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RECREATION. 



dust themselves. The hedge was thick 

 and the ragweeds tall, and for some time 

 I could not get a shot. At last I caught a 

 glimpse of a pullet I thought would do. 

 Up went the gun, down came the harrow 

 tooth, and while I picked bits of the cap 

 out of my face I could hear the flop-flop- 

 flopping of a dying chicken. I could not 

 see where she had fallen, but running along 

 the hedge to a hog hole I crawled through 

 after my victim. Did I get her? Well, I 

 did; and a big blue hen and ma's pet 

 -Leghorn rooster, to boot. I carried as 

 •much poultry home as I thought ma wanted; 

 the rest I buried. My appetite for dinner 

 that day was not over sharp. 



One evening about a week later mother 

 said, "See here, my boy, have you seen 

 anything of my pet white rooster?" 



"No, ma," I answered, "I haint seen 

 him since last week." 



Then I slid, unostentatiously, out of 

 the back door. 



C. L. Hart, Humeston, la. 



WANTS TO RETURN TO THE MUZZLE 

 LOADER. 



North Park is in Northern Colorado, 

 between Medicine Bow range, and the 

 continental divide, and is about 45 miles 

 long by 30 wide. There are a few bear 

 and elk in the mountains, and deer are 

 quite plentiful in the hills; but the deep 

 snows in early spring drive the deer to 

 the bald ridges of the Park. Then 

 the festive game hog is in his glory, and 

 his pump gun is heard daily within 2 miles 

 of my cabin on Spring creek. One fired 40 

 shots into a band of deer and got one. 

 Another day 2 others fired about 20 shots 

 and got 2 deer. So it goes on every 

 day. You ask, "Why not invoke the law?" 

 Because the game laws are unconstitu- 

 tional ; therefore they are not enforced 

 against the rich and the game wardens of 

 Colorado do not arrest any but the poor. 

 In consequence game will soon be gone. I 

 am a reader of Recreation, but I do not 

 believe in discriminating between ferrets, 

 bird dogs, deer dogs, and pump guns. By 

 primp guns I mean any magazine gun, 

 rifle or shot. You will not advertise fer- 

 rets and certain kinds of fishing tackle, 

 but you advertise dogs and pump guns. 

 Which is most destructive to game, a 

 poor, miserable man with a ferret or the 

 man with a dog and a pump gun? I am a 

 hunter. I detest the name sportsman ; it 

 is only a genteel term for a game hog. Any 

 man who will buy a pump gun is a game 

 hog; if he was not, a single shot rifle 

 would do. I have been many years in the 

 mountains and have seen that 99 men out 

 of 100 will not stop shooting until the 

 magazine is empty. You may pass all 

 the game laws you wish, you will never 



protect game with the pump gun m use* 

 Pass a law that all men going into the 

 woods must carry only a single barrel 

 muzzle loading rifle, and no dog ; a man 

 going to hunt birds must carry only a sin- 

 gle barrel muzzle loading shot gun* no dog ; 

 then game would increase and the woods 

 would soon be cheered by the song of birds 

 and the gambol of wild animals. Men 

 would then become hunters and not sports- 

 men and butchers ; and the little dude 

 with his duck suit and smokeless gun 

 would be no more seen in the land. 



John A. Steele, Walden, Colo. 



NOTHING LIKE THE SAVAGE. 



Replying to A. A. Stott, of Louisville, 

 Ky. : I have owned and used the following 

 high power rifles: Blake, 40-40; Blake, 30- 

 40 army; Mannlicher, 315; Winchester, 30- 

 30 and 30-40, '95 model ; and Savage, 303. 

 Have also had the pleasure of handling the 

 Mauser and the Krag-Jorgensen. 



I have experimented with thefabove guns 

 to convince myself as to the best all around 

 sporting rifle. Last fall I purchased a $30 

 grade Savage to give it a trial on game. 

 It gave such excellent satisfaction, that I 

 sold it to a friend, who was struck with 

 the good qualities of the arm, and I ordered 

 for myself a much higher grade Savage. 

 I have just received it and it is the neat- 

 est and best all around gun I can find. I 

 have killed deer with all the above named 

 guns; they are all good, but the Savage is 

 my choice of the lot. The Mannlicher has 

 the greatest range and penetration, but for 

 convenience and economy the Savage cakes 

 the lead. Savage ammunition is the best 

 on the market at the lowest price. I con- 

 sider the Winchester 30-40, '95 model, next 

 to the Savage, and advise all shooters 

 against purchasing bolt action guns for 

 sporting purposes. My advice would be: 

 get a Savage made to fit you, with pistol 

 grip checkered, matted, half-octagon bar- 

 rel, shot gun butt stock, rubber butt plate 

 and special sights. 



I am greatly pleased with the good work 

 of Recreation and the L. A. S., but I 

 think some of the crack shots who con- 

 tribute articles on shooting have wheels 

 in their heads. As Mr. Mynik says in his 

 letter to the Peters Cartridge Co., some of 

 these 600 yard shots are absurd. Let some 

 of these good marksmen measure off 600 

 or 800 3^ards and then put up a deer and 

 look through the sights at it; they will find 

 it like shooting at a fly at 25 steps. I 

 never calculate on shooting at deer over 

 300 yards. It is better never to shoot unless 

 you are sure of hitting. If this were prac- 

 ticed more there would not be so many 

 woundefi tieer to escape and die after being 

 lost, L, R, Baily, Lead, §q, Pak. 



