312 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



ing ammunition. I do not hesitate to assert that no 

 advance whatever has been made in the art of killing 

 game at long ranges, except in so far as the breech- 

 loader allows one to fire more shots before the game 

 gets too far away. I say this notwithstanding the 

 fact that the popular opinion is quite the other way. 



The old muzzle-loader by the use of a lengthened 

 ball and more powder could with globe-sights be given 

 a great accuracy at quite long ranges. This was per- 

 fectly understood by most of the old-time hunters, 

 who often went to the annual " turkey-shoot" equipped 

 with a weapon that at two hundred and three hundred 

 yards can hardly be beaten to-day by any of the 

 boasted breech-loaders. Many of those who hunted 

 on open ground used the " slug" or long ball, and 

 some used it even in the woods. Many long shots 

 were made with it, and probably more game was killed 

 at long range out of the same number of shots than 

 is now killed with the best of modern rifles at the 

 same distance. They all did plenty of boasting of 

 their long shooting. But from long-range shooting 

 proper, such as we are now considering, they nearly 

 always abstained. This was not because they could 

 not do it, but because they soon learned that, what- 

 ever their skill at the target or turkey, at measured 

 distances, it was far easier to get closer to game than 

 to hit it at long unmeasured distances. 



There are several reasons for the extravagant ideas 

 afloat about the distance at which game may now be 

 killed. 



ist. The incurable mania for gilding the gold of 

 simple truth. This afflicts hunters as badly as it does 

 fishermen. 



2d. The love of " scissorers" on a newspaper for 



