36 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



toll about it he adds another 100 yards to it to be sure of do- 

 ing himself full justice. Now, the fact is that the deer was 

 just about 200 yards, and the man either had no idea of dis- 

 tance, or took no time either before or after shooting to look 

 over the intervening ground, or else it waB of a nature to 

 deceive him if he did. He only knows that he made a very 

 flue long shot, and jumps at the distance through a fancy 

 already misguided by the stereotyped forms of exaggera- 

 tion to which he has been accustomed. But in the main 

 fact— that he made a long shot, he is eminently correct;, for 

 200 yards is a long shot on a deer with any rifle and on any 

 ground, except the open plain, and it's a mighty good shot 

 even then. . . 



A good way to judge of what can be done in tins way is 

 to look over ihe 200-yard scores of the best Creedmoor ofl- 

 hand riflemen ; and here I may say, notwithstanding Ihe 

 popular belief to the contrary, that these scores are as good 

 average scores as can be made by any one. The uuques- 

 tiouable superiori'y of the " Leather-Stocking" in shooting 

 on game is because he can shoot about as well on game as he 

 can at a target, which the mere target rifleman, however ex- 

 pert, cannot do tor want of iho coolness and knowledge of 

 some tew points, which he can acquire only by experience 

 in the field. Now, take the best of these scores, and recol- 

 lect that it requires a 5-shot to kill with certainty ; that 

 nearly one-half of the4-shots will miss a deer, or only break 

 his leg ; that almost every 3-sbot will miss him, and that the 

 Test are worthless. Bear in mind, too, that these scores are 

 made at a distance already known to a foot, and with a 

 sight set to within one-hundredth of an inch at the gre i 

 and generally much cloBer, both of which conditions are un- 

 attainable in the field. Remember, also, that the white 

 bull's-eye of eight inches, on a dark ground, is easier to hit 

 than a twelve-inch one of the color of game on the back- 

 ground upon which (except on snow) it is generally seen. 



Now the long-range ball (which it is almost indispensable 

 to use in our .44 calibres to have weight enough to be effect- 

 ive on large, game- in all positions) begins to lall perceptibly 

 from the line of the level sights at about .0 yards ; at 100 

 yards is down some eight or ten inches ; at 150 yards is 

 from twenty to twenty-live inches below, and is then 

 dropping about ten inches for the next twenty.five yards, 

 and this drop rapidly increases. Exception will, I know, be 

 taken to ihese figures, which I do not claim to be perleclly 

 exact. But before any one proceeds to "bounce" me for 

 my audacity in making such an assertion, I would Suggeai 

 that he try the experiment at measured distances, with rifle 

 sighted and held as he would sight and hold it to cut a 

 squirrel's bead at thirty paces. 



This drop of the heavy ball cannot be overcome to any 

 useful extent by increasing the charge of powder. I have 

 never fired a Creedmoor rifle, yet I will venture to say, both 

 upon principle and analogy, that its ball will fall seven 

 inches at least at 100 yards, and I believe more, and at loO 

 yards will lall at least eight inches in twenty-five yards 

 The result of this drop is that at 200 yards a mistake of 

 twenty-five yards either way, in the estimate of your dis- 

 tance, will cause you to miss a deer or antelope nearly 

 every time, or only break a foreleg (ihough, perhaps, both 

 legs). Any one who knows the extreme ease with which a 

 mistake of twenty-five yards in 200 may be made, even on 

 open ground, with plenty of time to look over the inter- 

 vening space, can readily see the difficulty of avoiding it in 

 rough brushy, hilly or timbered ground. And both the 

 drop of the ball, and the difficulty of estimating distance, 

 increase constantly with the distance, the latter trouble in- 

 creasing at a geometrical ratio. 



That very Ion"- shots on game are occasionally made is be- 

 yond question, and there are three ways in which it is done : 

 First by "scratch" shots; second, by game standing for 

 sighting shots ; and third, by skill in the calculation of dis- 

 tance, wind, etc. By scratch shots I mean such as Judge 

 Gildeirsleeve speaks of in a late letter to the Fourst akd 

 Stbeam— killing a duck at half a mile. Juatten years ago 

 last December 1 killed one out of two fish-docks at the foot 

 of Lake Pepin, Minn., at over that distance at the very first 

 Shot. Five months later I fired at a bunch of gulls on a 

 sand-bar, that were huddled in a space of about ten feet, arid 

 killed two with one ball. The bar was half a mile up the 

 river bv the bank, and about 500 yards from shore at that 

 point. Both these shots were seen by several persons. 

 They were made with a .40-cal. Maypard-a rifle which can- 

 not to-day be beaten or easily equalled by anything of its 

 calibre and weight. Now, I have no doubt that just such 

 shots have been made by everyone who has shot much with 

 a long or n.id-rauge gun, and there is no reason lor donbt- 

 ingthem; but when you come to draw any inference trow 

 them 1 protest. They prove scarcely anything excephe 

 distance to which the nfle will throw the ball. Until a man 

 can make such shots at least once in five or six- times, ihey 

 must be considered mere scratch shots, unworthy ot con- 

 sideration, even Ihough a considerable element of skill en- 

 tered into them. I always looked upon the two shots above- 

 mentioned as pure accidents, as much as it 1 had carved oft 

 the head of a flying bird by throwing a j.ick-kmte at it, 

 although. I must confess that I didn t say so to the by- 



Bt The' "second way is by game standing for sighting shots. 

 Where u-ame is hunted but little, where you can get high 

 above ft where the nature of the ground is such thai the 

 echo will bother it and it does not see you ; and often, if it 

 does see you, but can't make out what you are, it will 

 staud either entirely still, while three or four balls Strike 

 over or under it, or else will only jump a few steps at each 

 ■ .not In such a case the advantage of the breech-loader 

 over a muzzle-loader, which might be a trifle more accurate. 

 ^immense. 1 have in this way killed several deer at 300 

 yards one at 350, and broken a leg on another at hall a mile. 

 "But when a man does such things he generally takes good 

 care not to tell how many sighting show he fired before he 

 hit it • and in the present case 1 shall follow the prevailing 

 fashion exec pt to say that each time there were two tools 

 well met. and the deer happened to be the biggest fool of 

 the two. ' I ran the risk of losing every one, and could have 

 got them more certainly in another way. _ _ 



The next way is by skill in the calcination of distance. 

 Upon open ground, with a few seconds of time, it is com- 

 paratively easy for an experienced shot, with a good rifle, 

 •ind proper sights, to calculate distance, four times out of 

 five Close enough tO hit a deer or antelope up to net 

 varda This skill may be so cultivated as to make one 

 Pretty sure at 250, and sure enough to be wortn fcrymgat 

 300 yards Forelklshould think fitly or seventy-fivc ; « 

 might be added to these figures, and for buffalo another 

 fifty or seventy-five. And these 1 consider the extreme out- 

 side ranges for practical game shooting, although where 

 there is slight hope of getting closer, and firing will not dis- 



lurb other game, it would, of course, be advisable to try it 

 much further. But when you come to estimate distance up 

 hill, down bill, through timber and over timber, through 

 brush or over brush, across canyons, ridges, etc , ii becomes 

 a vastly different matter. There is, of course, uo telling 

 what could be done by the expenditure of barrels of ammuni- 

 tion, but I believe that nothing short of an extraordinary ex- 

 penditure of ammunition and patience will enable a man to 

 estimate distance upon such ground closely enough in the 

 limited time it must generally be done to hit a deer at 200 

 yards at the first shot over one-half the time. No matter 

 what your skill in one kind of ground, your gauge uncon- 

 sciously shifts when you come to another kind. Especially 

 is this the case in the" mountains. The gauge you use to day 

 in Ihe plain, fails you to-morrow in the foot-hills; and the 

 gauge y.iii adopt in the low foot-hills is too small when you 

 are among the larger ones, and your standard for them fails 

 agaiq when among t lie high peaks. Byron, speaking of the 

 interior of St. Peter's, at Home, says: 



•' Its grandeur overwhelms thee not ; 

 An.f whv ? It is not lessened, bat thy mind, 

 Expanded by the Renins of the epot, 

 Has groira colossall" 



"Who, that has been among mountains, has not felt this and 

 linen astonished at the ever-shining deceptiveness of height 

 and distances ? And now arises a very important question : 

 When shall I risk a. long shot or try to get closer ? Circum- 

 stances vary so that a satisfactory answer is of course impos- 

 sible. If game has taken the alarm it is generally advisable to 

 crack away at it, unless the wind is right and nature of the 

 ground is such that you can keep out of sight, semicircle and 

 get around or above it without losing much time. Where 

 game is not alarmed and the country is at all rolling, any real 

 good hunter, shed with moccasins (as he should be) can get 

 within one hundred yards of deer fourtimesout of five, unless 

 unrler special circumstances, such as crusty snow, thick or dry 

 brush or leaves, etc. I am "no slouch" on guessing distance 

 and shooting up to four hundred yards, yet for every deer I 

 have bagged at over one hundred and fifty yards, by virtue of 

 having an accurate mid -range rifle, I am sure I have lost three 

 by being beguiled into opening fire and scaring them away at 

 the first shot, when, if J had kept still, 1 could have got much 

 closer. If I had always had a rifle that would, I knew, not 

 shoot an inch beyond one hundred and fifty yards, I should 

 have killed more' deer than I ever have by twenty-five per 

 cent. So firmly convinced have I become of this, that I long 

 ago adopted this rule, which I would suggest to every be- 

 ginner, not only as a rule that, will insure him more game, but 

 also make him a far more skillful still hunter. The rule is 

 this— never shoot at game beyond one hundred and fifty yards 

 if there is one chance in thiee of getting forty or fifty yards 

 closer, and whenever you arc in any doubt as to whether to 

 raise your sights or not, always keep them down, with the 

 single exception of shooting across water or a broad bottomed 

 canyon from Ihe hills above, in which cases you are more 

 likely to undor-estimate than over-estimate distance. 



The long-range delusion rests almost entirely upon mistaken 

 ideas of distance, game (especially in timber) almost invari- 

 ably appearing about twice as far to most people as it really is. 

 Nearly all are deceived by it at first, and many never can get 

 over the tendency to be deceived. One thing that confirms 

 the fallacy in the minds of many is this : Let any man who is 

 anything of a shot and knows anything about distance, fire a 

 good loog or mid-range rifle at any far off object either on 

 land or water. Two chances to one the ball strikes just over 

 it or just below it and ricochets into or just over it. 



"Jupiter!" exclaims a bystander, "that was a mighty 

 close call I How that would have tickled a deer I Eh ?" 



" You bet," says Ihe shooter, really believing it. 



Now here are two mistakes. First, it wasn't a " close call," 

 for, though the variation seemed but a few inches, it was 

 really a few feet. Secondly, even if it were a close call, if 

 Uiere is any one fact about rifle shooting which may be con- 

 sidered established beyond dispute, it is that "close calls" 

 wdl not kill game. That requires a bull's eye every time. It 

 is almost needless to add that the difficulty of long-range 

 shooting cannot be helped much by using a telescope Bight. 

 Though very good to hit marks that would be nearly invisible 

 through common s:s,l:ts, it is just as necessary to know your 

 distance in order to adjust it, and it cannot help you much, if 

 anv in this. In timber it had better be kept off, as it is diffi- 

 cult to nnd your game through it unless the light is very good. 

 It might be used, however, to advantage by some of our long 

 raDge performers to draw the game up close enough to allow 

 them to reach it before it spoiled, though even then I should 

 recommend the use of salted bullets to make sure of its pre- 

 servation.. 



I 



Stream 



and ball as he there describes would increase by some seventy- 

 five yards the distance at which one may shoot, with a great 

 approach to certainty of bitting, and, paradoxical as it may 

 seem, would be a longer Tange hunting rifle than one that 

 would throw a ball double the distance it can. The distance 

 at which we can shoot without raising sights, using high set 

 Sights taking coarse front sights or holding over game (all 

 equally delusive and vexatious), would be vas'ly increased, 

 while 'it would shoot well enough at five hundred yards to 

 take the conceit out or any target shot who thinks he can do 

 as well at that distance on a target with hair on it as he can 

 on a bald target. It would also greatly increase the distance 

 at which rnnuin" game can be hit without holding ahead otit, 

 as well as diminish the distance necessary to hold ahead when 

 loo far or gowg too fast to hold it. Such a rifle has long been 

 my beau ideal of a true hunting rifle, and I have always be- 

 lieved as Viator seems to, that it wdl be the sporting rifle of 

 the fulUKj if it can be made at a moderate price. For two 

 years I have been trying to get such a rifle made m this 

 country. Nichols A Lcfever have for some tune been making 

 me one, and when finished I wdl give an an account of us per- 

 formance. 



•vation.. . 



[have just seen the article of "Viator," in Forest and 



ream of Feb. 7, on "Double-Barreled Bines." Such a rifle 



%mn§ ^ag mid (§mu 



GAME IN SEASON FOR AUGUST. 



\n Elegant Suootino Suit. -For an elegant and service- 

 able dress for a sportsman, we recommend most particularly, 

 not only the material, but the neatness and convenience of 

 the suit made by F L Sheldon, of Rahway, N. J. Just such 

 i suit is a iw in our office, it is of a rich brown velvet cor- 

 duroy and made to last. There is no possible use of making 

 up I'Vtiit of clothes so that when a man gets into it he lookB 

 like an animated meal-bag. As we are well acquainted with 

 the gentlemen for whom the clothes were made— who is go- 

 in- to take down the entire West in pigeon, glass ball and 

 prairie chicken shooting— the elegance of his apparel will, no 

 add to his already fascinating appearance. Shelton s sporting 

 suits wdl stand all kinds of usage. They are made by a prac- 

 tical man, and are wonderfully convenient. 



WoodcocK, Ph&kela minor. 

 BlacK- bellied p over, ox-eye, Squa- 



tarola helvetica. 

 Ring plover, JEgiolUix eemppalina- 



tun. 

 Stiir, or long-sUauia, Bimmlopui Tat ler, Totawu 



nigriooMs. Tellow-sliuuKs, T*. 



Red-backed Bandptper, or ox-blrd, 



Trhviacip.- 

 Great man, led sjoilvv-it, or niarlin, 



Lh'Waa ft'ooa. 

 WlllBt, Tutanat tc-mipalmatw. 

 ulanolencti*. 

 uajlaviptt. 



"Bay birds" generally, including various species of plover, sand 

 piper, snipe, cnrlcw, ovsrer-ciiteiier, surl hinla, pnalatouea, avoceta, 

 etc., comiug under the group Liinacohr. or Shore Birns. Many States 

 permit prairie fowl (pinnated, grouse) shootlug after Auensc 15. 



Game at the West. — The coming shootirig season Is 

 most promising for all kinds of game, and the coming Bench 

 Show and Field Trial in Minnesota are attracting a large num- 

 ber of Eastern sportsmen, who wdl find an abundance of 

 prairie chickens, plover, mallard, teal, wood ducks, etc. 

 Deer are most abundant in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michi- 

 gan. The best localities in Wisconsin may be reached by the 

 Wisconsin Central Railroad, between Phillips and Ashland, 

 and by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad beyond El- 

 roy : in Michigan, north of Reed City, and by the Flint and 

 Pere Marquette Railroad, between Reed City and Saginaw. 

 The Northwestern branches alBo penetrate to many desirable 

 shooting grounds. 



Quebec— Matapedui, Any. 6.— Ruffed grouse and other 

 small game is very plenty in this vicinity, and signs of moose, 

 cariboo and bear are reported to be numerous within a short 

 distance of Frazer's Hotel. Stanstead. 



New Hampshire— Oeorr/evilte, August 5. — The forests here- 

 abouts are filled with grouse, and there are great, numbers ol 

 duck in Lake Memphremagog during August and September. 

 Later iu the fall wild geese are to be had. D. VV. A. 



Massachusetts — Warcham, Any, 9. — Shooting prospects 

 are very good for this season. Otbus Lisoum. 



Salem, August 13. — A sickle-bill curlew was picked up one 

 day last week on Buffum street, Lynn ; had been hit and 

 finally fell exhausted. Among the birds recently brought to 

 bag by friends and myself have been summers,' snipe, grass- 

 birds and some peeps, as usual. Uplands are in. good order, 

 but will be better in a week. Rainy weather makes it belter 

 for gunners, as I think showery weather makes birds move 

 after or between them, i. c. if there are any en route for the 

 South. Am going out this afternoon, if weather allows, to 

 try some uplands in Callow's Hill pastures. Grounds bang- 

 up for Wilson snipe. R. L. N 



Nantucket, Aug. 10.— Birds are coming along in fair num 

 hers. Thursday I went up harbor and made a fair bag of 

 curlew and yellow-legs. Jack Guhe'vv. 



Monomonao Spouting Club. — The annual election of of- 

 ficers of the Monomouac Sporting Club of Gardner, Mass., 

 last week, was as follows : Pres , Aaron Greenwood ; Vice- 

 Pres., John D. Edgell ; Executive Committee, Thomas Greeu- 

 wood, George Nichols, Marcus Wright. The club will start 

 upon its annual excursion September 3, and be absent ten 



Rhode Island— Newport, Aug. 10.— Good shooting for 

 this vicinity. One day ihis week the guns brought to bay 11 

 grass plover, 3 woodcock, 9 yellow-legs. Occasional. 



Newport, Auyust 12.— Woodcock and plover are being shot 

 with very good success, shooters getting to bag from three to 

 ten birds. T. J. L. 



New York— Eldnd, August 8.— Deer and small game as 

 plenty as usual. A good season's sport Is anticipated. 



I. M. B. 



Long Island— Jamaica Bay, August 13.— A few flocks of 

 yellow-legs; ring-necks and surf snipe plenty; one black 

 duck seen on the" 11th; weakflsh and striped bass fishing first 

 rate ; any cmautity of crabs. 



Pennsylvania— Erin, August 10.— Woodcock shooling has 

 been very good this season. Mr. T. W. Jarecki and myself 

 bagged 18 fine birds last Thursday. They are beginning to 

 molt now, and we have all agreed to let them alone until after 

 they get through. Smpk. 



Tennessee— Nashville, Aug. 8.— A great many sportsmen 

 are out every day, and some excellent bags of doves are made. 

 I heard of three gentlemen who killed forty, one afternoon, 

 and yesterday Mr. Valentine and two friends iu a short while 

 baggeda dozen, V. scoring eight to his gun out of the twelve. 

 There is not the usual prejudice against killing doves and 

 robins as there is in tuany places, and both birds are consid- 

 ered delicacies, The flesh of the dove is dark and resembles 

 the pigeon, except that it is more delicate. J. D. H. 



MianiOAN— Detroit. August 8.— J. E. Long, En three days' 

 shooting at Monroe last week, killed 70 woodcock. William 

 Jardine on July 30 killed 17 woodcock. Dbuio. 



Minnesota — Montevideo, August 3. — Prairie chickens and 

 ducks are very plenty in this and adjoining counties. We ex- 

 pect great fun the latter part of the mouth. J, p 



Indiana— Blujj'tm, Aug. 3.— Quail and grouse are plenty 

 and promise good sport this season. A. A. W. 



Iowa — Ponwroy, August C— The show for good shooting 

 was never better than now, especially on pinnated grouse. 

 They are a month earlier than usual, many being now lull 

 grown. There is any amount of shooting going on now in 

 open, barefaceJ defiance of the law, and that too by men of 

 whom one would expect more sportsmanlike behavior. We 

 have no club of any consequence as far as enforcing the law 

 goes, and as no one makes it his partieidar business to see to 



