What was it like to hunt in Minnesota in the late 1800s? Imagine an open prairie or virgin forest, teaming with game birds and big game. No bag limits existed at the time and the immigrant population of the state numbered only in the thousands.Windom was a bird hunter's paradise. Aitkin and Hallock drew big game hunters from the big cities on the east coast. Willmar, Bird Island and Sauk Centre were pioneer country, where prairies held millions of ducks and prairie grouse."Minnesota - a Sportsman's Paradise" gives a first-person narrative of what hunting was like in the 1850 - 1900 frontier of Minnesota. Gleaned from the pages of sporting publications of the day, here are the first European hunters with modern firearms retelling what they encountered on their hunting expeditions. Railroad cars brought them to St. Paul, Madelia and Brainerd, but only footpower and horses carried them beyond that.And what they describe is incredible to envision. Near cities whose names we recognize, and on lakes and rivers we still hunt, we are given vivid descriptions of the multitude of birds and game. Clouds of ducks, fields crawling with sharptailed grouse, herds of elk - all in places we still hunt today.And pictures! Amazing black and white photos showing the fruits of the labors. Appalling by today's standards, but bragging rights back then. Wagons full of gamebirds, bags of moose and deer that only a wilderness could provide. Only the social elite could afford to have a photograph, but here is the president of First National Bank, investors from New York, and other titans of industry and government.So come take a trip back in time. See how your favorite haunts were also enjoyed by hunters more than a century ago. It is an engaging and entertaining glimpse into the Sportsman's Paradise that was Minnesota.