FOREST AND STKEAM, 



S55 



Rtflb Team Organization. 

 F Pjara decidedly of opinion that the Captain of a Team should 

 not himself shoot. He would find ample occupation in look- 

 ing after his men, whereas should he shoot, his duties at the 

 firing point must in a great measure be left to a "Coach," 

 •who would not cany the sime weight. This, however, must 

 depend upon circumstances, and a fixed rule Can hardly be 

 laid down. Tlid m;ui selected to act as Captain should possess 

 great tact and firmness, should be devoid of anything like "fus- 

 siness," and should have had so much experience that the 

 Team generally would be ready to give Cheerful Obedience to 

 all his directions. Nob idy but the Captain should ever rind 

 fault with a member of the Team, or even point out an error. 

 In my opinion there should be but one " Coach " for the whole 

 Team, though it would of course be open to him to calkin 

 further advice. The Captain would be, I think, as stated 

 above, better employed infilling the office of Coach than in 

 shooting. The Coach should watjh every current of air, every 

 change of atmosphere ; he should know every mau's snooting 

 and peculiarities, and should keep a register of every man's 

 " target " ou all occasions. To him alone it should be given 

 to advise, and if necessary to order a change of sighting or 

 elevation. There should be a spotter to each target. He 

 should be provided with a spotting target, telescope and a dif- 

 ferently colored pin for each man of his squad, e. g., red, blue, 

 yellow, green, elc. The spotting targets should be placed so 

 that eveiy man of the team can See them both. The piu corres- 

 ponding with the 1 ist shooter of eachsquad should be stuck into 

 the spotting target of the squad, in exactly the spot struck, 

 and should remain there till that man tires again. Thus each 

 man's last shot, and every hit made since he last fired would 

 be seen at a glance. The spotting of the spotter must be ac- 

 cepted as the official record of each hit, and no private spotting 

 by or for any m amber of the team should be allowed. A 

 spotter should not be required to keep a score, or do any thing 

 but spot correctly, which will be found ample occupation for 

 one man. It is usml to allow individual shots of note to com- 

 pete for places in a team ; but 1 should prefer that the choice 

 of the men should ha left solely to the Captain, whose powers 

 should be in all respects absolute. ►! do not think that the 

 best individual shot is nee ;ssarily the most valuable mau for 

 a team ; far from it. To be of use in a team a man must not 

 believe himself, or his opinion, to be infallible, as is not un- 

 frequently the case with shooting men. He must not only be 

 willing to act contrary to hi3 own opinion at times, but he 

 must be capable of knowing when a bad shot is the result of 

 a " bad let off," or other accidental circumstance, and be pre- 

 pared to say so honestly. Many shooting men think it i mpos- 

 sible that they themselves can make a mistake, and imagine 

 that a miss or bad shot must result from some cause over 

 which tiiey'have no control. Suck men are unfitted for a team, 

 however brilliant their individuafthootinguiay be. Knowing 

 how our present small-bore men have been trained solely for 

 individual shooting, I should prefer to pic* a team from un- 

 tried men, or men who had little or no practice as small-bore 

 shots. The stamp of man 1 should select would be one having 

 a clear, light eye, a steady hand, a good digestion, and not 

 knowing the meaning of the word " nervousness." He should 

 be able to devote at least six weeks to practice, be willing to 

 submit to discipline, and to a cartain extent be prepared to 

 "go into training i" enough of the latter to keep kirn in good 

 general health. As it is absolutely necessary that a team 

 should practice together for weeks, all the members must live 

 within easy reach of each other, and of a long-range butt, and 

 be able to give up, say, six hours for three days in each week 

 to practice. The Universities appear to me to be the only lo- 

 calities in this country which at present combine thenecessary 

 advantages of a large choice of young men amenable to dis- 

 cipline, with the opportunities for constant practice. Small- 

 bore clubs with permanent ranges might be got up near our 

 large towns if match shooting were to be generally taken up ; 

 or if it were to be encouraged in the army, no doubt many 

 first-class teams might be got up at Hythe, Aldershot, or 

 elsewhere. Whatever rifles may be used, the first thing to 

 be done after picking the ten men to compose your team, is to 

 bring all the rifles together in tlte matter of sighting, so that 

 they shall all have a common zero for elevation aud wind, 

 and that the minutes or degrees shall be precisely similar. 

 Their accuracy in these respects should be ascertained on a 

 calm day at 200 yards, and again at 800 yards, to insure the 

 sights being upright, and they should be "frequently re-tested 

 during practice. In a word, every rifle should be so exactly the 

 counterpart of tlie rest that every man might be supposed to be 

 shooting practically the same gun. This is the foundation of 

 the system ofteam-sUootiug. The eight men to compose the 

 team should be selected from the ten, as early as possible, by 

 the Captain, and the two reserve men should be prepared to 

 work as though they were chosen in the eight. I assume that 

 no man would be chosen whowas not a reliable " holder " — 

 a mere question of eye, nerve and '• position." 



Three targets should be appropriated to the practice of the 

 team. The team proper should shoot at the two outside 

 ones, the captain squadding them by fours to a target. The 

 two reserve men should shoot at the centre target, each work- 

 ing with one or other of the squads, in such a way as to be 

 able at any time to take the place of any man who may be- 

 come non-effective— i. e., each reserve man should shoot every 

 day as the duplicate of one of his squad, firing at the same 

 time and getting his coaching precisely as though he were 

 that man. One day as No. 1, next as No. 2, and so on ; but 

 he must not disturb the squad, and must fire at the centre 

 target, although his hits must be spotted on the spotting tar- 

 get of Ms squad. The captain should, either on his own 

 judgment or after consultation, decide, before commencing at 

 each distance, with what elevation and wind allowance the 

 experimental shot is to be fired. This done, the steadiest man 

 in the team, who should always lead one of the squads, should 

 fire the first sight. Should this produce a good bull's-eye, the 

 proper sighting has been found, but should it not be a good 

 shot an alteration must be made by the captain in the sighting 

 before the second man fires, and so on till a good bull's-eye 

 is made. This experimental shooting should .only go on at 

 one target, but the proper sighting once arrived at, both squads 

 should take up the shooting without delay, it is evident 

 that, theoretically, one man having made a good bull's-eye, 

 and every mau being a steady puller, and the Titles precisely 

 similar, as long as the wind and other external influences re- 

 main unchanged, every man should get a bull's-eye at each 

 shot. Therefore, the elevation and wind once correctly ob- 

 tained, the quicker the shooting and the more shots that can 

 be got on to the target before a change comes the better. To 

 prevent delay, as soon as each mau goes down to shoot, his 

 " next mau " should kneel close behintl and coach him ; stop 

 his shooting during a puff of wind; tell him when to pull; 

 shade his eights , arid help him in every way. If an unmis- 

 takable change of wind occurs, of course the shooting must 

 (be stopped, and a- frej 



but as a rule it should go on (and the quicker the better) till 

 somebody makes, say, a bad inner, or something worse. It 

 will be the special duty of the "next man" to spc that the 

 shooter's sights are rightly set and arc upright, etc. This 

 done, he will call out the letter or number of lhe targat (say 

 Letter 11), and the shooter will make sure that he is aiming at 

 the proper target, and repeat "Letter H" in a loud tone. 

 Immediately after shooting the shooter will jump up, go to 

 the left about, move to the rear of the squad without waiting 

 for the marking, and commence cleaning out, so that there 

 maybe no deity. As his successor goes down, his "next 

 man" will, of course, kneel by his head, and so on. If he had 

 a " bad let off," the shooter must declare it at once, without 

 ■waiting for his shot to be marked, and whether the hit be a 

 good or a bad one, the shot must lie disregarded. No talk- 

 ing 8UOri,D BE ALLOWED, AND NO PERSON PERMITTED WITHIN 

 THE HOPES WHOSE PRESENCE CAN POSSIBET HE DISPENSED WITH, 



No reporters, no private spotters, no attendants carrying 

 lilies, none of the crowd of loungers we are accustomed to 

 see at the firing points when a small-bore competition is in 

 progress. No body of men can work together satisfactorily 

 'without order, silence and method, which are far more neces 

 sary in team shooting than in ordinary competitions. All this 

 simply means discipline, and if I wrote for another hour I 

 could say no more than that word conveys. The. foregoing 

 i otes were made by me when in America with the British 

 Kifle Team, and were the result of a careful study of the 

 American system, in which I have made such slight changes 

 as appeared to me to be judicious. C. L. Pf.ee, 

 Lieut. -Col., Executive Officer, N. It. A. 

 _ v» — . 



A NEW RIFLE BY HAWK-INS, 



Pottbville, Pa., Nov. 20, 1877. 

 Editor Fobest and Btheam • 



In your very valuabl journal of Oct. 25, I noticed an article — 

 "How to Catch Hawks.'' Its authenticity and the theory seems 

 to me to be indisputable, and is likely to work in nine cases out 

 of ten ; but the hero of my story did not choose to accept a 

 " conBpicuons position from which to swoop down on his victims.' 

 A neighboring suburban family of this city is in the habit of 

 stocking a choice variety of game chickens, and, frequently, a 

 large chicken-hawk had been noticed Bailing over the yard, high up 

 pi the air, and had been watched by a sharp -shooter, from a 

 secreted position, with a hope of his descending to have a shot at 

 him before pouncing on hie victim. The watch was abandoned. 

 The very next day the wife heard an unusual noise proceeding 

 from the chickens in the large yard in tht. rear of the house, and 

 upon going out discovered a hawk perched upon a rooster weigh- 

 ing about six pounds, and trying to cany the chanticleer into the 

 air. The woman ran toward the scene of onslaught with the iu- 

 tention of frightening off the hawk, but the latter showed no in- 

 clination to leave just theD, but still persisted in holding on to 

 the rooster with its iron like talons, and fluttering at a terrible 

 rate. The lady (not at all apprehensive of danger) seized his 

 hawkship by the neck and strangled him. The hawk showed 

 battle, and lacerated her hands with his claws in a frightful man- 

 ner, but edie clung on to the neck of the bird until life was ex- 

 tinct. The hawk measured five feet six inches from tip to tip of 

 the wings, and weighed five pounds and three quarters. 



Dom Pedro.. 



Thb New "Scott" Repeating Rifle. — Messrs. Turner A Ross, of 

 Boston, liave just perfected an arm for whieti hunters and frontiersmen 

 have long experienced a want, viz.: An accurate, substantial and long- 

 range repealing rifle at a reasonable pr:ce. This rifle is carefully and 

 substantially made of the very be-t material, showing the fluest work- 

 manship and mechanism, aud has not only a very rapid action, but a 

 wonderful penetration at an extremely long range. Messrs. T. & R. 

 are to be congratulated upon their ability to sell s.ch a rifle at the 

 price ($lfi). It will command an immediate and extended pale. One 

 of our best Known riflemen said that it was a better gun ror general 

 use than one he had paid $75 for.— [A dv. 



%mn% !!## nnd (^un. 



GAME NOW IN SEASON. 



Moose, Ahes malchis. Pinnated gronse or prairie chicken 



Caribou, Tarandiiji rungifer. Cupidoniarupido. 



Elk or wapiti. Ctervus canadensis. Ruffed grouse or pheasant, Bonasa 



Red or Virginia deer, Carianus vir- union/his. 



ginianw». Qu lil or partridge, Ortyx virgini- 



Squirrels, red, black and gray. an.ua. 



Hares, brown and gra.v.. Woodcock, PhUohela- Minor. 

 Wild turkey, Melmgris gallopavo. 



" Bay birds " generally, including various species of plover, sand 

 piper, snipe, curlew, oyster-catcher, surf birds, phaiaropea, avoccts 

 etc., coming under the group IAmacolce, or Shore Birds. 



Massachusetts— New Bedford, Nov. 28. — At about this 

 season the amateur sportsman and dog maj' be seen in every 

 direction around our suburbs, and the result is that large num- 

 bers of quail, partridges and rabbits are hanging at the doors 

 of markets and groceries. Woodcock all gone ; sea fo wl 

 plenty. Concha. 



North Cohasset, Nov. 30. — GunniDg poor this week — too 

 much rain. Some geese have been shot flying over, but 

 won't come in. Whistlers just arriving ; bags of three and 

 four to a man have been shot. Partridges plenty, but wild- 

 going into trees when started, and almost impossible_to start 

 quail twice the same day. (3. K. , Jr. 



Rhode Island— Newport, Nov. 30. — Fine weather, no birds, 

 no shooting, except a weary sportsman now and then makes 

 a bag of two or three gray and white gulls; the small game 

 birds all gone. ' Quantum. 



Pennsylvania. — The Philadelphia North American of 

 Monday says-. Our exchanges from the central and western 

 part of the State furnish a striking evidence of the folly of 

 those who journey to Colorado and Minnesota for hunting, 

 and a flat contradiction to all who suppose that abundant pig- 

 iron, coal, factories and railways are incompatible with the 

 joys of Gordon Gumming. Tue Lock Haven Democrat of 

 the 23d, summarizing the success of sporting parties in nine 

 towns within a short space of time, shows that the expedi- 

 tions of one or more individuals killed one otter, two mink, 

 four raccoons, fourteen bears, aud fifty-seven deer. That is 

 perhaps, as good a bag as was made in the same period by as 

 many individuals anywhere east of the Mississippi, aud its 

 edges wave ornamented by partridges, squirrel, and other 

 email, game, !?hj ! r .el§5jge to the purchaser &§ 



i ! 



Greenville, Nov. 25. — J. F. Nelson and M. Hargen Brooks, 

 of this place, bagged a fine bag of quail and grouse at Orange- 

 ville,0.,one day last week. The Shenango and Allegheny Valley 

 Railroad, of which Mr. J. T. Blair is Supt., runs from this 

 place to the oil regions. There is some line bird and rabbit 

 Bhoorang along the line of the road. Aparty came frojn there 

 last Saturday with fine bags of game. M. H. B. 



Petroleum Cefitri. — Ruffed grouse are far more plentiful 

 than usual, and lie fairly to the dog, aud a fair shot can get 8 

 tolD a day: woodcock have all left; gray rabbits are very 

 numerous; no quail, foxes quintum mf; an occasional deer 

 or two, and pigeons by the million. Blue Rook. 



Drum's, Nov. 57.— On the 27th of November Samuel llubb 

 and George Hunter killed six ruffed grouse and four rabbits. 

 I and Jacob Richards killed seven ruffed grouse and two rab- 

 bits. On the 2 1st I killed four pigeons out of six, out of a 

 trap. P. 



Greenville, Nov. 30.— J. T. Nelson, H. E. Camp and "W, 

 Gouchee shot twelve pheasants, teu quail and five rabbits on 

 Tuesday last, a short distance from this place. M. H. B. 



New Jersey- -./Ti»2«^'s Ashley house, Barnegat Inlet. Nov. 

 28.— Continual storms past week, very high tides and not 

 much shooting, but plenty of fowl. Brant still continue to 

 come on, and as soon as tides fall, that we may find places to 

 hide in, expect some big bags. £. 



South Carolina— Charleston, Nov. 30. There was some 

 good shooting among the birds ; several of our good shots 

 brought in full bags of partridges aud ducks. Two parties 

 were out after deer, and both brought in a fine buck each. 

 Wild turkey are very pleutiful, and a friend told me that in a 

 very few days he had brought in eleven, and had missed 

 several shots. While out last week after deer the same p irty r 

 started a flock of over thirty full grown birds. Yenots. 



Georgia — Myrtle Grove, Bryan Co. -Our prospects for 

 shooting are splendid this winter. I found five coveys of 

 partridges yesterday in a twelve-acre field. Eleven rattlesnakes 

 were killed about here last week. They are a drawback to 

 shooting. There are lots of turkeys and deer in the woods. 



Florida — Ileadicaters of St. iMcie River, Nov. 14.— Duck 

 of various kinds are beginning to arrive in this section by 

 millions, and in a short time the prairies between here and the 

 headwaters of the St. Johns will be alive with ihem. 1 think 

 this section of Florida would be well worthy of a visit by 

 northern sportsmen this winter, as game of all kinds is much 

 more plentiful than anywhere else in Florida that I have 

 been. Deer, turkey and smaller game, such as partridges, 

 snipe, etc., plentiful, with occasionally a bear or panther. Mr. 

 Maxfield Brannon, living near here, two weeks ago killed u 

 very large male panther. 



A party of some twenty-five or thirty Seminole Indians 

 passed through here about six weeks ago ; they are now hunt- 

 ing near the lieadwaters of the San Sebastian River. I did 

 not see them, but I learnirom those, who did that they repoit 

 the existence of an immense snake in the swamps around 

 Lake Okuchobu, which from their description must be a spc- 

 species of boa-constrictor. They said they would return tbis 

 way in three moons ; when they do, I will learn from them 

 the truth of the report, and write you particulars. 



W. C. R. 



Arkansas— South Bend, Nov. 27. — Gameis plentiful. Deer, 

 turkey, hear and ducks are coming in in great numbers. 

 Squirrels are more plenty than for some time luck. 



G. VV. S. C. 



Michigan— Detriot, Bee. 1. — E. H. Gillman has recovered 

 his Chesapeake Bay duck dog, Pride of Cheasapeake, which 

 was stolen some time aao. A friend of mine returned from 

 Frankfort, Mich., this morning. He says deer and bear are 

 very plenty. Three brothers, named Broderick, returned to 

 Frankfort, Nov. 27th, from a nine days' deer hunt, with 

 twenty-seven. W. C. Colburn and F. J. Standish, of this 

 city, have been up to St. Clair Flats for a few days sport. 

 They had very fine sport, getting 300 ducks (100 canv?.s 

 backs, 150 red-heads, 35 blue-bills, 5 pin-tails and 10 butter- 

 bails), 5 wild geese, 2 swans, 25 quails and a wild turkey that 

 weighed 18| pounds. This bag is about the finest made in 

 the vicinity during the season. This cannot be wondered at 

 much as Mr. Colburn is an excellent shot, and is one of our 

 most thorough and gentlemanly sportsmen. Red Ruffs. 



Wisconsin— La Crosse, Nov. 27.— Ducks have remained 

 with us longer this fall than was ever known before. Parties 

 go up to the Lake (an expansion of Black River) on the Miss. 

 Bottom and come home laden with mallard, and they are 

 loo fat, if such a thing can be. Woodcock have been very 

 scarce this fall, have not seen one. Chickens were plenty in 

 season, hundreds of them can be seen in the corn fields ad- 

 joining the village, and are being^rapped by the farmer boys 

 and pot-hunters. I. s. F." 



KAnaA-8—Atcheson, Nov. 27.— The shooting this fall on 

 quail is the best we have had for years ; the country is alive 

 with them. Duck and grouse shooting has been very poor ; 

 they appear to have missed us in then- flight. H. R. B. 



— We have been surprised that before this our English 

 friends have not been using glass balls for practice. We think 

 it worth while to mention that an order has just been received 

 by Captain Bogardus from England foi 10,000 halls and -24 

 traps. 



Captain Bogardus.— As may be seen in our advertising 

 columns, Captain Bogardus proposes breaking 5,000 glass 

 balls in 500 niinufr-spwhich is 100 balls every ten minutes, 

 besides the misses. This event will take place at Gilmore's 

 Garden on the 3d of January, commencing at 3 o'clock in the 

 afternoon. In Philadelphia Captain Bogardus, at an exhibi- 

 tion given by him at Kiralfy's theatre, broke 300 glass balls 

 in 2H minutes, and with a pistol, springing his own trap, 

 broke 17 out of 28 balk?. Doubtless this wonderful .trial of 

 skill and endurance will draw a numerous attendance. Cap- 

 tain Bogardus will shoot at the Olympic Theatre next week, 

 commencing on the 10th. 



An Average Puzzle for Mathematical Sportsmen. — A 

 boy who had been upon a shooting excursion founa upon his 

 rem in that he had expended exactly one hundred shells, and 

 that his game amounted to exactly one hundred head. His 

 bag cotjgleied of black birds, squirrels and woodcock. In 

 killing the first he had, with each shellused, secured sixteen 

 Jg$ch equiryH had r.cM him one nkoll arid m^ • 



