EPT, 17, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



145 



wore not recommended to extend our pilgrimages to lliose 

 points. We learned before the peasoo was over thai better 

 shnotiD.!? even tban tbat enjoyed by oui- two friends might 

 have been liad even still further west, the geese being in 

 greater uumbers and not so shv of blinds and decoys. What 

 course they will take this fall" is yet to be decided, but my 

 belief is it'will be necessav, ia ord'^er to have good sport, to 

 hunt them fi ftv to one hnndred miles west of Kearney. That 

 territory being pretty well settled now, the geese can find 

 plenty of grain fields near at band upon Avhich to feed, _ and 

 yet so remote as not to be so constantly disturbed either 

 while feeding on the land or resting in the river. 



My belief is also that, upon the whole, the river Platte is 

 the best territory for hunting geeese in the world. The river 

 is peculiarly attractive to that fowl. It is broad and shallow 

 and showy' tilled with little and big flat sandbars, flowing for 

 hundrpds'of miles in a country not overburdened with lakes 

 or rivers, and right across the track of the millions of geese in 

 their journeys north and south, and through a territory teem- 

 ing with grain to be had for picking it up. The geese begin 

 making their appearance from the 20th to the 25th of Octo- 

 ber, and mostly remain here till severe weather drives them 

 southward. Some come earher and many hurry on south, 

 but the bulk of them linger along till the streams' hereabouts 

 freeze up. They are not here long Ijefore they become fat 

 as pigs and the young ones are especially delicious. Diuing 

 their stay in the fall very few are lost 'by spoiling. Three 

 years ago a partj^ of five of us killed 313 at Foote's in five 

 days .shooting. They were all left sitting on the bars night 

 and days' around the blinds for decoys. They were brought 

 home and expressed to friends around, 200 of them going 

 into consumption here, and we heard of only two that were 

 at all tainted. In the spring, when the shooting is infinitely 

 better, the case is different. One then can't count on his 

 game for more than a day or two. This same Burlington 

 party went to Foote's last' spring, killing some 160 geese, all 

 of which spoiled but ten. Spring shooting by parties from 

 abroad should be discontinued. As I went back to the 

 Platte after the dates described herein, 1 will give the account 

 of that trip in another letter. Bukr H. Polk. 

 LrNcoLN, Neb. 



THE HUNTING RIFLE TEST. 



Editor Fared and Stream; 



Like many more of your readers, I was delighted at read- 

 ing in Forest and Stkeam of Aug. 6 that you are about to 

 make a trial of the trajectories of the leading sporting rifles. 

 The results ought to be of incalculable value to sportsmen, 

 and I hope they will afterward be published in a book. 



I do not thinli it would be possible to improve upon the 

 suggestions made by Major Merrill in your paper of the 13th, 

 for testing the accuracy and trajectory at 1 00, 150 and 200 

 yards, but another point of great importance is the distance 

 up to which each rifle will carry without the necessity of 

 making any allowance whatever for the curve in the flight of 

 the bullet. " This might be ascertained by setting the block 

 sights of small game rifles so that the highest point of the 

 curve will not be more than \ inch. For-' large game the 

 highest point might be, I think, 1^ inches, so that there 

 would be no chance at over-shooting when aiming at an 

 animal's brain. 



A register of the recoil, as shown by some reliable machine, 

 would be valuable. An experience of about twenty-flve 

 years with the rifle, has taught me that a weapon which will 

 carry accurately at a target when held firmly always in one 

 position, may rnake very poor practice at game when shoot- 

 ing in various positions up or down hill, or when, quickness 

 being necessaiy, the trigger is pulled almost before the butt 

 of the stock is embedded in the shoulder. In such cases a 

 rifle which kicks severely will sometimes twist in the hand 

 sufficiently to give a wrong course to the bullet when the aim 

 has been .quite correct. 



I cannot agree witn Major Merrill's opinion that 200 yards 

 is an unnecessarily long range for sporting weapons. It is 

 true that, in forest shooting, about three-fourths of all kinds 

 of large game are killed within 75 yards; but in the moun- 

 tains and open plains of India it is often impossible to ap- 

 proach nearer than 200 yards to various kinds of antelope 

 and wild sheep or goats. The same must be, 1 would ima- 

 gine, the case on the Ameiican prairies, and on the plains of 

 South Africa such long shots are very common. 



The trials of English express rifles in 1883 were limited to 

 150 yards, not because British sportsmen do not wish for a 

 longer range, but, I believe, because comparatively few ex- 

 press rifles shoot truly at 200 yards. Shortly after the Field 

 trials took place I asked a noted London guumalier what 

 sort of target his rifles made at the latter distance, and his 

 reply was, "That is rather too far for trying an express." 

 His rifles have been proved to carry as closely at 150 yards 

 as the best of those fired at the Field trials, although he was 

 not one of the competitors. 



At those trials the large bores (from 8 to 19 gauge) were 

 shot at only 50 yards, wliich was really absm-d, fo" a good 

 ball-shooting smooth-bore will carry well up to that distance, 

 and a properly made 12-gauge rifle will put a number of 

 successive bullets into a six-inch square at 100 yards. That 

 such a range is necessary is shown in the accounts of shoot- 

 ing rhinoceros, buffalo and bison, by Sir Samuel Baker, 

 Captain Forsyth and others. 



It will be interesting to judge from the results of your 

 trials how much or how little is really gained by the very 

 heavy charges used in English express rifles. I have often 

 doubted if the increased flatness of trajectory fully compen- 

 sates for the loss of that invariable deUcate accuracy which 

 is so desirable in shooting weapons. For some years past I 

 have owned a breechloading .45 express by one of the best 

 English makers. It weighs 8 pounds 13 ounces, and is 

 loaded with 125 grains of "powder and a hollow bullet of 270 

 grains. The curve of the trajectory is about 3i inches up to 

 150 yards, at which distance it will carry closelv enough to 

 hit a deer in the right place five shots out of six", but at 200 

 yards the shooting is so inferior that I would consider it a 

 great piece of cruelty to tire unless pressed for food. If the 

 rifle could be made quite acciu-ate at this range I would 

 willingly sacrifice one or two inches in the trajectory at 150 

 yards. I have had three different express rifles, not one of 

 which could be depended upon beyond the latter distance. 



The weapon with which I have made the greatest number 

 of successful long .shots was a two-grooved rifle that had a 

 trajectory .six inches high up to 100 yards, and required a 

 leaf sighit to be raised for every 50 yards beyond. It carried 

 so closely that I frequently kihed, not only antelope, but 

 such small animals as gazelles at 300 yards! It was stolen 

 from me in India sixteen years ago. Since then I have used 

 six weapons of various kinds at game, and remain convinced 

 that extreme accuracy in a sporting rifle is the one quality 



which should never be sacrificed for any other. The best 

 judges of distance will make mistakes and lose animals by 

 shooting over or under them, but in the long run they will 

 lose far more by using rifles that carry irregularly. 



J. J. M. 



London, August .Sf). 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I think some of your correspondents lose sight of the fact 

 that the object of the proposed trajectory test is to test the 

 trajectory, not the pull of trigger or weight of gun. Of 

 course I agree that as it is to be a test of hu^nting rifles, field 

 artillery should be excluded and only rifles that can be carried 

 day after day without excessive fatigue be tested. As to the 

 discarding of the fixed rest, as advocated in your last issue, 

 1 hope and suppose that it will not be done, for no tnan can 

 invariably take the necessary sight by simply resting the 

 muzzle that can be had when the gun is field in a vise, and 

 absolute certainty is what we want. Of course, trigger pull 

 affects accuracj'-, but it don't affect trajectory. Reduce pull 

 if too great. Why should muzzleioaders be excluded? 

 "Obsolete" are they? Well, you will find obsolete men who 

 will take pride in muzzleioaders for years to come. It is not 

 to be (as projected) a test of magazine rifles or breechloaders 

 but of hunting rifles. I am not a zealous advocate of muzzle- 

 loaders, but I should he .sorry to .see them shut out. If, as our 

 correspondent says, the trigger pull affects the trajectory to 

 some extent even from a rest, how much more uncertain and 

 unsatisfactory would the result be if fired from the .shoulder 

 even with muzzle rest. We want to know what the gun, 

 not the man, can do. Your correspondent says "it would 

 be unfair to test a very light rifle in competition with a very 

 heavy one." Why? We want to know just what light rifles 

 and certain ammunition will do, even if they are tit "only 

 for squirrel rifles." The men Avho pump .44 lead from a 

 repeater are not the only ones who take great pride in rifle 

 shooting. Men who use rifles, and those who contemplate 

 using them want to know exactly what repeaters, breech- 

 loaders and muzzleioaders will do with different weights (with- 

 in certain hmits) and different charges and at different dis- 

 tances, and this can only be done, as we take it, by putting the 

 rifle where it cannot move. As we understand it this test is in- 

 tended to be comprehensive, and we must express our great 

 satisfaction that the Forest and Stream has it in hand, 

 for we know it wiU be thorough. S. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your proposed rifle test will be of very great interest to 

 those who love that weapon and use it against game. I 

 think that in order to insure the best results, the rules should 

 be as simple as possible. Let not this test be hampered by 

 any high-flown notions of any sort. To the riflemen of 

 forest or plain it is of no importance whether the charge of 

 his weapon is heavy or light, whether the ball be patched 

 with hollands, leather or broadcloth, provided the desired 

 results are attained. 



The "Leatherstocking" said that "a true hunter will 

 always use the skin of a fa'n for patches if he can get it;" 

 and he is reported to have done good shooting. He would 

 doubtless, however, have beaten his own record if he had 

 not been too much under the control of Mr. Fenimore 

 Cooper, who made him "continue to pound his bullet" after 

 driving it home, while he was gossiping with Judge Temple. 



This communication was accidentally laid aside at this 

 point, a week or two ago, and may reach you too late for 

 publication. T had little more to say, however. It is my 

 expectation that any Increased effectiveness in the rifle of 

 the future will be mainly due to improvements in the nature 

 of the expulsive force employed. It is not unlikely that in 

 some little shop or oflice experiments may now be in prog- 

 ress, the results of which will be of moment in future trials 

 of this kind, and I hope that all sorts of weapons and am- 

 munition may find a fair show in your coming test. 



Therefore, if a man shall present for the approbation of 

 your committee a thing like a Chinese matchlock, loaded 

 with a spoonful of syrup and an iron bolt patched with a 

 pine shaving, look not unkindly thereat, but give him op- 

 portunity to demonstrate the superior effectiveness of the 

 combination. 



So shall you, possibly, entertain unaware the long-sought 

 "rifle of the future." Ejelpib 

 Sept. 2, 188S. 



[See also our rifle columns.] 



THE ST. LOUIS CONVENTION. 



THE following letter was received recently by Messrs. 

 W. W. Judy & Co. from Captain French, of New 

 York, president of the National Game Preserving Associa- 

 tion. It well illustrates the position of the game dealers in 

 tbe situation and is therefore reproduced; 



"Nkw York, Sept. 8.— Your letter of August 25 ult., to 

 Theo. P. Oilman, secretary, was sent to me while absent on 

 a summer vacation. On returning I find Mr. Oilman is ab- 

 ,sent. In a brief interview with some of the members of our 

 ex-committee, we find ourselves at loss about the scope of the 

 proposed convention and the interests to be represented. 

 You speak of a convention of sportsmen and game dealers 

 for the purpose of modifying and making more uniform the 

 game laws of the country. A printed circular has come to 

 hand headed, 'National Sportsmen's Convention,' and signed 

 L. D. Dozier, president, but this seems to be local and in- 

 tended to provide ways and means for a festive entertain- 

 ment. Our association is composed of game dealers, and 

 soon after its organization we made overtures to the sports- 

 man's organization of this city to confer with us, with a view 

 to certain modifications of the law of this State. Our sug- 

 gestions were curtly declined and they have since enforced 

 the absurd and oppressive feature of that law more vigorously 

 than before. The laws of which you and we complain have 

 been instigated and enforced by sportsmen. If they— the 

 sportsmen of the West— have come to reaMze that game 

 dealers and game consumers are unfairly treated and desire 

 to meet with them in convention for the purpose of a friendly 

 and candid consideration of the situation, and the devising 

 of better laws in the interest of food and trade, as well as of 

 sport, I am sure we of the East would be glad to send 

 delegates and do all we could toward settling the diflicult 

 question upon a just and comprehensive basis. Will you, 

 therefore, please tell me something more about the origin of 

 this movement, and particularly whether influential sports- 

 men have gone into it in anything like the spirit I have 

 suggested. A prompt reply will probably be in time for us 

 to take some official action, if it seems politic and proper. 

 Very respectfully, N. R. French, President." 



This convention was called by the Missouri State Sports- 

 men's Association, at their annual convention, held in St 

 Louis, June 3, 1885. 



The objects of the convention are to devise w ays and 

 means to arrest and prevent the further alarming waste and 

 destruction of our game and fish by improper and unwise 

 methods; to prepare and provide for the enactment and en- 

 forcement of game and fish hiws; to secure more imiformity 

 in the laws of (he sevci'al States and Territories— regulating 

 tbe commencement and duration of the open sea;-iou— to take 

 steps looking to the improvem(!nt of the relations between 

 the sportsmen, game dealers and the Ifind owners, and to 

 consider such other matters as l elatc to our sinme and fish 

 resources. 



The following railroads and .steamboat lines offer rates as 

 below: Chicago, Biulington & Quincy ; Indianapolis & St. 

 Louis; Louisville & Nashville; Oliio & Mississippi; St. Louis 

 & San Francisco; St. Ijouis, Iron Mountain & Southern; 

 Vandalia Tjine; Diamond .To Line; Louisville, Evansville & 

 St. Louis; Missouri Pacific; St. Louis & Cairo Short Line; 

 St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, St. fjouis & St. Paul 

 packet; Wabash. St. Louis & Pacific. 



Recognizing the fact that the object for which this con- 

 vention has been called is of much greater importance than 

 many are aware, and desiring to reach every sportsman in 

 the country, we have labored the more faithfully through 

 the press and our circulars to awaken an interest with every 

 true lover of the gun and rod throughouL all the States, and 

 shall continue our efforts in that direction to the 39th of Sep- 

 tember, feeling that our time and labor will be amply repaid 

 if success crowns our efforts. 



From the number of letters already received with prom- 

 ises to attend, we feel encouraged that our work in the great 

 cause has not been in vain. It has been said that "what is 

 everyone's business is nobody's affair." So it has been with 

 the preservation of game and fish, and the enforcement of 

 our laws relating thereto. We feel that nothing effective 

 can be done without unity and concert of action, and we in- 

 vite the cooperation of every sportsman from Maine to Cali- 

 fornia, and from the lakes to the Gulf. 



There are, perhaps, several tliousand organized gunning 

 and fishing clubs in the several States and Territories with, 

 we dare say, a constitution providing for the preservation of 

 game and fish and tor the pi omoliou of bodily and mental 

 health and pleasure, but, we are soriy to say, tbat on account 

 of u-regular, inconsistent and inoperative laws, it is almost 

 impossible to enforce them. 



Game and fish are the food of the poor. The quantity sold 

 annually in our markets is but a small item as compared to 

 that taken and eaten by our farmers, and could the value be 

 computed as food, we would find the figures way up in the 

 millions. With such facts before us .should not every true 

 sportsman awake from his lethargy and lend a helping hand 

 in having laws enacted that will arrest the wanton destruction 

 of game and fish in close seasons, and thereby perpetrate our 

 field and stream pleasures, as well as secure food for the far- 

 mer and the poor? This, in our judgment, can only be 

 accomplished by united efforts and concert of action. There- 

 fore we invite every true lover of the rod and gun through- 

 out our broad land to attend the convention. 



Delegates or friends to our cause are requested to forward 

 us at once a correct copy of their State game and fish laws. 

 The committee need them badly. 



All delegates are requested to as.semble at Elk's Hall, 

 southwest corner Sixth avenue and Walnut street, promptly 

 at 0:80 A. M, , Sept. 39 and immediately present their cre- 

 dentials to the acting secretary that no time may be lost. 



According to the call each sportsmen's club in the L^nited 

 States will be entitled to two delegates in the convention. 

 The credentials of delegates should give the name and ad- 

 dress of the club sending them, in full, together with the 

 names of officers and number of membership. It is expected 

 that notwithstanding the call limits the representation to 

 clubs alone, individual sportsmen, fish and game commis- 

 sioners, fish and gaiue dealers and all others interested in the 

 preservation of fish and game, will be admitted to partici- 

 pate in the deliberations of the convention. 



To facilitate the progress of the convention's work, "each 

 club is requested to advise H. C. West, 114 Pine street, St. 

 Louis, Mo., by mail as quickly as possible, of the number 

 expected to attend from their club. 



Sportsmen in cities, towns and villages, where there are 

 no organized clubs, and all who may desire to attend the 

 convention and participate in its deliberations, are urged to 

 organize one at once and elect delegates. It costs but little 

 or nothing to organize a club, and with an organization they 

 can better assist in the enforcement of the game and fish 

 laws. A number of the Fish Commissioners of the several 

 States and Territories have already signified their intention 

 to attend the convention, and it is to be hoped that many 

 more will follow suit, as the work to 1)6 considered is of 

 great interest to their noble cause. It is believed that much 

 good would follow if all Commissioners could meet and ex- 

 change -vdews. H. C. West, L. D. Dozier, J. D. Malin, 

 J. P. Card, J. F. Sheplet Jr., Conjmittee, 



TO MAKE THE GROUSE LIE. 



Edito-r Forest and Stream: 



I am one of the "constant readers" of Forest and Stream 

 and have been for years, buying it from our newsman. It 

 brings me a weekly treat which I dearly enjoy; and I would 

 like to express my opinion of it as not only exeeedingly in- 

 teresting, but a clean, gentlemanly, manly paper, which I 

 can leave without mistrust among all the members of my 

 household. I am now nearly an octogenarian, and my en- 

 joyment of field sport being now limited to fishing for black 

 bass from a boat, the next best thing for me is to read of 

 what younger men are doing. Pardon all this gossip, which 

 of course is not for printing; but I feel somehow as if I were 

 writing to an old friend. 



My object in writing is to tell what may possibly afford 

 some sport to some of yom readers, on the prairie, after the 

 grouse begin to pack and become wild. A young Hunga- 

 rian friend, speaking of the grouse which are plentiful on 

 the steppes of his country, described them as very closely 

 resembling our prairie chickens in appearance and in habits, 

 and mentioned a plan, in use by sportsmen there, to obtain 

 some shots after the birds have packed, and are difficult to 

 approach. Some large buckshot have tw© holes drilled 

 through them, crossing each other, and made as large as 

 convenient. A charge of these is fired, not into the pack 

 when it rises, but well over it, when the birds instantly drop 

 into the grass and lie there "hke stones," till several good 

 shots may be obtained. The idea is that the birds fancy the 

 whistling of the perforated .shot to be caused by their natural 

 enemies, the hawks. Possibly thismight be found to work in 

 the same way with our Ciqndom'a cupido, and perhaps some of 

 your readers might think it worth while to try, and report 

 results. Pp-Arrer. 



Port Richmond, Staten Island, Sept. 11, 



