.
We invariably made friends with the stone-breakers by the road-sides,
and just as invariably carried about us stone-breakers' hammers, and
"preserves" for the eyes. When hard pressed, and if unknown to the
pursuing keeper, nothing is easier than to dismiss the dog, throw off
one's coat, plump down upon the first stone heap on the road, and go to
work. If the thing is neatly done, and the "preserves" cover the face,
it is wonderful how often this ruse is successful. The keeper may put a
hasty question, but he oftener rushes after his man. Mention of
stone-heaps reminds me of the fact that they are better "hides" for nets
than almost anything else, especially the larger unbroken heaps. We
invariably hid our big cumbrous fishing nets beneath them, and the
stones were just as invariably true to their trust.
Going back to my earliest poaching days I remember a cruel incident
which had a very different ending to what its author intended. A young
keeper had made a wager that he would effect my capture within a certain
number of days, and my first intimation of this fact was a sickening
sight which I discovered in passing down a woodland glade just at dawn
on a bright December morning. I heard a groan, and a few yards in front
saw a man stretched across the ride. His clothes were covered with hoar
frost, he was drenched in blood, and the poor fellow's pale face showed
me that of the keeper. He was held fast in a man-trap which had terribly
lacerated his lower limbs. He was conscious, but quite exhausted.
Although in great agony he suffered me to carry him to a neighbouring
hay-rick, from whence we removed him to his cottage. He recovered
slowly, and the man-trap which he had set the night before was, I
believe, the last ever used in that district.
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