212 



RECREA TION. 



These few suggestions to the beginner, 

 will, I hope, bring out more practical infor- 

 mation from the older sportsmen. First, 

 learn to handle the gun quickly. Fifteen 

 minutes' practice every day, in your room, 

 snapping the gun at objects on the walls, 

 will be of benefit. Empty shells in the 

 chambers will save the hammers from strik- 

 ing the breech. Having decided what to 

 aim at, fix the eyes on it and bring up the 

 gun with an easy motion. When the aim 

 is correct, or nearly so, press the trigger. 

 Never try to better the aim but pull the 

 trigger the instant the mark is seen fairly 

 over the muzzle. Hand and eye should 

 work in unison. 



Keeping both eyes open increases the 

 range of vision and enables a much quicker 

 aim to be taken. Should the left eye be the 

 stronger, close it and shoot with one eye; 

 or grasp £he barrels with the left hand so 

 as to obscure the view of the left eye. How- 

 ever, practice with the left closed wifl gen- 

 erally result in the right gaining sufficiently 

 in strength to align the gun, when both are 

 open. 



Practice snapping until the gun comes up 

 truly aligned on the mark. The beginner 

 should commence with shells loaded with 

 1^2 drs. of powder, i felt wad and y 2 oz. 

 of fine shot. Practice with these at station- 

 ary marks, 15 or 20 paces away; high, low, 

 to the right and left. When these can be 

 hit 9 times out of 10, it is time to try mov- 

 ing objects. 



Now, another difficulty arises. At birds 

 flying straight away, or toward the shooter, 

 the manner of aiming is the same as at 

 stationary marks; but at crossing, rising, 

 and descending birds, an allowance must 

 be made. 



An ounce of No. 6 shot has a velocity of 

 about 840 feet a second, for the first 40 

 yards; therefore it takes ifft, or j second 

 for it to go that distance. A bird flying at 

 the rate of 40 miles an hour, an ordinary 

 flight, would go about 8 feet in that time. 

 Taking into consideration the time required 

 to pull the trigger, which varies with dif- 

 ferent men, it would fly from 9 to 12 feet, 

 before the shot could overtake it, if at 40 

 yards from the gun. 



Allowance for this is made in 2 ways: by 

 holding ahead, and by swinging the gun 

 past the bird. In the first method, many 

 beginners make the mistake of not allow- 

 ing for the time it takes to bring the gun 

 up. This must be determined from ex- 

 perience, for it varies with different shoot- 

 ers. 



The second method, which I think is the 

 better, is less likely to develop into " snap- 

 ping " at everything. Swing the gun in the 

 direction of the flight, and as it passes the 

 bird press the trigger without diminishing 

 the lateral movement. By the time the 

 shot leave the barrel, the gun has gained 

 sufficiently on the bird to make allowance 



for its flight. Some men move the gun far 

 enough ahead of the game to make the al- 

 lowance, but this is apt to make one a 

 " poking " shot. Aim above rising birds 

 and below descending. 



Good practice can be had at sparrows. 

 Use light loads of No. 10 shot and 2 drs. 

 of powder. One will be surprised at the 

 effectiveness and at the sport furnished by 

 these little robbers, as they dart from stack 

 to barn or rise singly from the fence. 



The novice generally shoots behind and 

 under game. Not because he does not 

 know where he should hold, but he fails to 

 put his knowledge into practice. He is, in 

 common with many old shooters, likely 

 to get into the habit of snap-shooting at 

 everything. This is due to nervousness, 

 and is difficult to overcome. It is a good 

 thing to be able to make a snap-shot in 

 cover, but in open the snap-shot is not in 

 it with the deliberate shooter. 



Several times last fall, I missed with the 

 right barrel, at short range, and, cooling 

 down a little, made a clean kill with the 

 left. In deliberate shooting, the sports- 

 man sees the bird over the gun, or follows 

 its flight before he shoots. In every case, 

 however, one should shoot at the first 

 sight, if nearly correct. The nervous snap- 

 shot frequently shoots even though he is 

 aware the aim is not within several feet of 

 the bird. 



Some writers recommend target practice 

 with a rifle, as likely to help the beginner 

 in wing shooting. Has any reader of Rec- 

 reation tried it? 



I will repeat, " Practice." Do not be 

 easily discouraged. One cannot become a 

 good field-shot with 1 or 2 seasons' work. 

 The first fall I tried bird shooting, my bag 

 was 2 woodcocks, one quail, and 3 ruffed 

 grouse. The second season, after going 

 through such a course of practice, as here 

 outlined, I got 5 woodcocks, 21 quails, 10 

 ruffed grouse and 10 rabbits, besides sev- 

 eral hawks and other birds. All these birds 

 were killed on the wing. Twenty-five ruffed 

 grouse are enough for any man in one sea- 

 son; and, to my notion, will furnish more 

 sport than 2 moose or half a dozen deer. 



WISCONSIN DEER LICKS. 



Jamestown, N. Y. 



Editor Recreation: It may interest the 

 readers of Recreation, who never watched 

 or saw a deer lick, to know how and what 

 they look like. Last spring, from the 10th 

 of April to the 19th of May, I was in Saw- 

 yer county, Wisconsin, propagating muska- 

 longe. It is a wild, desolate place, 21 miles 

 from a post office, between the Omaha 

 railroad and the headwaters of the Chip- 

 pewa river. Three years ago this country 

 was traversed by forest fires, which swept 



