THE WAYS OF THE WOODCHUCK 223 



mostly in this fashion, and were hopeful of making 

 their fortune. But as the animals grew, and no 

 offer of purchase came, and the neighborhood 

 learned of the menace, parental pressure, reinforced 

 by community sentiment, brought about a whole- 

 sale slaughter. 



There used to be more excitement than you might 

 suppose in our woodchuck hunts, for a shotgun is 

 of little use against their thick hides and thicker 

 skulls, unless you are close up, so we had to use 

 rifles. In those days high-power twenty-two's with 

 soft-nosed expanding bullets were unknown. We 

 used to read of magazine rifles, to be sure, but they 

 were only things to dream about. We hunted with 

 ancient smooth-bores fitted for percussion caps and 

 loaded from the muzzle. I can well remember the 

 old bullet-mold, a Revolutionary relic, in which I 

 used to make ammunition. It was much like a pair 

 of pincers in shape. Scrap lead, secured from all 

 legitimate and some illegitimate sources, was melted 

 down in an iron pot on the kitchen stove, and poured 

 into it, one bullet at a time. Powder was carried 

 in a genuine powder-horn stopped with a whittled 

 wooden plug worn dark and smooth. We estimated 

 the charge by fingers, measured on the ramrod. 

 And how those heavy old guns kicked against our 

 youthful shoulders! 



To get a proper shot at a woodchuck required 

 some maneuvering. He had, if possible, to be out- 

 witted. I remember particularly one place where 

 the holes were thickest, forming almost a woodchuck 

 settlement, like a prairie-dog town. It was on the 

 banks of a swale which curled like a long, thin 



