374 SHOOTING FROM A PUNT 



SHOOTING WITH A STANCHION GUN 

 FROM A PUNT. 



Now that we have got the gun and punt together, a 

 few more words as to the shooting : those, who fancy 

 that any one can shoot well into a large flock of fowl, 

 will find themselves in a mistake. There is, I must 

 repeat, much more knack in it than people are, at first, 

 aware of; and, in my humble opinion, it is far more 

 difficult than to kill double shots at game ; because the 

 man, who can quickly pitch his gun on, or just before, 

 a partridge, has so little variation in distance, as the 

 birds are generally from twenty to forty yards off, that 

 without any further calculation, or practice, he might, 

 in a slovenly manner, contrive to knock down the greater 

 part of those at which he fires. But, in the other 

 shooting, the different calculations of elevation, &c., 

 are tenfold more difficult ; and particularly if taking 

 flying shots, at perhaps one hundred yards, from a boat 

 that is rolling and pitching in a sea, and where one 

 inch in aim might make the difference of twenty fowl 

 at a shot, or not touching a feather. All this, however, 

 is best gained by practice, though it may be right to 

 caution the beginner against mismanagement, that might 

 unjustly put him out of conceit with his gun. 



In long sitting shots, he must (as I before observed, 

 arid cannot too often repeat) remember, at long distances, 

 to preserve a little elevation for his gun ; and further, 

 a good elevation for the birds springing at the flash, 

 and perhaps being up before the shot has time to reach 

 them. 



