142 



FIELD SHOOTING. 



wind, having no dog save one to retrieve dead 

 birds, he will find he can do much better. He 

 will kill a great many more of tho birds he 

 shoots at. I have been snipe-shooting with men 

 who called themselves good shots, and 1 have 

 seen them miss full half of the birds they 

 shot at. They almost always fired too quick, while 

 the snipe was making his darts here and there before 

 going off straight. As a general rule, you must be 

 willing and able to do a great deal of walking 

 when snipe-shooting, if you would make a large 

 bag. When I first shot snipe on Salt Creek 

 bottoms, it was with a muzzle-loader, and I had 

 no horse and buggy. With a horse and buggy 

 to go to the ground and carry the bulk of the 

 ammunition all day, and with a breech-loader, 1 

 could have killed three or four hundred snipe a 

 day. I could do so now if I could walk all day, 

 as 1 could then; but since I was shot in tho 

 thigh my endurance in walking, especially on wet, 

 slippery ground, is not as great as it formerly 

 was. 1 could once walk from dawn of day till 

 dark, only stopping to eat and drink, and could 

 tire tho best man I ever had in company in a 

 long day'3 tramp after game. It was upon that 

 and upon knowledge and judgment, largely dc- 



