CASTS AT RANDOM 159 



companions. It is quite true that there are times and 

 places when and where no amount of careful work will 

 bring even slightly adequate returns and continued 

 effort is futile. It is also true that the man who keeps 

 his powder dry and his line wet generally has some- 

 thing to show for his pains. 



Game Fish in Winter 



The advantage to the hunter and angler of a good 

 working knowledge of the habits and haunts of game 

 and game fishes is generally conceded. The man who 

 knows the life histories of the deer and grouse, the 

 brook trout and the black bass, has little need of a 

 guide, save in so far as a geographical knowledge of 

 the country to be fished or hunted may be necessary, to 

 show him where to look for trout or where not to look 

 for grouse. 



Given two hunters or anglers equally well outfitted 

 in the matter of guns and tackle and equally good shots 

 and casters, and the one who has taken pains in his 

 tramps afield and along the streams to note carefully 

 such habits of the quarry as may have a bearing on his 

 sport will always make the better showing. There are, 

 of course, artificially planted and preserved coverts and 

 streams where the abundance and innocence of the game 

 will make up for lack of skill with gun, rifle, or fly- 

 rod ; in such cases knowledge of how and where to look 

 for game and fish is not an imperative factor for success. 



Where game and game fish exist in this superabun- 

 dance, getting them is purely a matter of being a good 

 shot or casting a straight line; even the poor shot and 



