Introductory 13 



The matter of clothes is almost as much one of 

 personal taste as is the choice of a rifle. The es- 

 sential thing is that they should be of some kind 

 of drab or neutral tint tending toward gray or 

 brown. Personally, after many years' experience, 

 I regard a buckskin shirt, when properly tanned, 

 as the best possible outside garment for any but 

 very rainy weather. Of course when the ther- 

 mometer gets down toward zero, a warm, heavy 

 jacket will be needed if one is on horseback. 

 The buckskin shirt should be worn as a tunic, 

 belted in at the waist. The hat should be soft, 

 with not too wide a brim. The trousers should 

 be loose and free to below the knee, and from 

 there to the ankle should button tightly down the 

 leg ; the alternative being to use over them leather 

 leggings which should have straps and buckles and 

 not buttons. Not only the soles and heels of the 

 shoes but under the insteps should be studded 

 with nails. 



To describe the necessary equipment is hardly 

 worth while, because it differs so widely in differ- 

 ent kinds of shooting. If a man lives on a ranch, 

 or is passing some weeks in a lodge in a game 

 country, and starts out for two or three days, he 

 will often do well to carry nothing whatever but 

 a blanket, a frying-pan, some salt pork, and some 

 hardtack. If the hunting-ground is such that he 

 can use a wagon or a canoe, and the trip is not 



