GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can keep on shooting all day, but it takes a gentleman to quit when he gets enough. 



THE 25-35 AS A DEER GUN. 



From seeing the effect of the Winches- 

 ter 25-35 both on game and on inanimate 

 objects, I made up my mind that it was 

 the gun I wanted for my next season's 

 deer hunt. So during the summer of 1900 

 I bought one. Two friends who were 

 planning to go with me tried the gun and 

 read everything Recreation had to say 

 on the subject. They each bought a gun. 

 Other friends said the articles in Recrea- 

 tion were inspired by the manufacturers 1 ; 

 that we would find so small a bore 

 would not kill a deer, and while we 

 might wound one, there would not be 

 enough blood to track by. Old deer 

 hunters told us our pop guns were good 

 enough for rabbits, but no good for deer. 



We organized our party and joined the 

 rush during the first days of November to 

 Michigan upper peninsula. On the boat 

 crossing the Strait we were told of the 

 experience of one of our fellow travelers 

 who, the year before, with a 303° Win- 

 chester had "drawn a bead on a big buck 

 at 6 rods, had seen the hide draw up 

 where the buck was hit over the heart, 

 and was charged by the maddened ani- 

 mal." That proved to him the small 

 bore would not kill a deer. Arriving at 

 our station, we found 2 hunters who had 

 used the 25-35 and discarded it as too 

 small for deer. They carried 45-9°'s and 

 were going to get their deer. 



With all this in mind we went into 

 camp still determined to try the small 

 gun. We killed 10 deer and wounded 3. 

 One of the last was hit by a member of 

 the party who carried a 38-55 Marlin. He 

 did not get the deer nor did he get any 

 others. The other 2 wounded were hit 

 by 25-35's. One was cut on the front 

 legs just enough to draw blood; it was 

 almost a complete miss. The other I hit 

 on top of the shoulders so that blood 

 trickled down, yet he could jump over 

 logs 6 feet high and made jumps of 25 

 feet. That, also, was almost a miss, and 

 was caused by my holding too high in 

 trying to allow for the great distance. 



Now for the record of kills. Deer No. 

 1 was hit behind the shoulders, went down 

 like a log and was dead by the time it 

 was reached. No. 2 was a big buck and 

 was hit in the region of the left kidney; 

 he went down like a log; he bled a great 

 deal and was still struggling when he 

 was reached. A second ball in the head 

 ended his suffering. No. 3 was hit in the 

 neck and never knew how it happened. 

 No. 4 was hit behind the shoulders and 



promptly laid. No. 5 was hit in the nose 

 and dropped at once. No. 6 was hit in the 

 hips as he jumped out of his nest. He 

 went about 25 feet. No. 7 was hit in the 

 region of the heart, the heart being torn 

 to ribbons. He ran about 25 rods, dropped 

 his flag, turned around, walked 20 feet and 

 was getting stiff by the time we reached 

 him. No. 8 was a small buck and was 

 riddled from stern to stem, the ball enter- 

 ing his flank and coming out at his nose. 

 No. 9, an old doe, was hit on top of the" 

 shoulders by 3 balls from the same gun, 

 the balls being in a row and about an inch 

 apart. Two hit her as she was going 

 down, and, of course, after she was done 

 for. No. 10 was a small fawn, which stood 

 facing the gun. The ball struck him in 

 the side, cutting 3 ribs. He turned and 

 ran, but we found him at the end of a 

 bloody trail about 20 rods long. 



As to the penetration of the soft nosed 

 bullets in the carcass of a deer, I will say 

 that deer Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were per- 

 forated through and through. In the case 

 of No. 2 the ball lodged in the opposite 

 hip, much the worse for wear. No. 5 re- 

 ceived the ball in the upper end of her 

 vertebral column and stopped it. No. 9 

 stopped all 3 balls in her shoulder bones. 

 No. 10 did not stop the ball, neither did it 

 go through; it simply tore a chunk out 

 of his side and went on. The oldest deer 

 kunter of our party said he had used a 

 good many guns and had all kinds of ex- 

 periences with them; but for a gun to 

 paralyze deer he had never seen the equal 

 of the 25-35 Winchester with .soft nose 

 bullets and smokeless powder. 



L. P. Munger, M.D., Hart, Mich. 



Why kill so many deer? Two for each 

 man would have been plenty. The fact that 

 the law allowed you to kill 5 each does 

 not justify you in doing so. 



Why kill an old doe and a small fawn 

 when you already had 8 deer in camp? 



I am glad Michigan has amended her 

 deer law so as to prohibit deer hunters 

 from making swine of themselves. — Editor. 



NOT SUITED WITH SMOKELESS AMMU- 

 NITION. 

 For several years I have been using and 

 reading about smokeless, powder and 

 smokeless powder rifles. I am sure these 

 guns are far from perfect, particularly in 

 reference to the ammunition used. At 

 first 30 grains was thought the correct 

 load for the 30-30. That charge stripped 

 jackets, swelled chambers and ruptured 

 shells, and it was decided to reduce it. 



37t 



