THE REFERENDUM 
“« .. with modern guns and smokeless 
powder, the killing part of the load being 
70 per cent. of the shot at fifty yards, 30 per 
cent. dropping to the ground or not flying 
true. 
vA cartridge, as we all know, is the metallic 
case, or the burr, as it is often called, which 
holds the powder and bullet.” 
“Other bullets are express bullets, or those 
with long bodies and fired with an enormous 
amount of powder.” 
. black powder will stand a certain 
amount of pressure with safety, but at the 
slightest compression smokeless powder is 
liable to develop so much force that it explodes. 
Be careful, therefore, when extracting a car- 
tridge or shell which has smokeless powder in it, 
not to compress it or it may cause an accident.” 
“The ordinary way to fire a gun is to bring 
it against the shoulder, but a quicker way is to 
bring it into the crook of the arm, having the 
elbow nearly on a level with the shoulder. 
By keeping the other elbow also well up the 
gun is balanced with the body, and there is 
not the same liability of its swaying as when 
held against the shoulder. In firing in this 
way you will have to learn to hold the head 
well back when you take aim, otherwise your 
eye will be close to the hammer and if the gun 
kicks there is the liability of an accident.” 
“SUFFERER.” 
Glens Falls, N. Y. 

Three-Barrel Gun Man 
I would like to hear from some of the readers 
of RECREATION who have had experience with 
_the three-barrel gun. I am thinking of buying 
a 12-gauge with .25-.35 or .32-.40 rifle barrel, 
weighing about 74 pounds. aL. 
Spokane, Wash. 

A Plea for West Virginia 
My chief purpose in writing this letter is not 
to dilate upon the beauties of our mountains 
and streams, the fun of deer-hunting and 
fishing, but to raise my voice for the proper 
protection of our game and fish. Our success 
at deer-hunting in the Williams River country 
has been limited. The cause of this may be 
almost wholly attributed to the utter disregard 
of the game and fish laws of our State. Our 
laws for the protection of game and fish are 
very good, although in some respects they 
might be amended to advantage. But it is 
their nonenforcement that plays havoc with 
the game and fish. 
I understand that there is little or_no_ effort | 
made to prohibit the many companies operating 
game of our streams, forests and fields. 
387 
pulp mills, tanneries, coal mines, etc., from 
emptying the poisonous waters from their 
mills and mines into the streams. Wherever 
such waters are emptied into the streams, it 
means death to all animal life therein for many 
miles below that point, and, in fact, for the 
entire distance of the stream above, for the 
fish cannot come up through the polluted por- 
tion of the stream. This is only one of the 
many causes that depopulate our streams of 
fish. Dynamiting, seining, netting, gigging 
and spearing in spawning season are the others. 
Until very recently there has been little or no 
attention paid to these unlawful methods of 
taking and catching fish. 
If these conditions of lawlessness continue, 
the National Government will have little or no 
encouragement in the future to stock our 
streams with game fish. 
Now, a few words in behalf of the noble 
game that is fast vanishing from our forests— 
the deer. If the deer were properly protected 
in this State, they would be getting more plenti- 
ful each year, instead of becoming scarcer and 
scarcer. Our mountains are the natural haunt 
of thedeer. ‘The forests afford them abundant 
food and good shelter in winter. But with all 
these natural advantages they cannot long 
survive the indiscriminate and continuous 
onslaught, by every known method of the hun- 
ter, in and out of season. At the pace we are 
now going, a few years more and the deer will 
be remembered only in stories for the children. 
What I have said of the fish and the deer is 
also true of all other game. 
If the citizens living in the hunting and 
fishing sections of this State would awake to 
the fact that it would be to their financial ad- 
vantage to protect the game and fish, they 
would soon discover that many true sportsmen 
would soon patronize their neighborhoods, and 
the source of revenue derived from the hunters 
and fishermen would be equal to, if not more 
than, the amount derived by them from their 
daily labors. 
I think the law should in this State, as I am 
informed it does in the State of Maine, consti- 
tute every citizen in the hunting and fishing 
sections of the State game and fish wardens. 
Soon the citizens would take pride in seeing 
that the game and fish laws would be enforced 
in spirit and letter. 
In conclusion, let me appeal to all true 
lovers of the gun and rod to lend their influence 
and hearty support to preserve the fish and 
If we 
succeed in this, and we can, future generations 
will rise up and ‘‘call us blessed.” This 
having been done, it will be but a few years 
until West Virginia will be as noted for its 
