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A potpourri of stories about various family members or events, written by others and edited by me.
Wildlife in this Area 1871 to the Present
[This is an item that my grandfather Jesse Hibbard wrote (and typed) in 1970. My (Al) role was first to transcribe it, next to add corrections or clarifications [within brackets], and then to add links to people connected to me (that gives more information), links to give more information about places, and for those mentioned but not connected, I sometimes added links to FamilySearch.org.]
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Transcription
To Ed Hibbard [handwritten]
A Few Notes on Wildlife in this Area 1871 to the Present. Feb. 9, 1970.
My mother, Roseann Doran, came east from Frisco [San Francisco] to Omaha on the third east-bound train, then to St. Paul where they lived a while, then moved to Rosemount for a year or so, then came to Sherburne County.
She used to tell in later years of the great migrations of wild pigeons that were still going over in the early seventies for 2 or 3 days each spring and fall, she thought the last one was in the fall of 1873. When the flights suddenly ended people here assumed that the flights had moved farther west.
When my father's family came in the spring of 1871 [from very upstate NY, near the U.S. border] deer must have been rather plentiful. The older brother Herman shot the deer and young Howard [Jesse's father] went out with a team and sled to haul them home where they skinned back the front half which was then cut off for home consumption, that part of the skin was then wrapped around the hind half, frozen and sold to a dealer in one of the 3 villages [Upper Town, Middle Town, Lower Town] that later grew together to become St. Cloud. These dealers were the owners of butcher shops.
The largest number of deer Herman ever got in one day was 4. A few times he got 2, but in a few years the deer became extinct in this immediate area and by the nineties were considered to be gone forever. By 1930 or so they were occasionally seen again. I saw my first deer in June 1934 about 2 miles N.W. of here.
In the seventies there were occasional sandhill cranes shot during their migrations, and my dad thought they were the best eating of any wild meat.
Prairie chickens were plentiful from the coming of agriculture. They had their ups and downs year to year, for instance, in 1910 the first day of the season I got 4 and Alois got 6. In 1912 we got 2. As late as 1922 we had at least 2 known nests on this farm each year. When the hen would fly up when I was plowing I would plow a few feet around her and later she would watch me go by each round, sitting on the nest not too worried, apparently.
During the late summer and fall of 1922 I saw more flocks of prairie chickens than at any time in my life. I think that was a closed season year. In 1923 the season was opened and there were enough so that I got 3, and everyone got some. From then on they passed out of the picture fast. I shot one that you [he is likely addressing his son, my dad, Ed] mentioned northwest of Netz between 1931 and 1933. I remember definitely that in 1932 when the season was opened in certain areas the Indian [a hired man of his] and I got about 7 in a prairie region 4 miles east of Page.
Saw my last one, apparently a lone and lonely survivor, flying from one group of trees to another, and each time landing in a tree. Suppose that was why it was still alive. Another thing concerning prairie chickens: in the years when they were still around in average numbers we would sometimes see great flocks of 60 or more in late fall. One cold day in the twenties when no one was living across the road there were a great many, perhaps a 100, sitting in the trees one morning.
QUAIL — the first around here were noticed about 1890. They sat on fence posts in the spring and were valued for their “Bob White” whistle. They were about in the same category as meadow larks. As the years passed they became plentiful. It seems that no one ever shot any until after 1900. A 16 year old boy named Haner Hoblitt [whose father was a neighbor to Abraham Lincoln] from the Monticello area lived with us from 1902 – 1904 and he started bringing home as many as 16 at a time and we learned what good eating they are. During the early 1900s I caught some in traps set around corn stacks for rabbits. Once when we were washing a buggy in the highway ditch near the end of the lane after a big rain I found a quail nest under the fence with 16 eggs. During the twenties they gradually became fewer and the last I saw was a small flock of about 6 along Elk River in 1936. It seems that the quail and the prairie chicken passed out of the picture at about the same time.
Pheasant — shot my first pheasants near Wheaton in 1930 when we were after ducks. [He may have been in Wheaton since his wife had cousins there.] That was the first time we had ever eaten any, but they came in fast around here. The Indian shot some in 1932, more in 1933, and in 1934. I got 7 in an hour along the creek.
The Secords [Haven township neighbors] started hunting deer in the Starr mill area in the late 80s. Some of the boys would drive up there with a team and wagon or sled, they had a large tarpaulin to cover the wagon box and horses and would sleep in the wagon box. Their dad would drive up once a week or 10 days, stay over night, then return with any deer they had to sell in St. Cloud. They sometimes put in 5 weeks and the most deer they ever got was 26. After a few years they built a shanty up there and different people went up there to hunt with them.
Old Jim [I think this was an Indian that used to work for Jesse] once told me about one of my cousins [likely either Herman's sons (Myron or George) or Mary ‘s sons (Warren, Ernest, or Truman) – both families lived in the area for a time], a 17 year old, who came up [to] visit them and they hadn't shot any thing recently so had no meat. This teenager told them he would show them how to get some meat for supper, and when they heard him shoot to come and help drag it in. He went only a short distance when they heard the roar of his 8 gauge shotgun with 30 40 buckshot — the deer was rather well blasted to pieces,but they had meat for supper.
Old Harmon Marquart [Marquit], one of my dad's brothers-in-law, a Civil war vet. who lived mostly on his pention [sic, pension], also spent some time up there after they had a shanty.
On summer evenings when I was a small boy we would sit on the porch on the east side of the house and watch the night hawks sailing about in the sky – rather high, perhaps 300 to 500 feet – and they were easily distinguished by the white spots on the under sides of their wings. Haven't seen one for maybe 40 years.
Bobolinks were at least as common as meadowlarks 40 years ago, now they are quite rare. Of course, in the horse and buggy days people had a much greater opportunity to observe wildlife along the roads.
Upland plovers were common when I was young, I once shot one off a post with my small 22 revolver while walking out from town when I was about 15.
Jackrabbits were unknown until in the 90s, saw my first track about 1902.
About 1890 Harry [Jesse's oldest brother] went hunting one Sunday over north in Biggerstaff's swamp and brought home 4 rabbits, one he thought was a jackrabbit, but my dad said it was a snow shoe – he had spent some time one fall – 1892 – on a homestead with a nephew [most likely Warren Westurn] out in the woods from Two Harbors [on north shore of MN]. There were no deer that far north at that time, but they saw plenty of caribou tracks. He had his 32.20 Winchester along and they lived on ruffed grouse. He mentioned seeing spruce grouse, but I don't think they ate any. Ruffed grouse would be sitting up in the trees eating buds in the early morning and were easy to get with a rifle. Snowshoe rabbits were common there.
Am unable to remember when the fox squirrel got this far north, but I think it was between 1940 – 43. The first one I ever saw was running on the clothes line posts one noon.
[handwritten] J. E. Hibbard
[Questions that I (Al) have: (1) Q: Who is Alois mentioned above? I know a friend or neighbor had that name, but I don't recall the last name. A: Bromenschenkel. (2) Q: Where is the locality called Page? It must be unincorporated now. A: There is a place with this name north of Milaca on US 169, shy of halfway to Onamia. (3) Who is “Old Jim”? Was there a Jim Hartman? ]
Published 2021-02-19. Revised 2025-08-23.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [About the editor, Al]
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