206 
FOREST AND STREAM^ 
LSbpt. 12, 1896. 
WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 
Of all the kinds of shooting of field and forest, the sport 
of woodcock shooting holds the warmest place in the 
hearts of its devotees. The woodcock shooter is an en- 
thusiast of enthusiasts. He may take a keen pleasure iu 
bringing other game birds to bag, but when woodcock 
shooting is under consideration comparison ceases. And 
indeed this sport possesses many fascinating features 
peculiar to itself. First of all, it can at best be indulged 
in but in very small quantities. There is but little of it 
when compared to the abundance of other kinds of shoot- 
ing, for the woodcock is comparatively a rare bird, and its 
season is a short one, therefore the keen edge of enjoy- 
ment of woodcock shooting is never dulled by surfeit. 
The habitat of the bird is distinctly different from the 
habitat of all other game birds, and of the vas-t tract of 
land which makes the earth's surface there are but tiny 
spots here and there which meet the wants of its nature, 
and many vast tracts of fertile country have no woodcock 
ground at all. 
It too is a bird of mystery, of whose coming and going 
no one knows. It is nocturnal in its habits, and its 
haunts being such secluded and unused spots, ones rarely 
invaded by man, it is rarely seen. The residents of sec- 
tions wherein is the home of the woodcock m^y never 
see one from year's end to year's end, and indeed may go 
through life with no more knowledge of them than that 
derived from hearsay, or, seeing one, may still remain in 
ignorance of its identity. While the quail, the partridge, 
the snipe and other game birds are not unfamiliar to 
country residents and are readily identified by them, that 
of the woodcock and its doings are shrouded in mystery. 
The large woodpecker in some sections is called woodcock 
by the country folk, while in other sections any plover 
with a long bill is classified as being the same bird. So 
little is the bird known that sometimes when killed it is 
called snipe and sometimes the snipe is called woodcock 
by those who have not given the bird special study or 
attention. Its life being so entirely without the sight of 
man and in general so little being known of its haunts 
and habits, it is not all strange that the little accurate 
knowledge is obscured by the air of much mystery, and 
that those who seek the bird find a fascination in it greater 
than that of any other form of game bird shooting. The 
bird itself is of peculiar form and of rare richness in its 
colorings, and its flesh is esteemed a morspl of rare excel- 
lence, fit for the palate of the most fastidious epicure. 
Thus it affords great sport in its capture and is pleasing to 
the eye and palate. 
Its habitat is generally in densely shaded nooks in out- 
of-the-way places where man rarely enters, and where 
the soil is soft and moist, for in such places is its food ob- 
tained. The alder ruins, and slopes in the birches, and 
nooks in the woods where springs or rivulets or excess of 
moisture makes the ground soft, are its favorite haunts, 
and sometimes in certain sections it finds spots in the corn- 
fields which are desirable feeding grounds, though haunts 
and feeding grounds are never plentiful. In Mississippi 
it is occasionally found in open sedge fields. Many places 
which to the eye have every appearance of home for it 
still have no birds in them. 
The scarcity of the bird, its beauty and the delicate 
flavor of its flesh, all serve to enhance its value, and its 
mystic life adds a charm to its pursuit which is distinct 
from all others. 
The difficulties of woodcock shooting have been greatly 
exaggerated in every particular, particularly as con- 
cerns the extraordinary skill requii-ed by the shooter, 
and the still more extraordinary labor and con- 
sequent fatigue imposed on the dogs, the latter being an 
inaispensable factor in the sport, if any success worth 
considering is sought. While intrinsically the sport pos- 
sesses all the requirements of the highest degree of wing 
shooting, the writers on it have deemed it fitting that it 
be dressed in a glamour of romance, presumably that a 
little knowlege might be presented in an elaboration of 
high colors which touched on the sky, the sunshine as 
it glinted through the alders, the beautiful color of the 
foliage, the balmy zephyrs laden with nature's perfumes, 
ad infinitum, all of which are present in all other kinds 
of shooting, or indeed present if there is no shooting at 
all. The shooting of woodcock is diflicult, it is true, but 
not so extraordinary in its difficulty as to be distinctly 
special, and far from being so difficult as most shooters 
make it from injudicious selection of guns, loads, etc. 
Woodcock shooting is close shooting, the closest of any 
kind of shooting recognized aslegitimatesport with the shot- 
gun. While the woodcock is called a game bird,it is gentle 
and mild in its habits, with none of the pugnacity or extra- 
ordinary vitality possessed by members of the grouse fam- 
ily. The smallest of shot is sufficiently heavy to kill it, 
and the cylinder-bore gun is amply close enough for the 
ranges which one must accept in shooting it. The choke- 
bore of any kind is out of place in such extremely short 
ranges, and unfit to use on a bird so easily kiUed, though, 
strange to say, the use of it is not uncommon, owing no 
doubt to the fact that many men owning but one gun must 
use it for all kinds of shooting, and in other instances to 
the further fact of thoughtlessness concerning the proper 
requirements of the sport. Short barrels too are desir- 
able, the difference in the handling of a 30 in. barrel and 
a 24in. barrel in cover being far away in favor of the 
latter. 
Woodcock shooting is largely a matter of snap shoot- 
ing; therefore a wider pattern at a much shorter distance 
is a requisite if one is cultivating success instead of nurs- 
ing a fad in respect to the use of choke-bore guns for all 
kinds of shooting, whether the guns be fitting or other- 
wise. In the shooting of quail, or chickens, or ruffed 
grouse — to a lesser degree with the latter — a certain de- 
gree of deliberation and quick aim can be practiced, but 
in woodcock shooting the opportunities for deliberation 
are the rare exception; hence the need of adopting an 
open gun to meet the requirements of quicker work and 
short ranges. Light loads and smaller shot can be used 
successfully, some noted shooters using dust shot exclusive- 
ly. With a short, cylinder-bore gun — a true cylinder-bore, 
not the modified choke-bores which are often called cyl- 
inder—such a pattern can be secured at 15 or 20yds. as 
win insure fair success to the average shot and the best of 
success to the good one. It might be said that such a gun 
and load are too murderous, and indeed they would be in 
the hands of a man who could shoot with any degree of 
precision if he could exercise deliberation, but as in the 
greater number of instances the shooter has but an in- 
stant in which to act, the results are far from being so fatal 
as one might fancy them to be. Often there is but a momen- 
tary glimpse of a dusky shadow flitting through or across a 
small vista in the dense growth, and the shooter must fire 
then or not at all, unless he is pleased at a purposeless tu- 
mult, that being the sum total when he shoots and trusts 
to luck for the execution of his purposes. 
As in all other shooting, experience enables the sports- 
man to recognize the promising nooks for woodcock, and 
the signs which denote its presence, they being the holes 
made by it in boring in the ground for its food and other 
signs well known to the shooter, and which can only be 
recognized by experience. 
As to the labor and fatigue imposed on the dog while 
seeking for woodcock, they are largely an exaggeration. 
Wilson, in his work on the birds of North America, 
specifically mentions the fatiguing "efforts which the dog 
encounters in woodcock shooting, and mentions that re- 
lays of dogs are necessary. As a matter of fact the work 
of the dog in woodcock shooting is the easiest of all kinds 
of shooting. He must range close to the shooter, or at 
most not beyond a gun shot if he serve the best purpose 
in that kind of shooting, and it is not at all essential or 
desirable that he work at high speed. It is essential, 
however, that he be intelligent and know thoroughly the 
best manner of working to the gun and assisting the 
shooter to get his shots in the manner to insure success. 
He should work diligently, but not hurriedly, -and it is 
hardly necessary to ar'd that the work should be done as 
silently as possible, though this also is true of all other 
kinds of shooting. 
The dog should be a good retriever, otherwise a large 
percentage of the birds will be lost, for many times it is 
as difficult to find the bird after it is killed as it is before. 
Dogs which run riot in this shooting can soon tire them- 
selves out, particularly in summer shooting, when dogs 
are out of condition and the weather warm, the conse- 
quent fatigue from such over-exertion and unfit condi- 
tion cannot be justly attributed to the difficulty of the 
sport. It is rather hard work for the shooter, particular- 
ly he of the North, where the qupst must be made afoot 
and where the footing is difficult and insecure, though 
after all it is but little more difficult than any other 
shooting in which the shooter walks- 
As the dog often comes to a point in thick cover out of 
sight of the shooter, even though the point may be but a 
few steps away from him, a bell attached to the dog's col- 
lar has been found of great assistance in determining his 
whereabouts, and its silence indicates when he stops on 
point, matters very essential in conducting the sport. 
Not every dog is a good woodcock dog, even though he 
may be excellent on quail, snipe, chickens, etc. Some 
dogs appear to dislike the work intensely, others refuse to 
recognize the bird at all. A few take to it very kindly 
and work to the gun from observation to a useful degree 
far above what could be established by the most careful 
training. The spaniel is but little used in the United 
States for woodcock shooting or any other shooting, for 
that matter, though there is no doubt but what they could 
be made eminently useful in field sport. 
In Louisiana and other sections of the South, where the 
woodcock seek a clime more genial than that of a North- 
ern winter, the conditions of shooting change almost en- 
tirely. In sections at certain times, generally in the last 
of December and the fore part of January, they may be 
found in great numbers, and a bag of twenty, thirty or 
forty in a day is not then considered remarkable. They 
frequent the switch cane bottoms, or woods in the tim- 
bered prairie in which the heavy fall rains have softened 
the ground and where abundance of food can be found. 
Their stay in the South is very short, they starting North 
immediately on the lessening of the winter cold, probably 
after a stay of about two or three or four weeks, their 
coming and going then being quite as sUent and secret as 
in the North. They are there killed in great numbers 
both day and night by market shooters, and shipped to 
the home and distant markets. They have their choice 
feeding grounds even in that land of abundance, and skill, 
•diligent effort and knowledge of habitat is quite as essen- 
tial to success in the Suuthern winter shooting as it is in 
the less bountiful shooting of the North in summer and 
fall. B. Watees. 
A Roe Deer Hunt in Crermany. 
"Joe " whose letter to Mr. Elmer is printed in Forest 
AND Stream of Aug. 8, must have been in very bad com- 
pany. If he had been among sportsmen and killed two 
roe deer with his 16-bore hammer gun, i e. with shot, he 
would simply have been asked to leave the grounds and 
to bear in mind that the shooting of roe deer with shot is 
considered a disgrace. Roe deer, like red deer, are shot 
with the riflf, and it is nothing unusual to see a good shot 
make "e^ne Douhlette auf Rehe," not, as Joe quotes it, "a 
douhletta on reh," with the last-named weapon, provided 
they are bucks, for does again are sacred to every true 
sportsman in and out of season. Eoe deer are by no 
means scarce in this country. Even around Berlin Joe 
could see as many as from 100 to 200 in broad daylight 
on good hunting grounds covering from 3,000 to 4,000 
acres. Yet Joe terms it a rare opportunity to shoot one 
in one's life. Armin Tenner. 
Quail in North Carolina. 
Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 38. — I heard through Jack Flint, 
an engineer, that there was a wonderful crop of quail 
getting ripe in North Carolina. This news I conveyed to 
my hunting companion, Fred Ford. We decided to take 
our dogs and go up there on a prospecting trip, and 
bought tickets via the Saa Board Air Line to Waxhaw, 
Taylor county, N. C. From there we drove four miles 
out to the home of Mr. Horne (a friend of Jack's), who 
lives on Twelve -Mile Creek, where we arrived in time 
for supper. 
The next morning, accompanied by Mr. Horne, we rode 
horseback through the fields until 9 A, M. Daring that 
time (about three hours) we found fourteen coveys, some 
of which must have contained thirty birds. The coveys 
were so large that I thought there must be several banded 
together, but Mr. Horne said he thought not. 
Some of the birds seemed to be full grown, but others 
could hardly fly, and Mr. Horne said they were a second 
brood 
At 3:30 P. M. we were in the saddle again and going in 
an oppusite direction. We found nine coveys before sun- 
down, two of which were very large ones. 
The next morning Mr. Horne drove us to Waxhaw. 
When we started we let the dogs im, but subsequently 
had to take them into the wagon, as they were continu- 
ally on the point. 
I hope later to take a trip to Waxhaw with Fred. Then 
of course we shall take our guns, which were left home 
on this occasion, as we never shoot out of season or pot a 
covey. C. E. Randall, 
The Rifle Again. 
I WISH to express my sense of personal obligation to the 
various gentlemen who of late have written so interest- 
ingly about rifles and calibers, especially to Col. Clay, H. 
B. S. and Stewart. As to the flrst of these, it must be a 
matter of no little wonderment to other ordinary mortals 
who like myself have the usual complement of arms, legs 
and hands, just when and how he acquired the mastery 
over the grooved barrel which his shooting displays. Of 
course, if a man is going to shoot like that, an old cavalry 
carbine, a .44-40 "baby,". or 'most any other piece of a gun 
will do him. I should have to practice at the rate of about 
forty shots a day for the next ten years to be as independ- 
ent of mechanical helps as he is. 
Why doesn't somebody rise up and defend the nitro 
cartridges for the ordinary calibers? I invested in one 
box for my .45-70, but their shooting was decidedly mis- 
cellaneous. Those I loaded myself with nitro rifls pow- 
der were even more so. It seems that nitro will do very 
well when you are shooting at a whole army — good fel- 
lows at that, whom you had really rather miss than hit — 
but that when it comes to putting a bullet ii^to the most 
obnoxious pare of a grizzly's spinal column it is better to 
depend on the old familiar black diamond dust. By the 
way, speaking of animals dropping "as if struck by light- 
ning," did anybody ever see them do it except when hit 
in the head or spinal column? 
The article on caribou shooting was choice. Here we 
have exact facts, not theory. The writer's objection to 
the Gould bullet for animals the size of the caribou seems 
weU taken. But I believe that if it can be so tempered as 
to mushroom and not split off, it is a good missile for deer 
and animals of a similar size. I am inclined myself to try 
the 350 solid bullet made of nearly pure lead, so as to 
mushroom, My experience is that if a rifle is kept clean 
lead bullets can be shot from it without any serious loss 
of accuracy. It would seem that the 405 bullet with 
about a 20 -grain hole in the point ought to be good. 
That would give a weight of 385grs. , with a heel long 
enough and heavy enough to penetrate well and deliver 
a heavy shock. Azteo. 
San Luis Potosi, Mes. 
Bull-bat Shooting'. 
"A EULL-BA.T — whafs a bull-bat?" 
"Why, don't you know what a bull-bat is?" 
He did not explain, and not knowing any other name 
for it, he was like the old wise-in-his-conceit darky who 
wouldn't gratify the "phorocity" of his ignorant sable 
friend who wanted to be informed as to what "dat tran- 
som of Venus wus." Hence I was left with my "phoro- 
city" until September, at which time I saw the thing he 
meant, which in all probability is the whippoorwill. 
The bird is seldom seen here, except for two or three 
weeks in September; and as the days of this month draw 
near there begins a sharp lookout for the bull-bats, for 
fine sport is expected. Good, bad and indifferent shooters, 
boys as well as men, are on the watch, and on the first 
appearance of the birds they repair in haste to the out- 
skirts of town, for their flight lasts only for an hour or 
two and it behooves the shooters to make the most of 
their time. Soon the air is ffiled with the bats, silent as 
the owl in their flight, irregular in their course, darting 
upward, downward, to right and left, now overhead, now 
skimming swallow-like near the ground in the eager pur- 
suit of food, heedless of man and fearless of his death- 
dealing arm. A la Tennyson, to the right of you, to the 
left of you, behind, before you, all around you, they 
furnish excitement to the shooter not altogether of a tame 
character. The flring is incessant. For an hour it is a 
continuous fusillade, not unlike volleys of musketry in 
battle. I think I do not exaggerate in saying that 1,000 
shots are flred sometimes during an hour within an area 
not over a quarter of a square mile. This is when the 
birds fly as I have described. More often they fly rather 
high, not one in ten being low enough for good range; 
and many inexperienced shooters, whose judgment of dis- 
tance is faulty, waste any amount of ammunition. 
The flight of the birds begins about 4 o'clock in the after- 
noon, but is not always on consecutive days. The sport 
lasts for a week or two, after which the bat is seldom 
-seen. The noise of firearms doesn't seem to startle 
him, but when picked up wounded he sometimes utters a 
chattering sound indicative of fear. I suppose he gets his 
name, bull-bat, from the chubbiness of his head. He is 
plump and fat, and makes a very palatable pie or stew. I 
can't see that there is the least diminution in numbers of 
these birds, but rather an increase yearly. 
N. D. Elting. 
Cbntral City, W. Va. 
[The bull-bat is the night hawk {Chordeiles Virginianus), 
It 18 an insect eater and not properly a game bird.] 
Chickens and Deer. 
A FRIEND just in from North Dakota wheat fields, 
where he has been in the interest of agricultural imple- 
ments, says there is a good crop of prairie chickens up 
there. 
Mr. Magee and party, of Winchester, Ind., just back 
from an outing in northern Wisconsin, report oeer quite 
plentiful. They were camped sixteen miles from Fifield, 
on the spot our tents stood in October, '94. They found 
excellent bass fishing in the lakes and muskys in the 
Flambeau River. G. W. Cunningham. 
Texas Plover Shippers. 
Victoria, Tex., Sept. 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
With reference to the party who is shipping plover from 
this point, I would say that I have been able to make an 
investigation of some shipments, and that so far I have 
found nothing to substantiate the report that he was ship- 
ping immature quail. Personally, I was glad to find no 
evidence of violation of the game law, as it seems to me 
far better — and I believe your paper will join with me iu 
this feeling— that there should ba no violation of it than 
that there should be such violation, even if discovered 
W. M. Peticolas 
