SHOT, POWDER, SHELLS, WADS AND LOADING. 327 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



SHOT, POWDER, SHELLS, WADS AND LOADING. 



IN the selection of the size of shot for any given 

 kind of game, the average hunter is very peculiar in his 

 ideas ; and this peculiarity is especially noticeable if 

 one will pass a few hours in some village gun store, 

 where hunters from that immediate vicinity congregate, 

 and buy their ammunition. It seems strange, neverthe- 

 less 'tis true, that a beginner almost without exception 

 starts out on his voyage of life (in a shooting sense) 

 and uses too great a quantity, and too large size of shot. 

 , Notice the farmer boy, he who delights to stand on pin- 

 oak ridges and bang away for hours without bagging a 

 bird. When he buys his shot he abstractedly attacks the 

 shot rack, runs his . hands into the different compart- 

 ments, allows the shot to ooze between his fingers, and 

 in reply to the oft-repeated question, " What size will 

 you have ? " casts on his juvenile companion a compre- 

 hensive look and replies, " Guess we will take 1's as 

 ducks are a little wild." He takes " 1's," and the gun- 

 smith's kindly suggestion to try 4's is entirely thrown 

 away, passed by without notice ; or, if noticed, un 

 heeded. The boy is not the only one afflicted with 

 these strange notions, for the man hunter, the ; terror of 

 the swamps, he who through the laws of descent has 

 become the absolute and unqualified owner of a muzzle 

 loader, he too uses coarse shot, 1's and 2's for ducks ; 



