84 



RECREATION 



ing many years for all purposes, always with 

 success. 



One shot in particular I noted. The first 

 •ptarmigan of the season had arrived, a sin- 

 gle bird and very wild. I rose him twice 

 at a distance out of all reason, each flight 

 he was getting closer to the river and I de- 

 termined that the next time I found him I 

 would fire, be the distance what it might. As 

 I came out through some alders at the edge 

 of the barren grounds I perceived him sit- 

 ting on a small snow drift looking very wild 

 and apparently about to take flight. 



I fired and was surprised to see the bird 

 roll off the snow, so surprised indeed that I 

 laid my gun on the snow and stepped off the 

 intervening distance and found it one hun- 

 dred and fifty paces. 



Now, as an ordinary step on snow shoes 

 covers about thirty-two inches, the result is 

 that the bird was killed at one hundred and 

 thirty-three yards. 



The charge was three-quarters of an ounce 

 of BB shot with the authorized quantity of 

 powder. Three pellets struck the bird: one 

 in the head and two in the body. 



I have used it for goose hunting at long 

 distances over water and also on the wing 

 and found it equal to any large gauge gun 

 as a deadly shooter. Of course it has no 

 scattering power, being small and containing 

 fewer pellets to the charge, but one does not, 

 as a rule, desire to pepper the whole of one 

 side of a barn. Effectiveness in hunting is 

 what is desired, it is better to kill one goose 

 dead, than to wound two, or more, and get 

 none. 



At one hundred and fifty yards it will de- 

 liver a bullet inside the circumference of a 

 dinner plate and when I saw that amount of 

 head or shoulders of a caribou, I counted 

 him mine before pressing the trigger. 



As to weight, there is a pleasing differ- 

 ence with this gun and one of the large 

 heavy ones when one has to carry it through 

 the brush on an all day hunt. 



As to appearance, there is no comparison. 

 One is a great heavy, clumsy affair; while the 

 other is small, light and rakish looking. 

 About the same difference as between the 

 look of a coal barge and a trim mackerel 

 schooner. 



I had a very successful meat hunter at once 

 of our posts away back in the latter sixties, 

 who used a very small bore muzzle loading 

 rifle. The bullets he used were no larger 

 than a marrow fat pea, yet he killed moose, 

 caribou and bear. 



Of course, he fired for only such vital 

 spots as the ear, jugular vein, or back of the 

 shoulder to reach the heart, to send those 

 pills to any other part was, as he put it, "all 

 de same notting." 



Number 4 was the size shot recommended 

 with the gun, but for ptarmigan or sea duck 

 I found BB more effective. 



In shooting bear in steel traps one shot 

 in the ear always stilled him forever and 

 no other weapon did I carry while visiting 

 my traps. 



The Indians called the gun "Ka-na-to-wab- 

 lo Pas-ki-si-gan," meaning, "The gun that 

 breaks," owing to its basculing movement at 

 the breech. 



Martin Hunter, Brockville, Ont. 



The foregoing letter from Mr. Martin 

 Hunter, who is an old and experienced Hud- 

 son's Bay officer, may surprise some who do 

 not know the capabilities of the small bore. 

 For over one hundred years nothing was 

 used by the Indian hunters for the Hudson 

 Bay Co. except 28-bore muzzle loaders. At 

 all Hudson Bay posts round balls, 28 to the 

 pound, were obtainable to fit these guns, 

 which were smooth bore. At first they were 

 flint locks, but the later guns were all per- 

 cussion. 



The Indians living along the southern 

 shores of Hudson's Bay, used to depend 

 largely upon the ducks and geese they shot 

 in the autumn for their winter supply of 

 food. These birds, which they killed by the 

 thousand, were all brought down with the 

 Hudson Bay fowling pieces loaded with BB. 

 shot, or larger. There is no doubt these 

 small bores, loaded in this manner, some- 

 times killed at extraordinary ranges, but, of 

 course, as pointed out by Martin Hunter, the 

 spread of the charge of shot was so small 

 that they had to be aimed as carefully as a 

 rifle. — Editor. 



THE GALLERY RIFLE. 



Editor Recreation : 



It does seem as though any one should 

 be able to hit a two-inch mark at a seventy- 

 five foot range with a good rifle ; but it will 

 surprise those whose shooting has been at 

 game only, with open sights, to find what 

 nice holding is needed to reduce this act to a 

 reasonable certainty. 



I have been called a good shot on game, 

 and may say without boasting that, although 

 I have shot in company with many, I have 

 usually been able to hold my own. Happen- 

 ing to be in New York recently, I stepped 

 into a rifle gallery, and picked a light rifle, 

 .22-caliber, not weighing more than seven 

 and a half pounds, out of the rack. This 

 rifle had open sights, and I shot just as I 

 would with a rifle on game, that is to say, 

 with the left arm well extended. 



The result was surprising. My 10-shot 

 score only amounted to 200, out of a pos- 

 sible 250, on a two-inch bull at seventy-five 

 feet. This mettled me, as I thought I ought 

 to do better. The next time I tried, I se- 

 lected a plain trigger, peep sights, 10-pound 

 rifle, and adopted the body rest. This 

 brought my score up to 220. I followed this 

 up by discarding the single trigger for the 



