350. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dkckmmr, 1, 1881. 



Monday eve at 7 o'clock found us here at Mr3. Nye's ; and 

 irn'l she a team] Full of business every inch of her, and 

 there are several inches (weighs about 180), with au eye like 

 a hawk, and a tomtue— well, Heaven help the man she "ob- 

 jects ai," when she is aronsed. The Kitty Hawk Club found 

 that out. And she says she is not through with them yet. 

 But she does keep a good hoBtelry ; sets a good table, and is 

 attentive personally to the wants of her guests. Looks after 

 everything herself and is empirically "boss of theranche." 



We made a short Ml at the Kitty Hawk Club. They are 

 very pleasintly situated temporarily, some 400 yard3 from 

 here. They expect to build a club house further south. We 

 found Major Bailey in charge, backed up by Ed. Pray, who 

 came down with us and made those wonderful shots with his 

 new Scott eun. We saw him kill a eoose that we thought 

 was fully 130 yards, and two crows at 80 and 100 yards. He 

 used the thread cartridges. He is one of the enthuBiaBts in 

 the shooting line, as good shot and food company as all true 

 sportsmen should he. Bailey, the Major Dowd of the club, 

 is a fine, soldier looking gentlemen of education, and evident- 

 ly erj y8 the situation of which he is master. We were 

 most courteously entertained and invited to eo down with 

 them on Saturday over the grounds of the club, which ex- 

 tend some 250 miles south, embracing some of the best 

 shooting points in the United States. More of this anon. 



Jaoobstaff. 



HINTS ON HANDLING A GUN. 



SHOOTING on the wing is a mechanical art like billiard 

 playing, boxing or fencing. There will, of course, be 

 degrees of excellence, hut any one with the full use of his 

 faculties and the ambition necessary to success in anything 

 can acquire it. 



The secret lies in the hand becoming subservient to the 

 eye. The two must be connected as by electricity. The 

 eye is never at fault; if it were there would be little hope of 

 improvement, but any one may improve the quickness of 

 the muscles of the arm. Look at the expertness of profes- 

 sional card players and conjurers in the art of manipulation. 

 The Banie practice applied to the gun will make the brilliant 

 Bbot. 



One often hears it said "to be a good shot requires a quick 

 eye.'' It matters not how quick the eye is unless the 

 muscles are educated to act iu unison with it. Every one 

 can see quick en ugh. Let one bird out of a trap before five 

 hundred people and they will all see it at the same time, but 

 only the practiced shot can throw up a gun to his shoulder 

 with accurate aim and simultaneously pull trigger before 

 the bird has flown ten feet. Take the adroit fencer or boxer; 

 he sees en opening and his practiced muscles obey the eye 

 and send the thrust or blow home quicker than the unprac- 

 ticed tye can follow. 



Of what use then is ike sight on a eun ? Very little, as is 

 Been by the successful way gunners kill ducks when it is too 

 dark to see the sight or scarcely to see the barrels. 



A sportsman should shoot game the same as an Indian 

 shoots his arrow, by looking at the object with both eye- 

 open. It may be doue by closing one eye, but there is noth- 

 ing gained by this, 



There are two ways of shooting on the wing. One to 

 throw up the eun to the shoulder and pull the trigger at the 

 same time. This is termed " map shooting." The ether, 

 equally g od and better to begin with, and more certain 

 upon the whole, particularly in open shooting, is to follow 

 the bird and when covered fire while the gun is in moiion. 

 When you pull the trigger the other hand has a tendency to 

 stop. That misses the bird, but education will leach it not to 

 stop, the same as we leach both hands a different action 

 while playing on the piano. E. B. 



MUZZLE LOADER VS. BREECH LOADER. 



Somerville, Mass., Nov. 8. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



I would like to hear from some one who can give me a 

 little bit of information through the columns of your much 

 esteemed paper, if it is not asking too much. I will try to 

 state the case so as to make it as plain as possible. 



When a boy I had a small muzzle loading rifle with which, 

 after some practice, 1 learned to pick a squirrel's head for a 

 dead certainty. In loading, I always used a round hall and a 

 greased linen patch. Whenever I pulled the trigger I knew 

 (whether I looked at the target or not) where the bullet had 

 gone. This I mean for distances short of fifty yardB. 



Well, about a year ago I purchased a new thirty-two calibre 

 breech-loading rifle, thirty-inch barrel and about eight 

 pounds weight, and as I think a well-made arm. It was 

 rim lire at the time that I bought it, chambered for the 

 regular thirty-two long cartridge. Well, I commenced 

 practice with it, and found that I could not depend upon it 

 for dose-ebootinr, as it would, perhaps, pick out three spots 

 of a playing-card and then a ball would go three inches wide 

 of the mark, or over or under. I wbb told that rim-flre car- 

 tridges were uncertain, so 1 sent to the factory Where the 

 gun was made and obtained a central-fire brcech-bh ck for it. 

 1 then bought some central-fire thirty-two cartridges and 

 went to shooting with them, with the s-ime result. Both 

 kinds of cailridges were made by the Union Metallic Co., 

 of Bridgeport, Conn. 



Then 1 gave up for a while, and thought that the fault was 

 in myself, and that close-shooting was one of the lost arts 

 with me. But remembi ring that when I used to shoot well, 

 I need a muzzle-loader and a round ball, I went to William 

 Bead & Sons, and obtained acme No. 1 buckshot (which just 

 fit a Ihirty-two calibre for muzzle-loading, with a linen patch) 

 and went at it again. After getting my sights " tuned," 

 1 found that by first putting in a central-fire sbell and load- 

 ing Irom the muzzle 1 could cut a spot on a card almost 

 every time, and it I did "pull the gun off the mark," I knew 

 it when 1 pulled. 



1 determine d to test the matter thoroughly. I arranged a 

 vise so that I could turn it on a pivot, and then clamped the 

 rifle between the jaws in such a mariner that I could load it 

 from either the muzzle or breech, andproeeedtd to make my 

 testB. The following is the result of ten shots each, rim-fire 

 and central-fire, bretch-loading, andloading from the muzzle 

 with round ball and patch, distance, twenty five yards : 



Breech-loading.— Rim-fire. Seven balls inside inch ring* 

 one three inches away to the left, and two about two inches 

 high, close together. Central-fire.— Six balls cut each other 

 out, one one inch below thu others, one two inches above, 

 and the other two about half an inch to the right and close 

 tog ther. 



MuKle-loading, with round ball and patch, the ten shots 

 cut out a hole about as large as my thumb-nail. 



I would add that the gun wa9 not removed from he vise 

 and was swabbed clean after each discharge. 



Now, what I would like to ask is this : Is muzzle-loading 

 with a round ball more accurate in its shooting than breech- 

 loading with a slug or conical bullet ? Or is it the fault of 

 the cartridges made by the U. M. C. Co. ? If the fault is in 

 the rtfle, why is it accurate with round balls loaded from the 

 muzzle ? Of course I refer to the naked canelured bullet in 

 breech-loading, and not to the patched ones such as are used 

 in long-range rifle matches. Ieon Ramrod. 



REELFOOT LAKE. 



THE number of gentlemen sportsmen who have gone to 

 Reelfoot this year from Nashville, Columbia, Frank- 

 lin, Bowling Grpen, and other parts of Tennessee, exceeds 

 anv ever known before. 



Hermann Buckholz and Tom Waterman led the van from 

 Nashville ; then followed Messrs. Burt Bray, T. Morris, I. 

 < 00k and Bill Winans, from Bowling Green. On Saturday, 

 the 19tb. the aristocratic club of this city started, consisting 

 of Col. V. L. Kirkman, Clarke Piitchett, Geo. W. Dar-'en, 

 J. P. Dronellard and John Thompson, Jr. Maj. Bun, Felix 

 Mitchell, J. Palmer and John Nicholson leave on Satur- 

 day next. From Columbia and Franklin the list has been 

 augmented by Alf. Hersely, Tom Perkins, Mr Cliffe, Ed. 

 Wheat, and several others. These gentlemen go fully 

 equipped for both shooting and fishing. 



Col. Kirkman's party go to his shooting box on the Lake, 

 where every comfort and luxury that good taste and money 

 can procure is provided. The other gentlemen have their 

 boats, private stores and servants, though they stop at Car- 

 penter's, where they can be cared for in better than ordinary 

 country style. The weather is now favorable for sport, and 

 doubtless large bags and creels will reward them for the 

 hard work thev will have to perform. 



Partridges (quail) are now plentiful in market, though 

 the price, fifteen cents each, is high for this market. 



General Smedes has opened a restaurant in this city at 

 which woodcock, snipe, ducks, choice fish, frog legs, veni- 

 son and "possum" appear on the bill of fare daily. The 

 woodcock come from Cincinnati, and command one dollar 

 each. 



Q' ese in the Cumberland River are more numerous than 

 usual at this season, but they are so wild as to evade the most 

 sKillfnl hunter. 



Squirrels have almost entirely disappeared from the State ; 

 like the darkeys, they have exodusted for a more genial 

 clime. J. D. H. 



A'uslmille, Tenn., Nov. 17, 1881. 



Value of Field Si'oktb. — The will of the late Inslee A. 

 Hopper, of Newark, N. J., who, for many years, was 

 President of the Singer Manufacturing Company, gives all 

 his property to his wife excepting his fishing-tackle, guns 

 and other sporting implements. These he bequeathed 10 his 

 sons, expressing his desire that they will cultivate a love for 

 fishing and fielo sports. Of the intrinsic value of the outfit 

 we are no' told ; but the advice we know to he worth 

 thousands of dollars to young men. There are hosts of gray- 

 tia'red veterans to-day who would not exchange pleasures 

 found in field sports for a very valuable money cousideration. 

 — FoKhsi and Stream. 



And those old " gray-haired veterans" are the healthiest 

 men in the world. Some people have very curiouH ideas 

 ah at field sports. Theythiukif a mm owns a gun and a 

 dog, he is of no account. It he goes fishing once in a while, 

 he is "neLdecting his business," and "will never amount to 

 anything-" We can remember when, in this city, it was 

 considered by some of the old fogies almost a crime to own 

 a dog. We believe in hunting and fishing, and a breath of 

 the glorious fresh country air. We believe that the Lord 

 never made nv n to spend their whole lives cooped up in 

 close, musty stores, and dingy little offices, so ab-o'bed in 

 the business of money making, that they absolutely shrivel 

 up. Their sons come on ; they keep them in school till their 

 poor hf ads are literally stuffed with knowledge, then put 

 them at some confining work, and then wonder why they 

 are not healthy. If the youth asks for a gun, and says that 

 he would like to go out sometimes and shoot a little, his 

 father holds up his hands in horror, and tells him that he 

 will never make a business man, and, referring him to some 

 old, yellow, dried-up business man, who knows no God but 

 money, and whose soul is so small that it would rattle around 

 in a gnat's ear like a pea in a filled balloon, says: "Look at 

 Mr. Skinflint, he never hunted a day in his life " If ever we 

 have a boy, we intend lo get him a gun as soon as he is old 

 enough to know how to load it properly, and a dog loo if he 

 warns it, and if he don't die and leave a vast estate for his 

 children to wrangle over, he will have the satisfaction of 

 having had some real pleasure. We know of some men who 

 actually are afraid to let it be known that they hunt. " for 

 fear that the business men will think less of them." Let the 

 business men think what they please. If a man supports 

 his family and pays bis honest debts, whose business is it ? 

 If he wants to hunt, lei him hunt, and the same in regard to 

 fishing. We love both, and we don't care who knows it, and 

 if we go shooting every day for the next seventeen years, 

 it's nobody's business but our own. There are a lot of 

 wooden-headed young squirts running around this town 

 every night, who couldn't hit the court-house with a snot gun 

 unless somebody aimed it and put it in a vice for thoin, and 

 yet they play billiards, pool, cards and even throw dice in an 

 airy and graceful manner. Get one, when he is loquacious 

 i. e , loaded up with beer, and ask him if he ever hunts or 

 fishes, an3 he will tell you "Oh no, pa says a man who hunts 

 is no account." If some of the "pa's" around town would 

 instil a little more love of honest manly sport, and of exercise 

 in the good country air into the minds of their boys, they 

 wouldn't wake up so often at midnight, and go down and 

 find the night-key still set, and then " wondtr where Johnny 

 is." — Evansville Argus. 



Crows tob the Trap.— Camden, Nov. 26 —I notice in 

 last week's paper an article by "Colin" in which he suggests 

 crows as a substitute for pigeons for trap shooting, and savs 

 to his knowledge it haB never been tried. I have a friend 

 who became a crack shot by shooting them from a trap. He 

 lived on a farm where crows were plenty in winter, and 

 caught them in a pigeon net, baited with offal. When he 

 comme ced shooting he would tie the bird to the trap by a 

 long coid, and if he scored a 0, would pull him in and try 

 again. Sometimes he would have as many as 150 or 200 

 crows confined in an old chicken-kouse, where they were fed 

 and taken out as wanted. A, A. B. 



AN OLD TIME BULB. 



/""iTJR little party, hungry, tired and thirsty, stopped at the door of 

 ^ a small tana-house, which was beautifully painted by m«ny a 

 fler.o winter snow and Wow, tempered and blended on the pallette 

 ot time. We walk In, and while we are sipping the elder something 

 Is said nt old guns, when our host at once Joined In the conversation 

 lth spirit. He "hadarlue— not oi.e ot your new-fangled things, 

 open at each end or broken In the mlddl • to let In a charge, hut a 

 good sensible gun one could load to suit themselves, and could tell at 

 which end the charge would come out." Hed isuppears In an adjoin- 

 ing room, and we await Ids return. At. the drst sound of approach- 

 ing footsteps the end of a small round wooden rod appears at the 

 door at which our old friend had disappeared Following the same 

 along with our staring eyes, we discover a black octagon b oTel into 

 which the rod runs. As the sound of steps draw nearer the end ot 

 the rod and barrel flr.-t discovered disappear somewhere m the oppo- 

 site direction, and soon our worthy farmer appears grasping this line 

 it octagon pipe as If to steady himself a.s he walks. A hasty exam- 

 ination of the gun convinced us that It had been made by some of the 

 past generations f'r a rifle. It was in a wonderfully good state of 

 reservation, nnfl seemed to be all Irtgond working order, which led 

 us to Inquire it it could be fired now. Well, he " guessed It culd, 

 ,nd It they had had such rifles In the war, there would have been 

 more killed. Tfc had been ruled out ot such and such shooting 

 matches," owing to Its never-missing qualities. In fact, we were led 

 to suppose nwas one ot the mysterious piece = described In Niels 

 Whirfles' yellow-covered novels. The writer was seized with a great 

 desire to see It work, and, procuring some loose powder and remov- 

 ing 1he gun to a safe place, a few grains of powder werepiaced In the 

 >pan" and the flint drawn back. A pult at, the trigger gave a snap 

 1 spark, then a flash, much to our surprise as well as amusement 

 But tills only fanned the spark of curiosity into a flame, and nothing 

 would now do but a match with this ancient rifle After much 

 searching in old and dust-covered boxes, a quantity of bullets were- 

 found securely tied up In a time-worn, musty bag, and, guided by a 

 the owner of the rifle, we proceeded to an open, level IP Id backed by 

 thick woods, against which he proposed to shoot. We agreed to 

 shoot once each and to be governed Dy the farmer's rules, lie pro 

 ceeded to step oft one hundred yard-i or paces, we following with 

 boards and timber for a target, which was quickly put, up so as 10 

 present a face of about three feet wide by Ave feet high, with a white 

 chalk mark in the centre. Our instructor loads the gun after bis 

 own fashion, which Is accomplished after some delay, such aa fixing 

 the flint, making a priming pin, etc. Then the rifle was pronounced 

 ready to shoot, and one. of our number quickly faced the butts and 

 prepared to shoot from a pile of limber, according to Instructions 

 from our leader, who wished us to shoot first. All ready— snap, 

 dash, bang I and away sped the ball to some unknown, and, we hope, 



shot, and so on 

 ter's tutu. He 

 iC target failed 

 he " knowed 

 llh It " A;i mi 



ry oneoiaittied 

 'ttnd had to be 

 nt nt all likely 

 ivlngtotheen- 



unlnhabltable quarter of the globe; dttt 

 until all ot our party had shot, and it came the o-.v 

 took a long, dellberale aim, but an examination of t 

 to reveal any trace of Where the ball had gone. The 

 by the sound of that gun that something was wrong 1 

 one had yei hit the whole face of the target, and evi 

 tohave sent the ball the nearest to it, n second r 

 called, when some very lucky hits were made. It is : 

 that any more shooting can be done In this vicinity, t 

 raged farmers In the surrounding towns, who were badly trighiemd 

 by bullets whistling over their beads, and until tiiey heard of the 

 mulch they thought that the Washington assassin had escaped from 

 prison and gone up In a balloon and was being shot at by the whole 

 nation. E, 



Xorth A wlover. 



"Gouge and Swindle"— University Club, 370 Fifth Ave- 

 nue, New York, November 23. 18&1.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream : Should aDy of my fellow-sporismen contemplate a 

 visit to High Point, N. O, for quail shooting ibis season, 

 perhaps the experience of myself and friend might lie useful. 

 We decided to v. sit that locality a short time since upon the 

 wif's-representations of a New Jersey man, who is now keep- 

 ing the Bedevue Hotel at that Point. We were assured by 

 this person that he had arranged to secure us the shooting 

 over a large extent of country, whereas, ou tl c contrary, we 

 found nearly every farm "posted," and in nearly every in- 

 stance we were "warned off" by the laud owner in the most 

 rude and insullinii manner. Had il not been lor the courtesy 

 of one or two residents of the village we would have had no 

 shooting at all. As a specimen of ihe innkcepetb' rapacity, 

 permit me toquote a few items from our bill ; Board, 4£ days 

 for two. $22 60 ; board for 3 dogs, .f-t 60 ; fires in mom, $2 ; 

 3 lunches (when we did not d me at the hotel). $4 50 ; cork- 

 Btrc on wine, which we sent down from New York city and 

 opened ourselves, 75 cents per bottle, etc, etc. Comment is 

 unnecessary. — W. E. O. M. 



GrNKiNG Accident at SPBBtm* Island.— Dr. Jos. W. A. 

 Glai -kson, a prominent Baltimore sportsman, met with quite 

 a serious accident, while duck shooting at Simmon's fishing 

 grounds, Spesu'ia Island, Harford county, Md., on the 23d 

 inst. He and Mr. Adam, of Adarns Bros., Baltimore, were 

 companions on the shooting trip. Dr. Clarksou was in a 

 blind a'one about fifty or sixty yards from the shore. Mr. 

 Adams was in another blind on a point about 300 yards dis- 

 tant Having two guns with him Dr. C. discharged the first 

 at a flock of redheads that darted at his decoys, and laying 

 it down took up the larger one for a second shot when it fell 

 from h'S hand and exploded, both barrels going off. Part of 

 his clothing was torn off, bis ribs scratched and his right arm 

 badly wounded. The blind was set on fire by the discharge, 

 and thus attracted attention and brought relief. It is believed 

 that Dr. Clarkson's arm can be saved, though at flrat it was 

 feared amputation would be accessary. Strange to relate, 

 this Bame arm blind wheretheaccide.it occurred was the very 

 one in which Mr. R. Q Taylor, of Baltimore, lost an arm by 

 the premature discharge of his gun some years ago.— Homo. 



" Trie Oregon Trail."— Did you ever read a little book 

 entitled " The Oregon Trail?" My boy gut it out of cur 

 school library. It contained an interesting and iustruc'ive 

 account of the. killing, by the author and his funnels, of 

 numerous buffalo for their tongues. It is very instructive 

 and valuable reading for our boj s, a good thing for our school 

 libraries, and, if properly recommended, may train up a gen- 

 eration of pot hunters. W. H. II. 



["The Oregon Trail," if we mistake not, is by a distin- 

 guished historian, Francis Parkman, who would doubtless be 

 amazed at the criticism offered by cur correspondent.] 



Chesapeake Bat Docks— Mr. Pierre Lorillard is on a 

 duck shouting excursion in the Chesapeake Bay with a select 

 party of friends in his slearn yacht Radba. Fowl are in 

 abundance in the Chesapeake Bay and adj aceut waters.-HoMo . 



