322 Sporting Sketches 



among the corn. I have seen half-a-dozen blacks 

 following each other at speed along a snake fence, 

 every squirrel carrying an ear of corn in his mouth. 

 The plunder was borne to the shelter of near-by 

 woods and there devoured at leisure. The squirrels 

 would make many trips during the day, and a stroll 

 through the corn-field would reveal ample evidence 

 of their destructiveness. More than once I have 

 heard farmers declare that the black raiders had 

 destroyed fully three-fourths of what had promised 

 to be a fair crop. This, of course, where the field 

 lay close to a large wood. 



I have used both gun and rifle in the pursuit of 

 this game, and have enjoyed fine sport with both. 

 But the shot-gun never should be aimed at a 

 crouching squirrel. Sportsmanship demands that 

 the game should be in motion when the trigger is 

 pulled. The squirrel may be dashing over the 

 ground, speeding along a fence top, a limb, or 

 ascending a tree-bole, it is all right so long as he 

 is moving. The greatest feat of all is to stop him 

 in the middle of a leap from one tree to another. 

 This requires quick, accurate work, and the best of 

 shots often fail to score a clean kill. A miss in the 

 air and a kill with the second barrel as the squirrel 

 races along a limb is no uncommon occurrence. 



Your true squirrel hunter is full of guile. We of 

 the old brigade played many a trick upon an unso- 

 phisticated comrade. If a squirrel was lost to sight 

 in a thick-foliaged tree, then the wisest course was 

 to get the other fellow to pound the trunk with a 

 club. When a squirrel was see-n upon the ground 

 and making good time for his favorite tree, then it 



