Just what is a snipe hunt? It is a wild goose chase, a fool’s errand, a practical joke, and it was a favorite game to play on the innocent campers who had no idea how this imaginary task would play out. The inexperienced camper was given instructions on how to capture a snipe, which usually involved making crazy noises, carrying a bag and a stick, and banging rocks in attempts to ferret out the snipe.
Audrey Graff (1948) and Mary Jane Keschman (1944-54) both had funny memories of snipe hunts. “We would round up a new girl and walk out to the woods and tell her we were going to bring back a ground snipe from the woods, and send it her way to catch. Poor girls,” laughed MaryJane,” what we did was just leave them there and they would wait and wait for us.”
“First the camper was given a bag or a pillow case, then taken to the woods. She was told, everyone else will scout around for the snipes,” said Barb Cruey (1956). “She was to call the snipe and it will go in her bag. Everyone then left her and waited. Eventually, the camper returned with the empty bag and was told it was a prank. I don’t remember anyone ever being upset or crying, just feeling silly and couldn’t wait to pull snipe hunting on someone else.”
Cabin six had a snipe hunt in 1965 and it was documented in the “Loon”. Nancy Weber told the excited group that a snipe was a black bird with a red crest and that they could be sold for $10, but the gold crested snipes were worth $50! “Horse” told the girls, “Call them by hitting two sticks together and call “here snipe” in a normal voice”.
The girls paired off with pillow cases and sticks in hand. Linda Pryzgocki and the un-named author partnered and “took to the hills” with the goal of two snipes to “wow everyone”. Linda hit the sticks and called the snipe call, with the pillowcase around her neck to ward off the mosquitoes, which were hideous.
“Suddenly, something dark and large loomed up in front of us’’ and one of the girls gasped and one cried out, but it was only a tree stump. (Relief) By then, they were lost and decided to forget snipes and run, so they made their way back to the firebowl in Senior Village, where they soon discovered there was no such thing as a snipe and there was much laughter.
Sharon Wilcox camped in the late forties’ and early fifties’ and recalled the snipe hunt was a “huge production—scaring up the snipe”. The counselors took them out to the fields their first year of camp. “We were young and excited, never frightened. I wish I could remember more, how long it lasted. I am sure they served us ‘bug juice” (Kool-Aid) and cookies after we finished. If you went on a hunt once, you never went again. I am sure the counselors organized it. Many years later I did that, when camping with friends. I took their kids out. We still talk about it and laugh—they will never forget it and it was one wonderful experience I took from Maqua.”
“One of my funniest memories is of the snipe hunts, where we would sit in a field across from the Infirmary and tap or rub two sticks together and we would get so mad if anyone made any noise,” said Kim Moore, who camped in the sixties’ and seventies’. “We were afraid they would scare the snipes away and that this year would be the year we would finally catch one! Now I realize it was just a great idea to keep us all in one place for awhile and quiet!”
Were you the victim or the perpetrator in the snipe hunts?