34 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



possess decided advantages over the conical ball at short 

 ranges, is undoubted ; hence those who do not care to try- 

 long shots would find them very effective, and would lose 

 less game with them than they would with the conical bul- 

 let fired with ninety-five grains of powder. 



For forest-shooting a rifle cannot be compared to a good 

 breech-loading gun charged with buckshot, as a single ball 

 is liable to be swerved from its course by trees and matted 

 shrubbery. One may fire at a deer with a rifle several 

 times in the dense woods and miss it, whereas he may tum- 

 ble it over at once with a dose of buckshot, as some of the 

 charge is likely to hit in a vital part. The best gun that I 

 know of is a ten-bore, weighing from nine and a quarter 

 to ten pounds, and having a length of barrel of thirty-two 

 inches ; for that can stop anything that runs in the forests 

 less tenacious of life than a grizzly bear, and it is equally 

 useful for shooting fur or feather. 



I prefer good wood-powder to any other, as I have found 

 it to make a good pattern, to have excellent penetration, to 

 be cleaner than the ordinary powder, and to make less of 

 a report, and little smoke. The latter two characteristics 

 are most desirable, as the detonations do not startle game, 

 and a person's aim with the second barrel is not obscured 

 by smoke. 



Every sportsman ought to have some knowledge of 

 wood-craft and the characteristics of the animals he wishes 

 to hunt. The latter is necessary to success, and the former 

 to enable him to make his way through regions unknown 

 to him ; for it is as disagreeable as it is a serious matter 

 to get lost in a dense forest or on a trackless prairie. In 

 North-western America, where settlements are often few 

 and far between, and there are no roads to indicate a per- 

 son's course, it is almost maddening to find yourself wan- 

 dering stupidly about in an aimless manner, and not know- 

 ing which way to turn to reach canip or a cabin. I was 

 lost twice in the forest, and once on the prairie ; and I re- 

 member vividly how I wandered about, now wading deep 

 and rapid streams, plunging headlong through marshes that 



