20 



RECREATION 



I wish it were in my power to name 

 places where good deer hunting- may 

 be had. But the fact is that there is no 

 such thing as good deer hunting on the 

 island. This animal should be protected 

 for two years at least. Otherwise, I 

 am afraid that outside a few club 

 preserves Long Island deer will be as 

 extinct as the Dodo. It is not the vis- 

 iting sportsmen who do the damage ; 

 they try hard enough, no doubt, to get 

 their deer, yet they shoot but few. The 

 local men are the dangerous ones. They 



some men shoot io-bores, and even 

 8-bores. Nothing larger than a good 

 heavy 12 is really necessary. There is 

 a great diversity of opinion among 

 shooters as to the shot that should be 

 used, and the charge best adapted to 

 these tough fowl. I consider an 

 8-pound, 12-bore, using the 224-inch 

 case, with the equivalent of 3^ drams 

 of any good smokeless powder, and \]/\ 

 ounces of No. 5 shot as fine a com- 

 bination as a man could put to his 

 shoulder. 



TWO TO ONE ON THE GUN 



know the ground, they know how to 

 hunt, and a good manv of them know 

 how to shoot pretty straight. All the 

 deer shooting is done by driving the 

 deer with dogs, and some of the local 

 men are believed to anticipate the open- 

 ing of the season by several weeks. If 

 seen, they are "rabbit hunting." 



When there is good feed on the flats 

 there is good duck shooting, and rough, 

 stormy weather, followed by a calm, 

 generally means heavy bags for the 

 fortunate shooters. While the storm is 

 raging you cannot lie in a battery ; but, 

 as soon as the storm is over, the fowl 

 that have been unable to frequent the 

 flats and feed in comfort are hungry, 

 and they then stool readily. 



With regard to the weapons used, 



Mr. Jackson, of East Quogue, pre- 

 fers a 10-bore weighing fifteen pounds, 

 as he thereby escapes from gun-head- 

 ache, and punishment from recoil, in a 

 heavy day's shooting. 



Duck shooting remains in season un- 

 til the first of January, unless Nature 

 steps in earlier and freezes everything 

 up. Broadbills and redhead generally 

 constitute the heaviest part of the bag, 

 though it may contain almost any fowl 

 that is found along the coast. Mr. 

 Jackson has already bagged several rare 

 birds this season. 



Battery shooting is not allowed in 

 the narrow waters between Great South 

 and Shinnecock bays. Here the shooter 

 must content himself with point shoot- 

 ing. If you have a good point the 



