'OTP. 20, 1892.] 



FOREST ANt) STREAM. 



3SB 



is,, has a killing circle of ISin. at 20yds. It will thus 

 eeu how greatly the average sportsman is handi- 

 ;ii3cl by using a choliehore for any game that is not 

 y wild. In order to insure killing at SOyds., guns are 

 constantly choked 

 to such a degree 

 as to sacriiice the 

 advantage of a 

 large killing circle 

 at the dislances 

 within five out of 

 six animals are 

 shot. 



Some men may 

 say that they do 

 not require a 

 circle so wide as 

 30in. at 30yds.. 

 and certainly 

 there are individ- 

 uals, here and 

 there, who do good 

 work with less, 

 but for nine out 

 of ten sportsmen, 

 every inch added 

 to the killing 

 circle is a decided 

 advantage. This 

 will be evident if 

 we consider the 

 kinds of shot 

 Vhich are of fre- 

 quent occurrence. 

 For instance, 

 when we are 

 {p^alking through 

 ' wood the spaniel 

 jives tongue in a 

 way that shows 

 he has started a 

 rahbit. The gun- 

 ner standa ready, 

 but all he has to 

 fire at is a flash of 

 fur crossing an 

 Opening 2yds, 

 wide among the 

 trees. 



A ruffed grouse 

 lises from some 

 low bush 20yds. . 

 distant and in- 

 stantly darts from 

 the thickest part 

 of some tall bushes 

 5yds. further on. 



The sportsman is straining up the muddy bottom of a 

 ravine when a spaniel pats up a woodcock among some 

 tall alder bushos on his right. The bird tops the bushes, 

 and, unless killed at cnr-p, he quickly puts a tree between 

 himself and the gun. Under such circumstances snap 

 shots must be taken, and it is impossible, even with the 

 beat fitting gun, 

 to cover the game 

 with the same ex- 

 actness as when 

 calmly standing 

 in front of a trap 

 shooting pigeons. 

 Some argue that 

 chokebore is 

 more merciful 

 than a cylinder 

 because it either 

 kills on the spot 

 or misses alto- 

 gether-. This the- 

 ory is not borne 

 out in practice. 

 The majority of 

 men who miss do 

 §0 by firing too 

 low and too much 

 behind. The 

 'chokebore is 

 therefore liable to 

 hit the lower or 

 binder part of the 

 belly and allow 

 the' game to es- 

 cape wounded, 

 when, with the 

 aame aim, the 

 larger killing 

 circle of the cyl- 

 inder would en- 

 velope the game 

 and kill instantly. 



It should also be 

 remembered that, 

 with the majority 

 of cho kebor es, 

 there are numer- 

 ous stray pellets 

 just outside the 

 mass of the pat- 

 tern, which are 

 very liable to 

 wound without 

 stopping. To sum 

 up, I believe the 

 balance of advan- 

 tages to be decid- 

 edly in favor of a 

 cylinderbore for 



all brush shooting, and even for snipe and quail in the 

 open, a gun should have only one barrel choked, and that 

 to make a pattern of not more than 160, Such a gun 

 will be very effective even at ducks when these are put 

 up by a dog from the sedges on the borders of a lake— or 

 shot from a dugout when the sportsman is being poled 

 through beds of wild rice. Doubtless shots are often 

 made at ducks so far distant that a full choke is desir- 

 able, but I was much struck by a remark in an interest- 

 ing article upon duck shooting, published last year in 

 Forest and Stream. It was written by one of the most 



celebrated duck shooters in the States. He said that 

 most of the ducks killed were picked up within the 

 decoys and that he did not anchor the furthest of these 

 more than SOyds, from his blind. On reading that, 



\\lVH Tidli Q.UAIL. LL-^Tlle Shut. 

 Photo by W. R. Smith. 

 {FoTBStand StreaiE AmatPur Pnotography Com petition.) 



the idea occurred to me that there is no necessity for any 

 one but a market-hunter carrying a heavy 10-gauge gun. 

 I have killed large numbers of ducks with a l<3-gauge 

 cylinder loaded with S^drs. of powder awd l^oz. of No. 4 

 shot, 170 pellets to the ounce. And this load can be fired 

 comfortably from a properly made gun of 71bs. weight. 



WITH THE QUA.iL. 111.— Thk Ketgieve. 

 fhoto by W. R. Smith. 

 (Forest sud Stream Amateur Photography Competition 



or Tilbs. if the sportsroaxi has many shots in rapid suc- 

 cession. With a 12-gauge full choke the load can be 

 reduced to lioz. of No. 4, and this will kill ducks well up 

 to 45yds. 



Opinions differ as to the best size shot for use in a 

 cylinder gun when a variety of game is liable to be met 

 with. The favorite size in this country is No. 6, but its 

 pattern of 180 is not sufficiently clo?e at 40jd8. for birds 

 xhe siz3 of American quail. By trying shot a little 

 smaller— reducing its weight and increasing the quantity 

 of powder— the extra closeness can be obtained without 



decreasing the killing power. The increase of powder 

 must not be carried too far, as it is more liable to scatter 

 the shot in a cylinder than in a choke, With a 12 gauge 

 cylinder of my own, when No, 7 shot, 310 to the ounce, 



was loaded in the 

 same proportions 

 as No. 6, it was 

 thrown in thick 

 clusters with wide 

 spaces between 

 them. When the 

 shot was reduced 

 , to loz. and the 

 powdt^r increased 

 to Sidrs., the pat- 

 tern at 40yd8, was 

 beautifully even 

 and close. When 

 the same weight 

 of shot was used 

 and the powder 

 increased to S^drs. 

 the regularity was 

 maintained but 

 the pattern was 

 too open. 



Care should be 

 taken not to de- 

 crease the size of 

 the shot too much 

 or the penetration 

 will be greatly re- 

 duced, no matter 

 how much pow der 

 be used. I loaded 

 six cartridge cases 

 with 3drs. of pow- 

 der and lifiz. of 

 shot containing 

 260 pellets in an 

 ounce, and six 

 with S^drs. and 

 -Jaz. of shot con- 

 taining .393 in an 

 ounce. These were 

 fired at 40yds, 

 from a 13 gauge 

 medium choke at 

 strawboards 

 placed lin. apart 

 in a rack, and the 

 penetration by not 

 less than three 

 pellets noted, so 

 as to eliminate 

 errors that might 

 arise from differ- 

 ences in size of pellets. The prnetration of the larger 

 shot was lO, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11 — g-i eras^e 10^ strawboards. 

 That of the smaller shot was ' , 8, 9, 8, 7, 7— average 8 

 boards. 



Two cartridges were then loaded wifi Sdrs. and Hoz. 

 of shot containing 204 pelless in an i unce. The penetra- 

 tion was 11, 12— 

 average Hi. 



This experiment 

 shows how much 

 more the penetra- 

 tion, at all but 

 short ranges, de- 

 pends upon the 

 weight ot the shot 

 pellets, than it 

 does upon the 

 driving power of 

 the powder. So 

 rapialy does mo- 

 mtnlum decrease 

 with weight that 

 it is doubtful if 

 any quantity of 

 powder that could 

 be used behind 

 No. 9 shot would 

 give as much pen- 

 etration at 40yds. 

 as No. 6 has with 

 the ordinary 

 loads. 



An ounce of 

 shot containing 

 about 340 pellets, 

 driven by suific- 

 ieni powder, la a 

 very deadly load 

 for all-round pur- 

 poses out 01 a 

 cylinder gun. It 

 is good lor rab- 

 bits, partridges 

 and quail. It kills 

 ducks well within 

 bOjds. It is ptr- 

 fict for wotdcock 

 iind fairly satis- 

 factory for snipe. 



J. J. Meyrick. 

 Devonshire, Eng. 



Adirondack 

 N OTES.— North- 

 wood, N. y„ Oct. 



16. — Noticing an 

 item about panth- 

 ers screaming, in 



FORiSST AND 



Stream, I made a few inquiries' among the woodsmen 

 here. Those that had seen them said they screamed. 

 One heard one in the spring of the year. He was posi- 

 tive, for the yell was but a short distance from the camp- 

 fire and the tracks were found the ntxt day. Johnny 

 Jones saw one yell once several years ago. The woods- 

 men seem to agree that the panther screams in the 

 spring of the year when they are looking for mates. 

 Does it not seem reasonable that a panther should wander 

 about the forests screaming for a mate as does the com- 

 mon house cat? Ra^xmond S. Spears. 



