252 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



a short travel to right or left. Many punt-guns are used with- 

 out any method of raising or lowering them bodily. Some of 

 these guns shoot with good results at their fixed height above 

 the water-line. This fixed height is such as may be found best 

 for firing the gun at a regular distance — say, seventy yards. 

 At distances either over or under seventy yards the fixed 

 height will be found a disadvantage, although in real practice 

 ten yards each way matters little ; but at a greater distance 

 than ten yards over or under the regular range, the fallacy of 

 having a gun that cannot be lifted or lowered is most certainly 

 discovered upon experiment. With a lifting gear, the height of 

 the gun can be adjusted according to the distance of the shot. 

 For the sake of argument, and so that our meaning may be better 

 understood, we will give an example. The correct height to 

 set a punt-gun above water-line is required so as to " rake " 

 a company of fowl at, say, eighty yards to the best advantage. 

 We will say that the best height is found to be ten inches from 

 the water, level with the centre of the gun at the crutch. The 

 question now arises, At what height shall the gun be laid if 

 the shot is taken at a hundred yards, or at the shorter range of 

 sixty yards ? The height at either of the last two distances, 

 most certainly, should not be that at which the gun was laid 

 for the eighty yards shot. It comes natural to say that for the 

 hundred yards shot, the gun should be laid higher, and for the 

 sixty yards shot, lower. A basis may be fixed to work upon, 

 by saying that at the eighty yards range ten inches is the 

 correct height to place the gun above water-level. Imagine 

 a straight line to be drawn from the point of impact of the shot 

 on the water to the point ten inches above water-level and 

 eighty yards distant, and continuing the line beyond. A 

 perpendicular dropped from this line to the water-level will 

 give the height the gun should be laid, at whatever distance 

 from the apex of the angle the perpendicular is placed. We 

 hope our brief explanation may be understood. The height 



