222 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



punt and carriage and thus reduces the chances of shoving the 

 boat off her carriage in case a wheel suddenly sinks in 

 a hole, or catches a stone. Wheels fixed to a through, or 

 what is known as a "live" axle are useless to mount a punt 

 carriage upon. It is of importance that the wheels should be 

 loose on their pins, for unless this is so, they cannot differentiate. 

 A carriage with wheels not able to turn in opposite directions 

 to each other is very unwieldy and unmanageable. The wood- 

 work of the carriage body should be through-bolted, the bolts 

 having square plate washers. This ensures strength. Screws, 

 and even coach screws, are scarcely strong enough — at least, 

 they draw out of the wood. 



We might say there are two ways of touring on a real wild- 

 fowling expedition, viz. by land or by water. The first means 

 transit of the punt, gun, and all gear by rail or road, the 

 second by sailing or power craft. This latter we intend to 

 refer to later. At present we have to deal with the transit of 

 wildfowling gear by land. To those persons who are continu- 

 ally visiting new wildfowling quarters or who only pay a few 

 days' visit each season to a certain ground, and who usually 

 take and return with them all their gear, a punt-wagon is 

 a very useful vehicle indeed. It saves a lot of unloading and 

 loading up of the punt at railway stations, and by this the 

 welfare of the punt is better protected. Nothing shortens the 

 time a punt will last more than rough or careless handling 

 (which at a railway station it is pretty sure to sooner or later 

 receive) by persons who do not understand what a punt is ; or 

 the shaking and straining it gets when loaded and travelled 

 over bad roads upon vehicles unsuitable for its conveyance- 

 Punters who do not change their quarters, or, if so, not often, 

 would find a punt-wagon of little or no service, so seldom 

 would it be required. A punt-wagon is an expensive article 

 in the punter's outfit ; but to those who have the money and 

 can afford to travel and enjoy wildfowling in a proper manner, 



