336 



RECREATION 



The highly-prized mallard and black 

 duck, shelldrake and whistler come up 

 to the shore and even into the barn- 

 yards in quest of food. Capt. George 

 Overton found a large flock of wild 

 ducks feeding near his home, and 

 knocked ten over with a club before 

 they left. Capt. Frank Lassen, of 

 Smith's Island, says wild ducks eat all 

 the feed of his chickens at night. — New 

 York World. 



If the newspaper item is true, the captain 

 acted like a small boy, and a very bad small 

 boy at that. He should hear Homer Daven- 

 port tell the pathetic history about the little 

 widow wooduck. But it may be that the 

 captain is devoid of sentiment, in which 

 case some one should show him what a great 

 advantage in a money way the presence of 

 the ducks would be to him. It would also 

 be well if the game warden attended to his 

 official duties and made the ducks cost the 

 captain sufficient to teach him that it is 

 much cheaper to live as a law abiding 

 citizen. 



LIKES HIS THREE BARRELS. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I have had a large experience with guns 

 of all the best known makes from 8 to 16 

 gauge. I now have a pair of hammerless 

 Daly three-barrel guns, 16 ga. shot and 32-40 

 rifle barrel, and a Sauer & Son hammerless' 

 double-barrel, 12 ga., weighing 5 pounds 15 

 ounces. The three-barrel guns weigh, with 

 26 and 27^-inch barrels, 6 pounds 10 ounces, 

 and 7 pounds 2 ounces. For bird shooting 

 in the bush the light weight 12 ga. is simply 

 perfection, but if I could have but one gun 

 or was living out West, where the chance for 

 a good rifle shot does not come often, I 

 would not use the best double gun ever made 

 if it was given to me. I still use the light 

 12 ga. because, out in the brush with a dog 

 I never get a chance for a rifle shot, and, be- 

 cause it is so light and handy. One thing 

 surprises me — that I shoot better with the 

 16 ga. than with the larger gauges. Whether 

 after grouse or ducks I seldom, if ever, make 

 a cripple with the 16 ga., and am killing the 

 birds just as far as I ever did when using 

 12, 10 and 8 ga. guns. While nobody can 

 possibly deny that the larger bore guns have 

 a little more power, they cannot, in my esti- 

 mation, be aimed as well as a small bore with 

 a much narrower breach, and especially three 

 barrels, with a high flat rib, and is aimed as 

 good as a single barrel gun. I would never 

 advise anybody to get a bigger gun than a 

 12 gauge, and, if for all-around use, never 

 longer than 28-inch barrels, because so little, 

 if anything at all, is gained by having the 

 barrels longer. If a man wants a medium 

 or low-priced gun I advise an American 

 make, either 12 or 16 ga., with 28-inch bar- 



rels ; the 12 to weigh fr/2-7, and the 16, 6-6yt> 

 pounds. They will serve the all around pur- 

 pose the best. Never buy a very low-priced 

 Belgian gun ; rather not hunt at all than 

 use such a gun. In my opinion, the best all 

 around gun is unquestionably the three-bar- 

 rel, as it is not heavier than a double gun and 

 you have' got everything with you. I would 

 not trade one for the best dozen double guns 

 if I could not buy another one. There are 

 two makes for sale here, the Daly, made by 

 Sauer & Son, the German makers, and the 

 Hollenbeck, made in this country. The guns 

 made by Sauer & Son are unsurpassed, and 

 are probably the best made foreign guns for 

 sale in America. The Hollenbeck. three-barrel 

 I have never used, as it was not made at 

 the time I bought mine, but it is a very nicely 

 finished and well-balanced gun, and ought to 

 have a good sale here. There is not much 

 difference between the standard American 

 makes. They are all first-class shooters. 

 There is no secret in gun barrel boring, and 

 it is really amusing to read about the won- 

 derful shooting that is done. Such long kills 

 are purely accidental, and those that report 

 them do not tell how many times they have 

 made cripples at those long distances. Forty 

 yards is about the limit of range at which a 

 duck can be killed absolutely sure with a 

 good shooting gun, while shooting at them 

 sixty and even seventy yards off is not 

 sportsmanlike at all, no matter what the 

 gauge of the gun may be. Nine birds out 

 of ten will fly away apparently unhurt and 

 dying afterwards in misery. The proper way 

 is not to shoot at a greater distance than 

 forty yards. It is then either a kill or a miss. 

 J. M. Spenkoch, Windsor Locks, Conn. 





"OUGHT TO BE JAILED." 



Governor Goode, Charles Town, shot 

 a gray eagle which measured 7 feet 5 

 inches from the tip of one wing to the 

 tip of the other, and weighed 20 pounds. 

 —The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, Md. 



We take off our editorial hat to the Daily 

 Mail, of Hagerstown. It has the manly old- 

 time American courage of its convictions. 



THE MARKSMAN. 



BY W. M. DERBY, JR. 



He was death upon mallards and pintail, 



He could kill them both left and right, 

 He could wind up a corkscrewing wood duck, 



Or smash a teal clear out of sight. 

 While his execution was brilliant, 



The best shots I've seen him make, 

 Were at six o'clock in the morning, 



On an incoming buckwheat cake. 



