322 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



And now we come to the most important thing to be 

 learned in wild fowl shooting — the science o£ holding. 

 There has been a Yast amount of discussion during the 

 past ten years on the subject, and the advocates of 

 holding on and ahead still live, breathe, and are multi- 

 plying over the earth. 



Whether or not it is best to hold six inches or as. 

 many feet ahead of cross-flying objects from the trap,, 

 will not be entered into here, our object being to learn 

 all we can as to the best manner of shooting wild fowl. 



There are, we might sa.y, two different methods of 

 aiming. First, as a snap-shot ; second,, as a deliberate 

 shot. I give the definition of both in the language of 

 Mr. T. S. Van Dyke, one of the best posted writers in 

 the world. 



He defines a Snap Shot to be, "when the gun is 

 jerked to the shoulder the instant the game is seen, the 

 eye catches a dim glimmering glimpse of the gun in 

 the right position, and the shooter fires simultaneously 

 with such glimpse, or else shifts the gun quickly inta 

 the right position, if it is pointed wrong, then c&tchea 

 another dim glimpse of its being right, and fires simul- 

 taneously. 



"A Deliberate Shot: First, the cool, deliberate aim,, 

 which catches a full, clear view of the bird and bar- 

 rels, and sees plainly that the barrels lie in the right 

 direction, either on the game or at the proper distance 

 ahead of it, but does not delay pulling the trigger an 

 instant after the eye does see the gun is right. This is- 

 the aim of the successful duck-shooter, of the cool shot 

 on prairie-chicken, and the great majority of shots gen- 

 erally on game in the open, where no special haste 

 is necessary." 



