250 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
take up in a real fowling punt. The apparatus is fixed to the 
floor or a small platform. Improvements may be added as 
they present themselves to the user, such as an elastic rubber 
lifter on the scull blade, etc., which would act similarly to the 
buoyancy on the scull if in water. Poling or setting is 
artificially practised by lying at the rear of a carriage or 
wooden platform mounted on a single wheel placed centrally. 
By shoving on the pole the carriage is moved forwards. The 
direction of the course is worked by poling through a spur similar 
to that placed on a punt for the same purpose. A level grass 
field is a good practice ground, as the pole end is destructive on 
alawn. It is amusing to see the hopeful wildfowler practising 
his sculling or poling in an artificial way, especially when his 
ineffectual struggles get intermixed with his futile, yet deter- 
mined, endeavours to achieve his object. If he is to make a 
wildfowler, it is not until his fatigue has temporarily conquered 
his enthusiasm that he takes a rest, hopeful of final success. 
Anybody can fire or let off a punt-gun. This does not say, 
however, that they can use a punt-gun. It must. not be 
supposed that wildfowl shooting with punt and gun is simply 
a matter of finding fowl and banging off the big gun into their 
midst. Nothing is further from. the truth. The amount of 
skill required to become a successful shot with a punt-gun, can 
never be realised by any persons who have not tried 
it. Shooting with a punt-gun is a sport in itself, and can 
be in no way likened to rifle or shoulder-piece shooting. 
Nevertheless, equally as much skill is required in the manipu- 
lation of the punt-gun as with any shoulder gun ; in fact, it is 
the general rule of things amongst wildfowlers to say that the 
average person could be more easily trained to become an 
expert either with a rifle or a shoulder shot-gun than with a 
punt-gun. The foregoing has been written more particularly 
to erase the general and erroneous opinion amongst in- 
experienced persons that punt-shooting is a matter of simplicity, 
