314 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



owing, no doubt, to the fact that many men, owning 

 but one gun, must use it for all kinds of shooting, and 

 in other instances to the further fact of thoughtless- 

 ness concerning the proper requirements of the sport. 

 Short barrels, too, are desirable, the difference in the 

 handling of a 3O-inch barrel and a 24-inch barrel in 

 cover being far away in favor of the latter. 



Woodcock shooting is largely a matter of snap 

 shooting; therefore, a wider range at a much shorter 

 distance is a requisite if one is cultivating success in- 

 stead of nursing a fad in respect to the use of choke- 

 bore guns for all kinds of shooting, whether the guns 

 be fitting or otherwise. In the shooting of quail or 

 chickens or ruffed grouse to a lesser degree with the 

 latter a certain degree of deliberation and quick aim 

 can be practiced, but in woodcock shooting the oppor- 

 tunities for deliberation are the rare exception; hence 

 the need of adopting an open gun to meet the require- 

 ments of quicker work and short ranges. Light loads 

 and smaller shot can be used successfully, some noted 

 shooters using dust shot exclusively. With a short 

 cylinder-bore gun a true cylinder bore, not the modi- 

 fied choke bores, which are often called cylinder such 

 a pattern can be secured at 15 or 20 yards as will 

 insure fair success to the average shot and the best 

 of success to the good one. It might be said that 

 such a gun and load are too murderous, and indeed 

 they would be in the hands of a man who could shoot 

 with any degree of precision if he could exercise de- 

 liberation; but as in the greater number of instances 



