144 



Popular Science Monthly 



than an ordinary small-sized saucer. 



The good shot usually swings ahead 



of his bird and keeps on swinging as he 



presses the trigger. Some men swing 



snoot nere 



Where to aim with the second shot when 

 the birds have passed and are going away 



up from behind and swing very rapidly 

 past, pulling when they feel they are 

 far enough ahead. Others throw the 

 gun up ahead of the bird and swing along 

 at about the speed of the flyer. The 

 man who swings rapidly by the bird 

 has to lead it less than the man who 

 swings at bird speed, because the speed 

 of his gun-swinging carries him farther 

 ahead than he realizes by the time the 

 charge is out of the barrel. Few men can 

 hit consistently by holding ahead of a 

 bird — holding the gun still at a point 

 they consider correct. The slightest de- 

 lay in pulling the trigger means a miss — a 

 tenth of a second means six feet, in our 

 hypothetical reasoning. A delay while 



the gun is swinging, however, means 

 nothing, because the muzzles are still 

 keeping ahead of the flyer and so are aimed 

 at about the right spot for shot load and 

 birdie to intersect. 



While many men learn early the neces- 

 sity for the generous swing ahead and 

 lead on the crossing duck, they fail to 

 grasp the fact that the quail, apparently 

 angling off so little that they can hit 

 it by shooting right at it, is really moving 

 fast either to the left or right. There- 

 fore they shoot right at Brother Quail 

 who is buzzing off to the left and for- 

 ward, and the shot load hisses by the 

 bird to the right. The aim was correct 

 for the spot where the bird was — but not 

 where he was when the shot got there. 



Making a hit by a direct aim at a bird 

 flying straight away from the hunter 



Clay bird shooters have the same experi- 

 ence when they shoot right at the clay 

 angling off from the straight line to the 

 gun. To hit the angling bird, therefore, 



I 



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If a bird rises and flies very low — just skimming away — the gun should be aimed so as to 

 be well over or in advance of the bird. The tendency is to wait too long to shoot 



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