THE ART OF DUCK SHOOTING. 



GUNS AND LOADING. 



Wildfowl are in a measure protected against the 

 gunner, not only by their difficulty of access, and by 

 their wariness, but also by a coat of armor — their thick 

 feathers — which is not easily penetrated. Few things 

 are more important to success, therefore, than the gun 

 which a man uses, and the loads which he puts in that 

 gun. About these matters every individual has his own 

 opinion, and as there are many men who gun, so there 

 are many minds about guns and ammunition. 



Practically, the 12-gauge gun shoots as strongly and 

 as closely as a larger arm, yet its load is usually smaller, 

 though the circle of its pattern is quite as effective. A 

 friend, who is a remarkable shot on upland game, uses 

 a little five-pound 12-gauge gun, from which he shoots 

 two and a half or three drams of powder and a small 

 charge of shot. With this arm he kills upland game at 

 surprising distances, and on the coast of California has 

 used it with success in duck, and even in goose, shoot- 

 ing. Not very long ago, during a trip to the North 

 Carolina coast, where excellent shooting was had at 

 canvas-backs and other ducks, he used this arm, al- 

 though advised to take a heavier gun, and to shoot 



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