GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



453 



country. If you will look in May '98 Rec- 

 reation you will see a photo of Miss Har- 

 riet M. Richards, which ought to put you 

 smokeless powder men to shame. There is a 

 lady who has killed a bear with a little .38-55. 

 And here are a lot of sportsmen growling as 

 to which is the best and most deadly rifle, the 

 modern cannon, .45-90, .50-110, or .50-100. 

 Think of it you modern cannon men. How 

 is it that all the men I have met in my wan- 

 derings are men who only get a chance once 

 in a while to hunt and who use a .30 calibre; 

 while on the other hand men who are old 

 timers use the old black powder rifle and 

 leaden bullet? I have yet to see my first old 

 timer with a smokeless powder rifle. Can 

 you explain this? Well, Coquina, I will close 

 with the hope that I may read a law forbid- 

 ding the use of such cannon and that the Ind- 

 ians are to stay on their own grounds or else 

 allow the whites to hunt on their reserva- 

 tions. " What is sauce for the goose is 

 sauce for the gander." What is the differ- 

 ence between a li game hog " and a user of a 

 smokeless powder rifle? 



In February issue E. T. Conyngham says 

 " I would prefer Mr. Dunham's .25 through 

 the neck of a big bear, rather than Mr. 

 Van Dyke's .50 through its abdomen." 

 This is no comparison to make of the 2 

 rifles. Surely if he is a Doctor, as he signs 

 himself, he ought to know the difference be- 

 tween these 2 shots. Put these 2 bullets in 

 the same place and I'll choose the .50. When 

 Mr. Van Dyke wrote about that weapon he 

 knew what was what. In the same issue 

 Mr. Hank Hunkamunk expresses my views 

 about rifles. Let anyone put a leaden bullet 

 in the right place. That is all that is needed. 



ELEPHANTS AND ELEPHANT GUNS. 



LIEUT. J. P. WEBSTER. 



Authorities differ as to the right kind of 

 rifle to be used in elephant hunting. Sir 

 Samuel Baker, who probably killed more 

 elephants and large game than any man ex- 

 cept Gordon Cumming, used a double bar- 

 reled 10 bore. He strongly deprecated the 

 2 grooved rifle for large game on account 

 of the difficulty in loading it quickly. 



F. C. Selous, a noted African hunter, tells 

 us that in his wanderings, which virtually 

 covered all of Africa, he used a .45 bore rifle 

 carrying a long, solid, hardened bullet of 

 540 grains and a powder charge of 75 grains. 

 Still, he contends that a man who is going 

 to make elephant hunting a business, wants 

 the most deadly weapon he can get; and un- 

 der many circumstances, especially in thick 

 bush, a heavy large bore rifle would be far 

 more effective than a small bore for elephant 

 shooting. 



If my memory serves me, Gordon Cum- 

 ming once fired 35 bullets from a heavy 10 

 bore rifle into an elephant which had been 

 crippled with a broken shoulder. This will 

 serve to illustrate how much shooting an 



elephant can stand, and how necessary it is 

 that the shot should be well placed in order 

 to kill him. 



To succeed in elephant shooting, the 

 sportsman must have a thorough knowledge 

 of the structure of the animal's head and the 

 location of its brain. A shot failing to reach 

 the brain will cause little inconvenience, a? 

 there are no large blood vessels in the head; 

 and although the beast will probably be 

 temporarily stunned, in a few minutes he will 

 be off before the astonished hunter recovers 

 from his excitement. 



The 3 principal shots at an elephant's head 

 may be classed as follows: The front or 

 forehead shot; side or temple shot; the rear 

 or behind the ear shot. Any of these will 

 quickly give the lordly beast his quietus. 

 Should the hunter be facing the elephant, a 

 shot in the center of the forehead, toward 

 the top of the bump which is really the base 

 of the trunk, will prove immediately fatal. 

 If the sportsman be on one side of the ele- 

 phant, a shot directly in the ear hole, on 

 a line to pass through the opposite ear, is 

 all that is necessary. A shot behind the ear, 

 at a point where the jaw joins the neck, is 

 a good one. Nine times out of 10 this shot 

 will present itself to the hunter who is, as 

 a rule, behind the animal. 



In charging an infuriated elephant carries 

 his trunk coiled up. His attack is a grand 

 sight. With ears cocked, head carried high, 

 and going at full speed, he rushes along 

 sweeping everything before him. He is the 

 true king of beasts, as regards size, strength 

 and dignity of character. However much 

 big game hunters may differ on other mat- 

 ters, they agree that elephant shooting is the 

 most dangerous of all sports, as well as the 

 most supremely exciting. 



A curious fact in connection with a herd 

 of elephants is that it is always led by the 

 females, with their calves. If alarmed the 

 order of things is speedily changed and the 

 tuskers rush to the front, not as a matter 

 of protection to the females, but in order 

 to secure safety for themselves. There is 

 nothing gallant about the male. When feed- 

 ing he reserves all the choice morsels for 

 himself. In this he is no different from 

 other wild beasts; but the female, though 

 left to shift for herself, is entirely capable 

 of doing so. 



IT IS THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN. 



Gridley, Kansas. 



Editor Recreation: Your breezy, newsy 

 magazine has been helping beguile my weary 

 hours all through this long hot summer. I 

 have grown to look and long most eagerly 

 for its coming. May success attend you in 

 your crusade against the game hogs. Stay 

 with 'em till the last bristle falls. 



Please give me some information about 

 the L. A. S. 



This is quite a breeding country for chick- 

 ens and qmails, and if they could only be pro- 



