THE SHOT-GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT- 323 



I do not believe aaiy man who systematically shoots, 

 one might truthfully say, instinctively, as a snap-shot, 

 can ever make a thoroughly successful duck shooter. 

 To be sure, there are places he will — ^jumping them 

 from creeks, from rice, from willows, or shooting them 

 over decoys ; but when it comes. to taking them as we 

 find them, on cold blustering days, the wind howling 

 and blowing the shot out of its course, where time, dis- 

 tance, speed and all the combinations are against him, 

 I don't believe he can overcome such obstacles. No 

 man can become proficient in duck-shooting unless he 

 is a good judge of distance, comprehends the velocity 

 the bird is flying, how high it is, the allowance that 

 should be made for the wind and "for the falling shot. 

 The laws of gravitation must be considered and practi- 

 cal experiments show that shot drops 8.05 inches at 40, 

 and 19.85 inches at 60 yards. Taking all these things 

 into consideration, how a snap-shot can overcome them 

 all, and the hunter bring his gun up, just in the right 

 spot, to kill ducks regularly at 40 and 50 yards, is 

 beyond my comprehension. Some of the prettiest and 

 best shots I ever saw at the trap and in the field were 

 snap-shots, but I have not as yet met them on a duck 

 pass, when the wind was blowing a gale, and single 

 ducks were flying 40 to 60 yards high, and fully 100 

 miles an hour. 



The beginner should study distance, not only on the 

 marsh at ducks, but at home in his daily walks, so that 

 at from 30. to 60 and even 75 yards he can estimate 

 space, to tell where two and four feet are from a given 

 object, that he may know how to judge the flying ducks. 

 Study their flight, that he may learn how to hold on 

 them, always remembering they are farther than they 



