THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 309 



as to be worthy of notice. They are in fact the same 

 as I have given, but owing to bad observation and 

 carelessness of language are so mangled in sense and 

 distorted in expression as to be misleading. 



The first is, " Hold the rifle ahead of the deer, and, 

 when you see him through the sights, pull." 



This would of course do fora short distance, though 

 even there it would probably place the ball back of 

 the center of the body; but for any considerable dis- 

 tance it will not do. A swinging target with a blind 

 so arranged that you can only see the bull's-eye when 

 it passes an opening in the blind will soon dispel this 

 illusion. But the best refutation lies in the rule itself. 

 This is holding on the mark and not ahead of it. Why, 

 then, resort to such a bungling way when it is so much 

 easier to raise the sights directly upon the deer ? Who 

 would think of shooting at a bird in such a way? 

 The fact is that those who shoot in this way pull the 

 trigger before the animal comes into the line of the 

 sights. A little practice at the swinging target and 

 blind will show you that you must shoot before. But 

 you will at once see how it can easily appear other- 

 wise to a careless observer. 



The other rule is, " Hold on the shoulder low down." 

 This will of course do if the deer is close and is de- 

 scending. This rule undoubtedly originated, as did 

 the last one, among hunters in the woods only. 

 No one w r ho ever shot much in the open would so ex- 

 press it. But the fact here probably is that, as in 

 the other case, the trigger is pulled a trifle quicker 

 than the shooter thinks it is. 



If a deer is trotting or running very low you may 

 disregard the up-and-down motion, though it is bet- 

 ter to allow for it when vou can. A deer even on a 



