S34 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 20, 1898. 



AN EXPERIMENT. 



Nashville, Tenn.— Perhaps the saddest experience in 

 the life of the active lover of gun and dog is the feeling 

 which comes to him when time has placed hirn on the 

 wrong side of 40, He may be as vigorous as ever, his 

 nerves may be as steady and his eye as keen as they were 

 before his mirror disclosed the first gray hair and the in- 

 cipient wrinkle about his eyes. He may appreciate all 

 this, yet he feels that from this time forward he is on the 

 down grade, and that for him the time is near at hand 

 when his gun will remain in desuetude, and his rheu- 

 matic dog will be permitted to sleep by the fireside, 

 whining in his slumber, as he dreams of stirring events 

 of the field with his master, and all that will be left to 

 him of forest and stream will be but a fragrant memory. 



The love of the dog and the gun and the enjoyment 

 which comes from the use of both is a matter of heredity 

 with me, and has been stimulated and kept alive during 

 the years since boyhood by periodical outings. It was a 

 proud moment for me when, at the age of 18 years, I was 

 permitted to take my father's long, old-fashioned rifle, 

 and go out alone on a squirrel hunt. This was back in 

 the hills of Penn- 

 sylvania many 

 years ago. I knew 

 just in what patch 

 of woods and on 

 what old oak I 

 would find the 

 squirrels. I 

 climbed the hill 

 and found my 

 squirrel. With 

 tremulous haste 

 and loudly thump- 

 ing heart I took 

 aim and fired, and 

 missed. The game 

 was evidently not 

 very much dis- 

 turbed, for he 

 simply changed 

 his position, af- 

 fording a better 

 shot. In my haste 

 to reload I found 

 I had put the bul- 

 let in before the 

 powder (what boy 

 has not had the 

 same experience). 

 But I was pre- 

 pared for this 

 emergency, and 

 pulling a goose 

 quill from my 

 pocket, I put ic i 

 over the nipple of ' 

 my gun, and pa- 

 tiently picked 

 enough powder in 

 the gun to blow 

 the bullet out. 

 The squirrel 

 showed a very ac- 

 commodating 

 spirit, and still 1 



hung to the tree. ^ ' ' — ' -^^-^^ ' - • — ^ 



I then tried him 

 again, taking a 

 rest in the con- 

 venient forks of a 

 sapling. This shot 

 was a success, and 

 when I picked up 

 the first trophy of 



my skill, to say that I was proud would scarcely do the 

 subject justice. I took my game and trudged home, 

 and as I entered the house and laid my bag down I 

 assumed an indifferent and nonchalant air, as if such a 

 feat was too frequent with me to be a matter worthy of 

 notice, and as if the amount of game I could secure was 

 limited only by my opportunities. 



This incident vivified the latent sporting instinct within 

 me, and it has sent me into the fields regularly ever since. 

 I have scattered much lead over the lakes and sloughs of 

 the Grand and Chariton rivers in Missouri, and have 

 burnt much powder in the pursuit of chickens and quail 

 on the prairies of Kansas and the Indian Territory. For 

 the past five years, and dm-ing my residence in Tennes- 

 see, the circumstances of my employment have been such 

 as to render it impossible to gratify my taste in this 

 direction, and with the exception of a day with the clay- 

 pigeons I had not done any shooting for six years. But 

 all this time anticipation has been active, and enjoyment 

 waited only upon opportunity. Last August I received a 

 telegram telling me that a near relative was dangerously 

 ill m Missouri, I took the next train for St, Louis, and 

 the next morning was on the well equipped Wabash R,E. 

 thundermg over the beautiful prairies of North Missouri. 

 When I arrived at my old home I found my relative had 

 rallied, and so rapid was her recovery that in a few days 

 I felt myself at ease to renew old acquaintances, and to 

 enjoy this always charming and picturesque prairie 

 country. On the 14th of the month I received a 

 letter from a brother living in Audrain county, ask- 

 ing me to join him on a chicken hunt on the 16th 

 of the month, in that State the close season as to 

 pmnated grouse expires on Aug. 15. When I first read 

 this letter I felt that my brother was indulging in a little 

 irony when he said "chickens." For did I not recall the 

 fact that years before when I was a resident of Missouri 

 the market hunter and the game hog had gotten in their 

 work to such an extent that chickens had become merely 

 a rnemory? But some of my friends called my attention 

 to the fact that the sportsmen of the State had taken 

 notice of this wholesale and wanton destruction of the 

 game of the State, and had secured the passage of a bill 

 making the close season as to chickens and quail two 

 yeaxs. This wise measure, coupled with the fact that the 

 birds had been especially favored by having two fine 

 neating years, had caused, them to multiply very rapidly. 



thus illustrating what favorable legislation will do in the 

 line of game protection. My brother wrote me that he 

 would provide me with a complete outfit, and that we 

 would find birds plentiful. 



While congratulating myself upon this pleasent prospect 

 and the happy turn which my visit had taken, the spectre 

 of doubt and distrust intruded itself upon me. It said, 

 "Better let this hunting trip alone, old man. You are 

 too old for this sort of thing; your eye is not so keen uor 

 your fingers so quick as they once were. That elasticity 

 and buoyancy of youth, which give zest to such an occa- 

 sion and enable pleasant dreams and demonstrate that 

 for you, at least, there is no more plea ure in this thing. 

 Better enjoy the ideal than have your dreams dissipated 

 by participating in the real. In short you had better kill 

 your grouse and quail while sitting by your pleasant fire- 

 side with wife and children about you, pipe in mouth 

 and a copy of Fokest and Stream in your hand. You 

 will then never realize that one of the loved children of 

 your imagination has been taken from you." 



I compromised with this disturber of my peace by 

 agreeing that this should be a test case, and that I would 

 allow "the proof of the pudding to be the chewing of the 

 string." Then, too, I was reminded of the dog in the 

 fable who lost the substance by grasping at the shadow. 



And now comes the experiment. I met my brother at 

 his home, and found all the necessary arrangements 



WITH THE QUAIL. 1,-The Polni. 

 Ph&to by W. R. Bmiili, 

 (Forest and Stream Amateur Photogcaphy Competition,) 



made. Our party consisted of Messrs. Lex and Peda- 

 gogue, my brother and the experimentalist. The birds 

 had been located in the neighborhood of Rush Hill, a 

 prairie station on the Chicago & Alton R. R.. about ten 

 miles from our starting point. 



Before daylight the next morning we were olf with a 

 good team and a large hunting wagon, in which we 

 stowed guns, dogs and an elegant lunch. Never shall I, 

 who had for five years been hemmed up in the narrow and 

 hot streets of Nashville, forget this ride. We drove over 

 a beautiful rolling prairie country, well tilled, and giving 

 evidence of prosperity. The weather was cool and brac- 

 ing, the morning an ideal one. I drank in the pure air 

 of the prairie, and the languor which had been my com- 

 panion for a year left me. Wafted upon the breeze 

 would every now and then come a peculiar fragrance 

 which would recall events which had transpired years 

 ago. The almost forgotten whistle of the plover was 

 heard. The frogs, the peepers, and the million unclassi- 

 fied things which make the sounds of night were holding 

 a concert, and just as we reached Rush Hill, away out 

 where the prairie ended and the sky commenced, the 

 great red ball which we call the sun was rising. I said 

 to myself, "this of itself is enough, if I never see a 

 chicken again." 



At Rush Hill we had a valuable addition to our party. 

 His name was not Squills, but for the purpose of this arti- 

 cle that name wiU do, Riding over the country in his 

 capacity of country doctor he had learned a thing or two 

 about chickens. He was the fortunate owner of a one- 

 eyed, stump-taHed, many-scarred and generally disrepu- 

 table looking pointer. This dog would never receive 

 "vhc." in a bench show, tmless these cabalistic letters 

 meant Very Hungry Cur. Nor would he be regarded 

 with anything but ridicule in a field trial. But he proved 

 himself a good illustration of the fact that "you can't 

 sometimes most always tell," and that first impressions 

 are often wrong. He was without pedigree and was just 

 simply dog, but he knew where to find chickens, and 

 found them without any striving for eflfect; and when he 

 had found them, and you had succeeded in kilKng a bird, 

 he brought it to you in a businesslike way, and then went 

 off and found more. 



We drove out two miles from Rush Hill and stopped at 

 a large pasture where the grass was rank. Len and my I 

 brother proposed that they should take Squills and the 



dog and work across this field, and meet the wagon at a 

 given point. We watched them for some distance, and 

 becoming impatient Pedagogue suggested that we take to 

 th(* field and try to walk up some chickens. We sent the 

 driver ahead with the wagon and crossed the fence, 

 walking about lOOyds. apart We had not gone 300,yda. 

 when up with a roar like unto a cyclone rose a covey of 

 full-grown birds to my right. My heart climbed up 'into 

 my throat as I heard the roar of their wings and that 

 peculiar and almost forgotten cluck. Quickly swinging 

 on to them, I got a bird with each barrel, We marked 

 them down and again walked them up, two more being 

 added to our bag. 



We soon joined the rest of the party, and together 

 worked a large stubble field. Old Don was not long in 

 finding the birds, holding them as staunchly as if he had 

 been suddenly refrigerated. When flushed, it proved to 

 be the largest covey I ever saw, and they left six of their 

 number on the grass, Don in his matter-of- course way 

 retrieved the birds, and we then worked four more fields 

 with such success that when we reached the pretty grove 

 where we intended to lunch we counted out a bag of 

 twenty-two chickens. 



The large hamper was taken from the wagon, and I 

 commenced to tmpack it. Here was cold chicken, 

 deviled ham, sardines, beaten biscuit and jelly. Then 

 with a restful feeling we lay in the shade, smoked our. 



pipes and won^ 

 dered how we 

 came to miss this 

 or that bird. The 

 gun which didn't 

 fit and the dtfec- 

 live shell as usual 

 were to blame for 

 it all. 



About 8 o'clock 

 we took another 

 course with suc- 

 cess even better 

 than .that of the 

 morning. For me 

 it had been a red- 

 letter day. The 

 air had been cool 

 and bracing, the 

 walking dry and 

 easy, the party 

 composed of gen- 

 tlemen. As we 

 drove homeward 

 through the dark 

 I laid in the wagon 

 with a sense of 

 healthy fatigue. I 

 watched a bank 

 01 clouds slowly 

 rising in the west, 

 I lazily watched 

 the lightning 

 mark its ragged 

 course across the 

 clouds. I heard 

 the muttering of 

 the thunder tand 

 felt myself en rap- 

 port with nature. 

 1 &aid to myself, 

 this experiment 

 has been a suc- 

 cess. 



CUMBERT.ANt). 



PATTERN. 



What is the best 

 pattern to be ob- 

 tained from a 

 shotgun for aL 

 round use? Before 

 the invention of 



chokeboring the answer was, "The closest pattern that 

 can be produced," and the reason for this was that eyen 

 the very best guns rarely put more than 120 to 130 pellets 

 on a SOin, circle at 40y"de,, when loaded with l^oz. of 

 shot containing 270 pellets to the ounce, and Sdra. of 

 strong powder. 



Chokeboring, though of gi'eat advantage for many 

 kinds of shooting, has without doubt been carried to 

 excess. The ticket given with a new gun always states 

 the pattern ic makes at 40yd8. A much more important 

 point for a great deal of the sport followed in America 

 during the beautiful "fall" season is the pattern, or 

 rather the killing circle at aOyds. By the words "killing 

 circle'' I do not mean the width within which the game 

 may often be killed, or wounded, hy stray pellets, but 

 that space within which it is nearly certain to be bagged 

 through being struck by not less than three pellets. 



Those sportsmen who had much experience in the days 

 before chokeboring was known, will certainly admit 

 that for shooting at such game as ruffed grouse, rabbit, 

 quail, snipe, and above all, woodcock, no weapon con id 

 have been more satisfactory than the old-fashioned 

 cylinders, when bored to distribute their shot with even- 

 ness. 



Among my guns is a 14-gauge muzzleloaderby Purdey, 

 made, of course, many years ago, but in as perfect con- 

 dition as when it left the factory. Its pattern of 20yds. 

 nicely fills a 30in. circle to the very edges. And this is 

 what has been, and is now, done by good 12-gauge 

 cylinder breechloaders. 



Trials of guns in this country being almost invariably 

 made with No. 6 shot containing 270 pellets in one ounce, 

 I refer only to that size in the following remarks about 

 average patterns obtained during experiments with my 

 own guns. A medium choked 13-gauge putting 160 

 pellets on^ the 30in. circle at 40yd8., when loaded with 

 l^oz. No. 6 shot and Sdrs. of powder, has a killing circle 

 of only 23in. at 20yds. A full-choke putting on 210 

 pellets at 40yds., has a killing circle only 18in. wide at 

 30yds. A l6-gauge full-choke which with loz. of No. 6 

 shot and 2f drs. of powder makes a pattern of 180 pellets 

 at40jd8., has a killing circle of 15in. at SOyds., and if 

 slow burning powder, like Curtis & Harvey's brown, be 

 used even in 3drs. charges, the circle is not more than 

 12in, in diameter. 



A No, 16 medium choke, the pattern of which is 150 at 



