SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 377 
not kill, it being a miss in the first instance, and often a 
badly mutilated bird in the second. 
The average shooter will find that he has success 
far below his opportunities, even when equipped with 
the gun most fitting for the work. In this shooting 
there is no waiting for opportunities to fit the gun. 
The successful hunter must take the shots that are 
offered, and as they are offered; it matters not how 
difficult they appear or how brief the opportunities may 
be. He may catch but a momentary glimpse of the 
bird as it crosses some diminutive opening, or he may 
see it for an instant in a maze of leaves and branches, 
or he may get a partial glimpse of it and some dis- 
turbed leaves in the course of its flight, yet these are 
the opportunities which are the most numerous, and 
which must be relied on for the bulk of the shooting ; 
in short, that is ruffed grouse shooting. 
If the shooter be too indolent or apathetic to be ever 
ready to shoot, or if he is too slow to take advantage 
of the opportunities, his success will be but meager 
so far as material results are concerned, though he 
may be greatly encouraged by the belief that his last 
ill success was due to faults in the bird, and that if he 
can have another opportunity he will acquit himself 
nicely. The opportunity comes, and failure again 
evokes more excuses. Once in rare whiles the shooter 
will have a good opportunity, catching the bird in some 
corner so favorable that the advantage is with the 
shooter; but such instances are rare indeed, and by 
themselves would make but little sport. 
