March 24, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



249 



be called so in case the corresponding velocity or striking 

 force reaches the standard value. This last-named ques- 

 tion is much more difficult to solve than many imagine. 

 In the first place a distinction must be made between the 

 penetrative facilities and striking force of the pellets. 

 These pellets, which are propelled by a very high velocity, 

 i. e. , imparted with a comparatively great striking force, 

 cannot and will not penetrate a paper pad or any other 

 object so deep as the pellets of a shot cloud propelled by a 

 lower velocity. 



In view of this fact all tests carried out by means of a 

 paper or card board pad are generally based on false 

 premises and lead to erroneous conclusions. The results 

 of such tests are worthless and misleading. 



A certain class of shooters, again, are guided in their 

 choice for ammunition by the high scores made by others 

 | with a certain load; they do not consider that a load 

 which may do good service in one gun is likely to behave 

 properly in another, and that they not only act foolishly 

 in employing the same ammunition, but assume a great 

 risk in doing so. 



A 3in. shell, for instance, can be forced into a gun bar- 

 rel chambered for a 2f in. shell, it can readily be exploded 

 too, but what the result may be is another question. 

 Under favorable circumstances the gunner employing 

 such a shell not suited for his gun may only experience a 

 "kick," creating an impression as though his gun had 

 suddenly been transformed into a hind leg of a mule, but 

 he may also see his gun go to pieces. 



There is no occasion for going to such extremes in the 

 way of a powder charge and shot load to kill a pigeon as 

 some gunners do. To boil a potato, boiling water is re- 

 quired, but as soon as the water has reached the boiling 

 point no amount of extra fuel will facilitate the process 

 much further. To kill a pigeon, a certain sum of striking 

 I force is required, not quite as high as that necessary to 

 [ kill an elephant. The penetrative force of pellets is gov- 

 erned by a maximum, whenever this is reached, no extra 

 powder charge will serve to increase it still further. The 

 chances of hitting a bird with a gun of a certain caliber 

 and size shot, too, are subject to certain laws,£and these 

 laws will not give away to any artificial enforcement. 



As a rule, the gunner employing a gun of 12-bore cannot 

 increase his killing chances much by enlarging his shot 

 load beyond l^oz. of shot No. 7. I know that this asser- 

 tion will not meet the views of many trap-shooters, but I 

 make it all the same, and stand ready to admit my mis- 

 take as soon as they prove to me that I am wrong. I 

 cannot, however, yield to any superstitious belief — I want 

 facts, indisputable facts, as I shall here name them in 

 regard to the relations of the striking force between a 

 load consisting of 1-Joz. of shot and 3drs. of Schultze, and 

 3ldrs. of the same powder and ljoz. of shot No. 7, both 

 loads to be employed for a 12-bore gun. It is claimed for 

 the heavy load that it will kill further than the light one. 

 Now, let us see what the facts in the premises are: At 

 50yds. from the muzzle the standard or light load will 

 show a velocity of 770ft. , and the velocity of the heavier 

 load at the same point is 760ft., or 10ft. less than that of 

 the former. The muzzle velocity of both loads is about 

 the same, or only 2ft, higher with the heavier load. What 

 has the gunner employing the load gained? He has suc- 

 ceeded in increasing the recoil about 25, the bursting 

 strain or pressure in the gun barrel about 35 per cent. , 

 that's all. 



I have recently been called upon to determine for a 

 number of shotguns the most suitable loads. From 16 

 guns tested eight proved to shoot Schultze powder better 

 than any other. In nearly all cases the wadding material 

 had to be chosen with due regard of the relation between 

 cartridge chamber and soul of barrel. Four guns made 

 the best showing with Walsrode powder, and two with 

 E. C. and American wood powder respectively. 



A Purdy gun produced with Schultze powder, wadded 

 in a certain manner, and l^oz. No. 7 shot, an average pat- 

 tern in the 30-inch circle at 40yds. — right barrel 234, left 

 barrel 244 pellets. A Scott gun produced with Walsrode 

 powder an average pattern — right barrel 232, left barrel 

 245 pellets. One gun, a Francotte, did best with Schultze 

 powder in the right, E. C. powder in the left barrel. 



In one case fully 300 shots were fired before the proper 

 load was established for the left barrel of a gun which 

 proved very stubborn and would not put more than 190 

 pellets in the 30-inch circle. The same barrel finally pro- 

 duced an average pattern of 230 pellets. 



The pellets found in the 30-inch circle must be judged 

 also in point of distribution. If a gun is patterned for 

 pigeon shooting, a skeleton of a pigeon is placed in the 

 center of the target; if for ducks, that of a duck is substi- 

 tuted. By counting the pellets found in the skeleton, and 

 considering the force at impact of each pellet, a pretty 

 fair conclusion can be drawn as to the chances of hitting 

 and killing for every load employed. Armin Tenner, 



TEXAS GAME INTERESTS. 



San Antonio, Tex.— In May, 1890, a State sportsmen's 

 convention was called in the city of Waco, which was 

 attended by over fifty gentlemen, who began at once a 

 "campaign of education" in the State. Later on Mr. John 

 Gilbert, of Houston, organized the Harris County Game 

 Protective Association, and in connection with Mr. 

 Guessaz, of San Antonio, prepared a game bill, which was 

 presented to the legislative body at Austin at the last 

 meeting. The bill was iron-clad in every respect, making 

 possession of game prima facie evidence of guilt and pro- 

 viding fat fines for any violation of any of its provisions. 

 It passed the Senate but was killed in the House by only 

 seven votes. That is the situation in a nutshell. 



But this is not all. This great State, with its boundless 

 territory, at one time overrun with the nimble-legged 

 deer, has a Governor who at present is under bond for 

 violating the game law in Nacogdoches county. In Feb- 

 ruary, over a month deep into the chase season, this man, 

 who should have set the example as a sportsman, as the 

 foremost citizen of the State, hied himself to the wilds of 

 Nacogdoches county, kills a deer when the law forbids it 

 and when he is spoken to for a statement by a representa- 

 tive of the press, replies that he thought that "Nacog- 

 doches county was exempt from the application of the 

 law." A great excuse for a sportsman to make, isn't it? 

 Of course Mr. Hogg is so benighted that he does not know 

 that even if the good law on the books of Texas does not 

 apply, there is an unwritten law which is engraved on the 

 innermost lining of a true sportsman's soul, which reads: 

 "Thou shalt not kill at seasons set aside by nature as 

 mating time," 



STOP THE SALE OF GAME. 



A Platform Plank.— The sale of game should be forbidden at all 

 times.— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 



Boston, Mass., March 14.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 While approving of your new "platform plank" prohibit- 

 ing marketing of game, I am not so sure that it is not so 

 radical a departure that it will fail to receive the support 

 of many who might be led to favor a less stringent meas- 

 ure. Would it not be better to start off with a plank 

 of no marketing or possession of game in close season? 



This would clean out the cold storage warehouses, that 

 in this vicinity are filled up in January and February with 

 game and carried over until open season in the fall. For 

 instance, pinnated grouse are exposed the day season 

 opens in Quincy Market (and I doubt not elsewhere in the 

 country), that have lain in cold storage since the deep 

 snow of the previous winter. Clammy, slimy, water- 

 soaked pieces of flesh that will become putrid in a few 

 hours' time if not cooked, are palmed off on the misin- 

 formed public as "the first of the season." Anyone can 

 easily distinguish them from season birds, as they are ex- 

 posed for sale denuded of feathers ready for the cook; and 

 good reason why, as it requires but a stroke or two of the 

 hand when feathers and skin readily slip off the body, 

 being in first stage of putridity. And again they are 

 offered all prepared for cooking at from 50 to 75 cents per 

 pair less than fresh unpicked and undrawn birds. 



Further, to-day in Quincy Market, in Market street 

 commission houses and throughout the city, grouse, quail 

 and venison are more plenty than at any time for the 

 past year. Why? Simply because the trappers and 

 market-hunters, aided by the deep snows, are getting in 

 their work. Boston for years has been the dumping 

 ground for illegally-killed game. Great efforts have been 

 made in times past to regulate the traffic, but the parties 

 who sell grass seed when grouse are out of season, in fact 

 are ready to sell anything for a commission, backed by 

 capital which carries legislative influence, have thus far 

 been enabled to cany their point. Their Interests are 

 now carefully looked after every election by men who are 

 known to be in sympathy, and I understand they now 

 are fortified by having one of their choice on the legisla- 

 tive committee upon fisheries and game. The society 

 supposed to have special care of game, the Massachusetts 

 Fish and Game Protective Association, have never seem- 

 ingly dared to take positive and aggressive grounds 

 against the Market street dealers, and the consequence is 

 that for the past few years those who wish to see the fast 

 disappearing game saved from total annihilation are com- 

 pelled to keep quiet, no protest to the Fish and Game 

 Commissioners would avail, as their time was taken up 

 by the exacting duties of junket trips on the Ocean Gem. 

 See Boston newspaper reports of legislative action regard- 

 ing repair of said State pleasure yacht. 



My idea for the preservation of fish and game is to 

 energetically carry out the practice followed in Maine — 

 with possibly some slight variation,|and which has proven 

 to be of so much value to that State, because it has been 

 faithfully executed, and is as follows: 



Make any common carrier punishable by a fine of not 

 less than $500 who transports game out of the State in 

 close season. 



Make it a criminal offense to kill, sell or have in posses- 

 sion game in close season with a fine of not less than $25 

 for first offense, double that for second, and imprisonment 

 for not less than six months or more than two years for 

 third or succeeding offenses. 



Pass these two laws and then tax every gun $2 per year, 

 this fund to be used by game commissioners to carry the 

 law into effect. This will enable them to employ com- 

 petent officers to detect [and bring offenders to punish- 

 ment. 



Finally, let the commissioners of game be men who 

 have the ability, are competent and interested in the pre- 

 servation of game, making the office one of responsibility 

 rather than of ornament. 



My judgment is that if these laws were passed and 

 proper officers selected to execute them, the crying neces- 

 sity which prompted this new "plank" will be largely 

 done away with. The killing with a gun is not what has 

 destroyed the game, it is the trap and snare, and in close 

 season during heavy snow — and the modern cold storoge 

 warehousing of the game. Regulate the season when it 

 may be killed, allow none to be had in possession at any 

 other time, and faithfully execute the law; this will do 

 more to save our fgame than anything else, with all due 

 respect. Mr. Editor, you and I both know that it is 

 possible to make laws which cannot be executed, and in 

 many States the statutes are now cumbered with such; 

 let us then rather make what we can execute and call 

 upon all good citizens to aid us. 



With an experience of twenty-five years, I may send 

 you some ideas on planting of game birds, particularly in 

 New England. W. W. Castle. 



Dansville, N. Y., March. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The consensus of opinion of a majority of your corres- 

 pondents seems to be along the line of prohibiting the 

 sale of game, and after a careful reading of what they 

 have to say I am forced to the conclusion that the motive 

 of their protests is a purely selfish one. I am neither a 

 market-shooter nor have among my friends any who 

 practice that line of business, but I fail to see where 

 there is anything disreputable or wrong in it. I can 

 readily understand how a man might have the genuine 

 sporting instinct in his heart and yet through lack of 

 means be unable to gratify it unless he resorted to the 

 crime (?) of disposing of a part of it for money. _ No one 

 certainly would question his right to do so; in fact, I 

 think lovers of the field would be glad that an impecu- 

 nious fellow sportsman was able to gratify his sporting 

 instincts so easily. 



A market-shooter wastes no game; he goes out with no 

 crowd of enthusiasts into some distant well-stocked 

 region, far away from points where game cannot be 

 given away, much less sold, and in the excitement of 

 pursuit allow himself to destroy that which will only be 

 wasted. On the contrary, he looks to it that the ship- 

 ping facilities are the best and is careful that every head 

 arrives in market as sweet as a nut, where it goes to 

 minister to the comfort of those who enjoy wild food yet 

 lack the skill or opportunity of securing it in the field. 

 If it is to be illegal to sell game it must also be illegal to 

 give it away. There is a law that liquor can neither be 

 sold or given away without a license, and the same rule 

 should apply to game, If the law says to A, "You must 



not shoot game for the market any more," it must also 

 say to B, "You must only shoot enough for your own 

 use and not do as you have been in the habit of doing. 

 That is, bring home a couple of barrels of ducks that you 

 couldn't use and distribute among your friends." 



This utter selfishness on the part of your correspondents 

 is very sad to me. JI read between the lines that if a law 

 prohibiting the sale of game can be passed that the 

 market-shooter will be crowded out and the game that 

 would naturally fall before his gun and be eaten by the 

 people in general, would find its way instead into the 

 pockets of the favored sportsman and be eaten by his 

 family and friends. What logic! Isn't it patent to every 

 thinking mind that our game, provided by an all-wise 

 Providence, has a mission in the economy of life other 

 than to delight the killing instinct of the wealthy gunner, 

 who shoots for the same reason that he takes a hand at 

 draw poker or drives a fast horse — for the excitement of 

 the thing? Game was made not only to delight man in 

 the taking, but to eat. The gun cracks, the little puff of 

 feathers announcing the dead shot delights the sports- 

 man's eye. The grouse falls, is retrieved by the setter, 

 fondled by the shooter and put in the game pocket. Now 

 what? Why cooked and eaten, of course. The eating 

 must follow the shooting; just as certainly as the report 

 follows the pressure of the trigger. 



It is rank nonsense to say that one man can shoot, kill 

 and eat game and another can't shoot, kill and sell game 

 that.somebody else eats. The advocates of this measure 

 are on the wrong tack; they don't consider how un- 

 American and petty such a law would appear on our 

 statute books. There is game enough for all if sportsmen 

 will bend their energies toward conserving it by looking 

 to the passage and maintenance of wise laws. Both 

 sportsmen and market-shooters can do their part by act- 

 ing in unison, instead of trying to deprive one another of 

 rights that are legitimate and honest. Taxing guns and 

 saying "you shan't" to market-hunters won't bring about 

 the desired result, but restocking and honest, concerted 

 action will. There is a growing sentiment to-day among 

 farmers looking toward the preservation of game, and as 

 they are the hope of the sportsmen their feelings and 

 ideas should be considered on all game measures. Get 

 the farmer boys interested, not by telling them that if 

 they bring a grouse or a couple of squirrels to town for 

 sale they will be arrested, but by teaching them how val- 

 uable the game on the farm is and asking them to wage 

 war on the destroyers of partridge and quail eggs, get 

 them to feed the birds in winter when the cruel crust and 

 icy coverings on the buds cut of their natural food sup- 

 ply. Don't mind the market-shooter, brother sportsmen, 

 he is with you, and will stay by you until the desired good 

 is obtained. H. W. D. L. 



Danvers, Mass. — Editor Forest and Stream: The best 

 game law I know of is to prohibit the sale of game alto- 

 gether. Such a law undoubtedly would make a howl of 

 much extent from the. market-shooters and marketmen, 

 but it would do the work as never done before. The mar- 

 ket is what exterminates our game, from the buffalo to 

 reed birds, and I think in due time such action will be 

 taken. J. W. B. 



Ithaca, N. Y. — That's a good platform; one that will, 

 if carried into practical execution, replenish the game 

 supply and vouchsafe to us and those who are to come 

 after us, a perennial period of good shooting. Tompkins 

 county is cursed with the presence of the market-shooter, 

 more's the pity. Cut this individual's chief source of in- 

 come short and I verily believe the game ' supply problem 

 is solved. Keep up the fight, and drive the market- 

 shooter into other pursuits. It can be done, and Forest 

 and Stream is the paper to do it. M. C. H. 



Rochester, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: I am 

 acquainted with che planks of many platforms, and of 

 them all I should choose to stand on "The sale of game 

 should be forbidden at all times," O. S. B. 



A Muclhen Tournament. 



Los Angeles, Cal., March 11. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: On the preserve of the Long Beach Gun Club, 

 the mudhens have become so numerous as to prove a 

 nuisance. They consume a great amount of food, which 

 otherwise the ducks would have, and in return they 

 afford no sport. In view of the above facts, the members 

 of the club have decided to hold a grand "mudhen tour- 

 nament," one week from to-day, the weather permitting. 



The programme is about as follows: 



At the invitation of the club, the sportsmen will as- 

 semble on the grounds, and will be assigned to their 

 positions, when the shooting will commence, at 9 A. M. 

 and last until about 5 P. M. No questions asked as to 

 how you bag your mudhens, take them as you can, ' 'pot 

 shots" and all. 



There is a medal, with an appropriate inscription and a 

 mudhen engraved thereon, to be given to the man bring- 

 ing in the largest number of heads. There are also 

 various other prizes donated by the merchants of this 

 city, such as loaded shells, cigars, etc. 



There will be a "barbecue" in connection with the 

 shoot, where the sportsmen will be treated to "barbecue 

 bull's heads d la Mexicano," and "eMZe con came" ad 

 libitum. 



The affair is gotten up solely for the purpose of exter- 

 minating the mudhens, or at least to decrease their num- 

 bers, and incidentally to have a good time. Truly this 

 will be a novel shoot. I will inform you as to the result. 



Culpepper. 



American Testing Institution. 



The names of the following gentlemen have been added 

 to the membership list: C. Howard Slater, Jersey City; 

 James N. Dupuy, president I. G. C. , Iron ton, O. ; Chas. L, 

 Horner, Greensboro, N.C.; W. H. Gibbs, Saratoga Springs, 

 N. Y.; Geo. W. Coulston, New York city; Peter Gibson, 

 attorney at law, Cincinnati, O. ; Edward E. Fox, secretary 

 Cicero Gun Club, Oak Park, 111. ; Percy F. Stone, secre- 

 tary Horicon Shooting Club, Chicago, 111. ; J. Henry Kerr, 

 attorney at law, Auburn, N. Y. ; C. L. Wilcox, secretary 

 Andover Rifle Club, West WiUiamsfield, O.; Erwin M. 

 Beale, attorney at law, Lewisburgh, Pa. ; O. D. Delano, 

 manager LeRoy Shot and Lead Works, New York city; 

 Edward L. Travis, attorney at law, Halifax, N. C. ; J. R, 

 Beam, New York city. Armin Tenner, Supt, 



