428 
level with the short ribs. The gun is thus held across 
the body, with the butt low in front of the right thigh, 
and the muzzle high in front of the left shoulder. Held in 
this position, if the gun goes off accidentally it can harm 
only people in the tree tops or those who arc looking out 
of third-story windows. This is the position for the gun 
when one is just about to shoot, and game may be ex- 
pected to spring itp at any moment. It corresponds to the 
old military position, "ready," and is commonly not used 
except when a shot is immediately expected-. 
Carrying the Gun. 
In the course of your shooting you will see a great manj^ 
men who carry their guns differently h'om this — many, 
for example, who drop both arms nearly to their full 
length, holding the gun parallel to the ground, with the 
muzzle at about the same height as the breech. This is 
a bad position, because, if the gun is unintentionally dis- 
charged the shot sweeps along low over the groitnd and 
-would certainly hit a.ny one who was in its path. More- 
over, many of the men who hold their guns in this way 
are slow shooters. It takes them a long time to raise 
their hands to the height of their shoulders, while in the 
position that I recommend you have only to raise one of 
your hands to the height of j'our shoulders, yotir left 
hand being already almost at the proper height. If you 
compare the two methods, j'ou will find that much ]cs^^ 
effort is required to bring the gun to your shoulder and 
take sight of an object when the gun is held in position 
recommended than if it be held with the muzzle lower. 
This position of the gun, however, is, as has been 
said, to be employed only when birds may be expected to 
rise at any time — in other words, when you arc just about 
to shoot. On the other hand, it is about as easy to learn 
to carry a gun with comfort in one position as in another, 
provided you start with the intention of practicing one 
method, and you will find before we get through that 
there are a great many ways in wdiich the gUn can be " 
carried— and all of them safe ways— without more effort 
than is required to carry it in a dangerous way. but in 
all these safe ways the nuizzle must be directed up or 
down. 
With a view to having you acquire the desired 
familiarity v\'ith the gun and to have j-ou feel that it is 
not a burden, nor some strange thing that has to be 
thought about all the time, I would like to have you 
carry it with j-ou when yott go out walking with your 
instructor, who, I rather hope, will be your father or your 
uncle — some one at all events who has had a good deal of 
experience with a gun, who understands what it is that 
you ought to learn, and who is old enough to remember 
all the time that you are trying to learn a lesson, though 
a pleasant one. 
If it is in the shootiiig season, perhaps he will let 
you go with him when he goes shooting, .carry ug your 
empty gun, so that you may see the dogs work and" the 
birds found, and may hear tiae rattle and the roar of their 
wings when they get up, and may see what your ex- 
perienced companion does. That will be very ]jleasant. 
But I want him while he is walking across the fields and 
watching the dogs and noticing everything that happens 
also to keep his eye on you. and to see how you are carry- 
ing your gun. Before very long you will. I hope, forget 
all about the gun except tp wish now and then you h"ad 
some cartridges for it. But when you start out. vour 
instructor will tell you how 3'OU should carrv the gun. and 
when you forget, as you certainly will, and point the 
muzzle in all sorts of directions, he will caution you about 
this and he may be obliged to do this many times if you 
are very heedless, but after a while you will reach a 
point where most of the time you will carry your gun 
properly. 
If, however, it is not the shooting, season and vour 
instructor takes you with him over to the farm house, fn- 
down to the pond or into the garden, he Avill first of 
all show you how to carry the gun. The simplest, 
readiest and most natural position is to hold it with the 
right hand grasping either the butt of the stock or the 
grip, the fore end just under the breech resting on your 
right shoulder, the stock rather low and the barrel directed 
diagonally across behind your head and well up in tiic 
air. The position is not very different from that which 
in the old books of tactics used to be called "ngh\. 
shoulder shift." The muzzle of the gun being pointed 
well up in the air, the discharge of the gun— if "it should 
take place — will be harmless. 
After you have carried the gun in this way for a while 
your arm and shoulder will naturallv become a little 
tired and cramped with the unaccustomed position and 
the weight of the gun, even though it be a light one, and 
before you feel this sensation of discomfort it will be 
well for you to shift the gun to the same position on 
the left shoulder, remembering alwavs to hold the stock 
low, so that the barrels will be pointed up into the air. 
If you are a right-handed boy. it will not be quite so 
easy for j^ou to carry the gun on your left shoulder as it is 
on your right, but you can easily teach yourself to do 
this, and in a very short time it will seem perfectly 
natural for you to have the gun there. 
As you walk along, it will be good for you now 
and then to stop and throw your gun to your shoulder 
and take sight at various objects 20, 30 or 40 yards away, 
as a knot on a tree, the top of a fence post or a flower iii 
the lot. Bring your gun to your shoulder quickly, but 
not so hastily that it. will point up in the air or awav 
off to one side when the stock reaches the shouldef 
Catch sight as quickly as you can. and do not lower the 
gun until you have caught the sight. Do not be dis- 
couraged if you are slow at first. Persevere. 
. W. G . De Groot. 
An All-Roond Warden « 
Toms River, N. ].— Editor Forest and Stream: Three 
men of Island Heights. N. J., shot a helldiver and one or 
two coots from a sailboat. A warden arrested them 
They were taken to Toms River and fined $61.30. After 
the case was settled the three men became friendly with 
the warden, and a game of poker was proposed. ' After 
it had ended it was found that the warden had cleaned 
them out of all their cash, so they paid rather high for 
their sport. But that is the kind of warden that is needed, 
as the croAvd did not have enough money left to buy a 
box of shells to break the law again with. Herb. 
FOREST AND_ STREAM. 
Spring Shooting, 
Watei^TOWN-,* N. Y., Nov. 20. — Editor Forest and 
Sfrcavi: I inclose some clippings from the Watertown 
Times. We are going to try another year to have a law 
passed prohibiting spring shooting of wild fowl in Jeffer- 
son county for riiree years. Why cannot the sportsmen 
of our sister counties join with us and make it cover 
tlie entire State? Tliere are a great many sportsmen who 
believe that if the spring shooting- of wild fowl could be 
stopped the birds would breed in this State in large num- 
bers and give us good sport aU through the fall months. 
The spring shooter says they won't, .and he has had his 
own way in this matter for years. He may be right, but 
'he can't prove it,_ and we may be right, but we can't prove 
it. Why not pass this' law next winter, and settle this 
question? W. H. Talt.ETT, 
President Jefferson' Goiifity Sportsmen's Association. 
The following was written at the time the bill to stop 
spring shooting in Jefferson Countty was before the 
l^egislature. What was said then is- true now. I quote 
fro.ni the Times: 
In the Times we read that Senator Brown's bill to 
scop spring shooting in Jefferson county is meeting with 
.great opposition from the "sportsmen" of Clayton. 
Alexandria and Ellisburg. We object to the term 
"sportsman" as applied to the spring shooter. No true 
sportsman, wortliy of the name, would be guilty of shoot- 
ing any game bird or animal, during the nesting or 
breechng season. I do not believe the sportsmen of these 
towns are opposed to this bill. There is opposition by 
a certain class of shooters and men who have a small 
momcy interest at sta'ke. I know of a certain captain of 
a certain yacht at Clayton who would like to take a few 
so-called sportsmen for a few days, for a few dollars, this' 
s]jring. He is very active in the matter and has sent a 
petition to Albany. There are probably others of the 
same kind at Claj-ton and Alexandria. In the town of 
Rllisburg there is a- small body of water known as VVood- 
ville Pond, a private preserve and hotel. The managers 
of this hotel and preserve have always been opposed to 
any law stoppin.g spring shooting. Why? Because a tew 
spring shooters from Jefferson. Onondaga and Oswego 
counties come there every spring and stay a few days 
and leave a few dollars. The cold facts of the matter 
arc that a few men won'd lose a few dollars if this bill 
cow MOUSE IN THE LAK.K. 
J liese excellent photographs of a eow moose and moose calf 
.suimming m a New Brunswick Lake ^vere Taken by Mr. -Charles 
.''^. P.ird. Jr., in August, 1900. 
were to become a law. These parties have always been, 
and probably ahvays will be, opposed to any law of this 
kind. At the session of 1893 a law was passed stopping 
spring .shooting in this State. These same parties in- 
duced a member of Assembly from this county to intro- 
duce a bill rej)ealing this law. and with the help of Onon- 
daga and Oswego counties succeeded in securing its 
passage. These same men now profess to be in favor of 
a law for the whole State, but object to the law for Jef- 
ferson county. The sportsmen believe (and the experi- 
ence of other States and localities where they have 
sto])ped spring shooting is convincing proof) that if the 
wild fowl are undisturbed in our county during their 
spring flight, large numbers of them would remain with 
us to nest and rear their young. Not only this, but that 
being unmolested in our waters they would stay longer 
in the spring, find choice feeding places, and would be 
more apt to stop with its in the fall than they would if 
dri ven out by hunters in the spring. When the ducks 
arrive in the spring they are poor in flesh and as a rule 
are so tainted by a fish and mussel diet as to be utterly 
unfit for food. So the killing of them is a wanton de- 
struction of bind life. How many of us stop to consider 
that for every pair of these worthless birds we kill in 
the spring we are destroying 12 to 15 birds that would 
return to us in the fall in prime condition. 
Jefferson county is more favorably located than most 
counties of the State, for! the reason that the laws ol 
Canada prohibit spring shooting, and the law could be 
easily enforced, thus making a grand preserve for all 
the people of this county. 
Why net give up this doitbtful sport of shooting ihated 
birds in the spring, and pass this law and try it for a year 
Or two. Remember that St. Lawrence county was the 
firist county to stop the hounding of deer, and that the 
deer driven from other counties found a safe refuge there, 
and the other counties were forced to pass the same law 
or go without venison. We appeal to every true sports- 
man, and to every lover of justice and fair' play, to help 
us to stop this merciless slaughter of birds during the 
breedine season- ' W.- H. T.vllett. 
President Jefferson County Sportsmen's Association. 
Wc shall win in the end because we are right; we Hi";.' 
[Dec. i, 1900. 
going to start right now, and try to convince the people- 
of this county that we are not selfish in this matter^ that, 
we are not working for the interest of any one class of 
shooters, but for all of us. Why is the fall duck shooting! 
just across tl\e line in Canada better than it is on this' 
side? 'V'\^hy do the ducks breed there in larger numbers?: 
Is it not because spring shooting is prohibited, the law' 
enforced and the birds protected during their nesting 
season. And if the sportsman of this county wants good 
duck shooting in the early fall, when it is a pleasure to: 
hunt, he has to go to Canada for it and pay a license of 
$25 for the privilege of shooting birds that we refuse to 
allow to nest in this county. AH along the northern' 
border of this county are islands, along our shores are' 
bays and scattered through our county are creeks and, 
lakes where the wild duck used to breed in countless 
thousands. Why do they not breed here n.ow? There 
is the same feed, the same water. The spring duck 
shooter will tell you that the country is too thickly 
.settled, that there are too many people moving about. 
Why! I know of an instance where a black duck built 
lieir hfiSf within five rods of a farm house and not ten 
rods from the highway, and at least one mile from the 
nearest body of water, and she succeeded in, hatching the 
brood and getting them safely to the bay. Oh, yes! The 
.spring shooters will say the black duck will breed here, 
but these other ducks, the broadbill, the whistler, etc.,' 
these flight ducks, they don't stop here. They breed iii 
Canada. I can furnish convincing proof that they do 
breed here every year in small numbers. Why don't the 
wild fowl breed here as they used to do? Simply for 
the reason that at every island, every point, every feeding 
place, lake and creek, the spring shooter is waiting, 
ready to kill or drive them from our waters. The laws 
of this State permit the killing of wild fowl until May i, 
•and before that date many birds shoiild have begun their 
nesting. It jeems to nie that the sportsmen of this State, 
and of this county in particular, are very short-sighted 
in this matter, and that the lovers of duck shooting have 
i-tDt given this question the proper consideration and 
■study-. W'e drive the birds into Canada to breed. Tliey 
have good feeding grounds, the birds are contented, and 
they stay there until they are forced to leave by the 
freezing of the waters, and as the waters close here at 
nearly the same time, and the distance to the coast is 
so short. I do not believe that one bird in a thousand 
stops_ here on their fall flight. We are in fact driving 
the birds from our country into Canada in. the spring to 
breed birds for southern shooters. I hope that the 
sportsmen of this county will give this question careful 
consideration. We might compromise with the gentle- 
men who oppose us, and get a law prohibiting spring 
shooting for three years. In that time we ought to be 
able to prove who is right, I should hke to have every 
sportsman in this county who is with us, Or would be 
willing to give such a law a three years' trial, send me 
his name and address. We want to know who our frien:ds 
arc. We want vour liel]) another year. " 
W. H. Tallett. 
President JeFferson County Sportsmen's A.sSQciation. 
CHICAGO AND THE WHST. 
Western Game Situation. 
CiiiLWoo, 111.. Nov. 24. — Winter came with a rush in 
the upper portions of tlte Mississippi Valley when it 
finally started in this year. There is a foot or two of 
snow' over upper Vviscon.sin and Michigan, several inches 
of snow in the lower peninsida of Michigan, and gener- 
ally cold weather, the thermometer dropping as low as 
one degree below zepQ yesterday in upper Wisconsin. 
The weather has been very bad in upper Illinois and 
Indiaita, so fhat the quail shooters complained bitterly 
that their sport has been spoiled at the very time of 
season when it should be best. The cold rains have pre- 
vailed all over the country from here to the Ohio River, 
This has not spoiled the shooting altogether, but only 
niadc it uncomfortable. When the first cold storms of the 
fall strike the quail they huddle up for days at a time, and 
do not go out to feed. Wiicn hunger drives them, they 
begin to run again and eventually get used to the colder 
weather. There is no doubt that the sudden cold, follow- 
ing the earlier mild weather, .seriously disturbed the 
young and half fledged birds of the second broods. 'Very 
many of the quail, which we got in our hunt last w^eek, 
were qxnte young birds, and I never saw birds so thin 
and \yeak lookin.g. T think they had not been feeding 
for one or two days, perhaps more. My friend, Vic 
Cunnyngham, says that out of fourteen birds which he 
dressed this w^eek, not one had anything in its crop. 
The duck flight is now practically a thing of the past. 
Theiie has been some shooting on some of the better 
Wisconsin marshes, a little shooting on the Mississippi 
and the Illinois, nothing to mention on the Kankakee, 
There should be duck shooting this week, if we are to 
have it at all. for the weather is ideal for ducks, but I do 
not hear of any bags of consequence. 
The deer season has been much better than the duck 
season. The snow came early enough to offer some 
tracking, and the very cold weather did not set in until 
the close of the season. There is no reason to doubt that 
the deer crop in Wisconsin and Michigan was quite up 
to the average of the past several years. There were only 
twenty-two men killed this fall in Wiscj^nsin and Michi- 
gan, as will be mentioned later, so that on the whole 
we may call the season a success. To summarize, wc 
may call the duck crop a failure, the deer season up to 
the average, the quail season ex'traordinary good. 
Some of the Shooting. 
Messrs. Chariie Antoine and V. L. Cunnyngham had 
a three days' hunt this last week, near Rochester, Ind. 
They struck miserably cold and wet weather, and came 
back rather disappointed. On their first day thev killed 
twenty-one birds, on the .second fifty-two. and "on the 
third only eleven. They think there is plenty of shoot- 
ing to be had in that country, if the weather will come 
ciff decent, Mr. Antoine is going out again tlie first of 
the following week. 
Bill Cutler, of F.vanston, is just back fjf)m a Utfle shoot 
m lower Illinois, near Odin. He bagged 117 quail in two 
' days, and says there are birds enough in that country 
fgr anybody. 
