Dec. 29, 1900.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
B09 . 
his hammer— without thinking of the instrument you are 
using, but the first principles can be learned only by 
sighting along your gun barrels. In other words, you can 
only in that way discover the proper position in which the 
gun must be held so that the sight may be on the mark 
when you are looking at the mark. Do not try to look 
along the gun and see the sight and then to bring this on 
the mark, but look at the mark and bring the rib of the 
gun and the sight into their proper position. Constantly 
striving to do this for a longer or shorter time, you will 
at length find that the gun of itself comes into the right 
position. The thing to be accomplished is to throw up 
the gun into such a position that every time it comes up 
it will be parallel to the line of sight. If one could learn 
to do that invariably, he would be a perfect shot and would 
miss only when he made some mistake in_ judging the 
speed at which the bird w^as flying and the distance which 
it was from him. 
Practice at Candle Flame. 
In the old days of muzzleloaders, boys used to be ad- 
vised to begin their practice by snapping caps at the flame 
of a candle. Of course when one aims at anything and 
pulls the trigger, he likes to know whether or not his aim 
was true, where his shot would have gone if the gun had 
been loaded. So in muzzleloading days, we boys were 
told, after we had practiced aiming enough to be reason- 
ably sure of covering a mark, to put a cap on the nipple 
of cacli barrel, and to stand 8 or 10 yards from a lighted 
candle, and then aiming at the candle flame to pull the 
trigger. The explosion of the cap forced a little puff of 
air" out of the barrel, and if the aim was true, this puff of 
air would either blow out the candle or Avould cause the 
flame to flicker. This was good practice, and it had the 
advantage of telling the young shooter whether he hit or 
missed. Sometimes two candles might be used, and the 
boy tried to put out both, one with each barrel. This 
taught him to shift his aim quickly, and when he made his 
first double on candles, he justly felt that he had accom- 
plished something. 
This same mode of practice may be employed with the 
breechloader, and I think your instructor will not object 
to your trying it after you have shown that the practice 
that you have had in carrying the gun and in aiming at 
the different objects that you see has benefited you, and 
has carried you along far enough for you to proceed to the 
next stage. ' If he thinks that the time has come for you 
to do this, he will be willing to have you get twenty brass 
shells of the size to fit your gun, and will superintend your 
first practice with these. This practice can be had in a 
room, or, better still, in a cellar or an area, or in some out- 
building; in some place, at all events, where the wind 
cannot" blow. The lighted candle in a candlestick 
should be placed on a table or on a barrel head at about the 
same level as your own shoulders. You should stand 6 or 
8 yards from it, and having put two shells unloaded, but, 
of course, with the primers on, in the chambers of the 
gun, sight at tlie flame of the candle and pull the trigger. 
If your aim has been true, the flame will tell you so at 
otin'p In this wav you may use up your twenty shells, 
which will be practice enough tor one "occasion. 
If after firing four or five shots j'ou do not manage 
to affect the candle flame in any way, there is evidently 
something wrong; either you are trying to shoot too 
quickly and are missing in that way, or else perhaps the 
slight noise of the primer is making you nervous. In 
either case, you had better stop using the shells and go 
back to the practice of sighting without anything in the 
gun. Always when you think you have caught the sight, 
but not before, you must seem to pull the trigger, and 
after a little practice you will be able to tell whether you 
are holding the gun on the object or not. 
If. on the other hand, you manage to blow the flame of 
the candle pretty regularly during these first attempts, you 
should repeat the practice frequently, and when you find 
that you can blow the flame almost every time, you may 
move back a few steps until you have increased the dis- 
tance to 12 to 15 yards, When you find you can do good 
work at this distance, you should try two candles, and, as 
soon as you have pulled the right hand trigger, shift 
your aim to the second candle and try to blow that out 
with the left hand barrel. This will teach you better than 
almost anything else can how to use your second barrel 
quickly, when it comes to shooting at actual birds, and this 
use of the second barrel is something that many men are 
exceedingly slow to learn. They are fairly quick with 
the first barrel, but when it comes to using the second 
they potter and feel about with it, and very often do not 
use it until the bird is out of reach, or even do not use 
it at all. 
Take Your Time. 
I want to impress on you the importance of not trying 
to shoot too quickly. A good many boys and young men 
who go out with older men who are good shots and see 
them fire the instant the stock touches the shoulder, and 
then see the bird fall, imagine that the first thing to do in 
order to become a good shot is to shoot quickly, and that 
after this had been learned, the matter of taking aim, or, as 
it is sometimtes called, "getting onto the bird," can bereadily 
learned. I believe this to be a great mistake. I think the 
important thing is to learn first to hit your birds and 
afterward to do it quickly. Therefore. I advise you al- 
ways to get your sight before you pull the trigger, even 
though it may take you a long time. After you have 
reached the point where you are sure of your sight, it will 
then be time to learn to shoot quickly. This is a matter 
about which there may be two opinions, and the method 
to be pursued may depend very largely on the tempera- 
ment and natural qualifications of the shooter. But I 
believe that the average boy needs practice in putting his 
gun on the mark, and holding it there, more than he 
does in shooting quickly. I have seen a great many boys 
who shot the instant the bird got up, but I am convinced 
that there is no profit in that. Except in the thickest 
brush, a bird usually gives the .shooter abundant time to 
put up his gun deliberately, take aim and fire before it 
is out of range. 
Cleaning the Gtin. 
After you have used up the twenty shells that I ad- 
vised your getting, it will be well for you to . clean out 
barrels of- your gun thoroughly, be^^ii.sf \\}^ ftilinitiate 
of mercury, which is the explosive in the primer, has a 
tendency to corrode the metal of the barrels, and should 
not be allowed to remain in them long. It will be well 
for you each day before beginning this practice to put 
some rags in vour cleaning rod, oil them well and run them 
through the barrels of the gun so as to leave the mside 
of the barrels pretty well coated with oil. After you have 
finished your practice, you should, as I say, give the 
gun a good cleaning. 
In the old days of muzzleloading guns, we always were 
taught to wash out our guns with water and then to dry 
them thoroughly and oil them, but at the present day the 
use of water in cleaning guns has been pretty much aban- 
doned. Therefore, after you have finished your practice, 
take the barrels from their stock, put some rags in your 
cleaning rod, moisten them with some lubricant and pass 
them several times through the barrels. It will take but a 
little time for the oil or grease to penetrate any crust of 
powder or fulminate that may have been deposited there, 
and a brisk rubbing to and fro will entirely remove this 
crust and leave the barrels bright. You should pass the 
clean rags — wound about the cleaning rod until they fit 
the barrels tightly — through the barrels until they come 
out as clean as they went in, and until the barrels, as you 
look through them toward the light, shine like silver. 
Then using on vour cleaning rod a rag slightly moistened 
with the oil, pass it through the barrels, and later rub the 
outside of them with a rag similarly oiled. You should 
GOOD POSITION. 
When walking forward to start birds your dog is pointing. But 
see that the muzzle gets no lower. 
not leave either the inside or the outside of the barrels 
perceptibly greasy, but they should have a very thin coat- 
ing of oil all over them. Now put the gun away in its 
case, and the case where you usually keep it. 
The question of the best oil to use is one about which 
there are many different opinions, but gunners are unani- 
mous in believing that no vegetable oil should ever be 
used on guns. A great many so-called rust preventives 
and lubricants have been put on the market for the benefit 
of gunners, and many of them are very good. Almost 
any of the preparations which have petroleum for a base, 
as vaseline, cosmoline, alboline and so on, are useful and 
harmless. Machine oil, porpoise oil, goose oil and skunk 
oil are also used. Perhaps the most popular of the com- 
mercial gun oils is the preparation known as Three in 
One ; it stands very high in the estimation of those who 
use shotguns. 
Recapping Shells. 
In order that you may be prepared for your next prac- 
tice, you must now recap your twenty shells, the primers 
of which you have just exploded. This operation is a 
simple one. For it is required nothing more than a block 
of wood in which is bored a hole one-quarter of an inch 
deep and just large enough to receive the base of the 
shell. In the center of this hole is bored another hole 
three-eighths of an inch in diameter and running entirely 
through the block. The instrument called the decapper 
is a cylinder of wood from three to four inches long, just 
small enough to fit into the shell, and in the center of one 
end of this cylinder a steel point is inserted which pro- 
jects beyond the wood one-quarter of an inch. You may 
buy this block and decapper with yotir gun cleaning im- 
plements at any gun store. Place the base of one of 
your shells in the large hole in the block of wood, which 
should rest on a table in front of you, and thrust the 
cylinder into the shell as far as it will go; the steel point 
will pass through a hole in the base.of the shell and will 
be stopped by the exploded primer. When the cylinder 
will go no further into the shell, give it a slight blow 
with the palm of your hand or with a light stick, or even 
take hold of it and push it down, and the steel point will 
force the exploded primer from its position, and the primer 
will fall out of the shell and down through the smaller hole 
in the block onto the table that the block rests on. In 
this way, in a very few moments you will have removed 
the primers from all twentj'^ of the shells. Now place your 
box of primers close to the block at your right hand, turn 
one of the shells over, placing its mouth in the hole in 
the block, take a primer and with your thumb press its 
open end into the hole from which the exploded primer 
was expelled. The primer will not readily go into tliis 
hole all the way. and you may take the wooden cylinder 
which you used in decapping, and with the end which has 
not the steel point in it, slowly and firmly press the primer 
down until its closed end is flush with the bas£ of the 
shell, V^ry likely your instructor will show yo« Uqw tQ 
do this with the first one ot two, and it is such a simple 
operation that when you have once seen him do it, you 
can perform it as well as anybody. 
After a time your brass shells will probably get dirty, 
for the fulminate is likely to corrode them slightly within, 
and possibly on the outside as well. They will hardly 
need any cleaning, but if you should feel a pride in keep- 
ing them looking bright and new, this can be easily done 
by the use of a 'little oil and powdered rotten-stone on a 
woolen rag. Smear the rag with oil and scatter some of 
the rotten-stone upon it and then twist the shells briskly 
around with one hand while you hold the oily rag around 
them with the other, and they will be soon freed from 
the dirt. For the inside you may wrap the rag about a 
stick which nearly fills the diameter of the shell, and by 
twisting the shell about on this a few times the inside 
will be cleaned as well. 
I shall hope that during all this time that you are prac- 
ticing aiming with your gun, you will also be going out 
with it and "carrying it about. All these things must be 
done over and over again, and though it may seem to you 
that it takes a long time to reach the point of actually 
shooting and killing things, you may feel sure that none of 
this practice that you are having now, and which is per- 
haps beginning to be tiresome to you, will be wasted. In 
the j^ears to come you will be very glad indeed that you 
were persuaded to do these things. 
W. G. De Groot. 
Game in Connecticut. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Judging from personal observation extending over a 
period of ten years, I can assert with confidence that 
game of all kinds is more plentiful in this vicinity at 
present than in years. The open winter a year ago 
favored quail, and they have been and at present are 
more numerous than I ever knew them to be. Wood- 
cock, perhaps, have been a trifle scarce, but patrtidges 
have held their own. 
Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed an eight-mile walk 
along the West Rock Range. The winter air was crisp 
and invigorating, and the sun shone beautifully. _ A light 
snow lay in the woods, and it told a most satisfactory 
story. It imparted the information that much game 
had successfully withstood the gauntlet of fire and 
shot belched along the hillsides for the last three months. 
In places were tracks of quail, and three partridges 
thundered away from in front of me; their tracks also 
were plentiful. Rabbits and squirrels, too, had been 
prospecting, as their tracks plainly attested. It is good 
to know that by the time this note reaches the editor 
the closed season on all such game will be in force, and 
in will be saved to propagate for another season. Wise, 
indeed, are good game laws! 
Not yet, however, is the ambitious nimrod prevented 
from going afield with dog and gun, and that he may not 
always return empty-handed was clearly demonstrated 
by still another story in the snow, for Reynard's tracks 
were there in abundance. Already within two weeks 
have four of his kind come to grief that I know of. 
Health, recreation and exhilaration travel hand in hand 
on an old-fashioned New England fox hunt. 
But now we come to bigger game. From all parts 
of Connecticut come reports of deer having been seen. 
I haven't seen any yet, but have been favored in finding 
indisputable evidence that deer are in this neighbor- 
hood. Sunday morning, Dec. 2, I found tracks and 
fresh deer .sign within 200 yards of the house. The sign 
was apparently not over three hours old. The tracks 
led across the road and along the bank of a trout 
brook. They were evidently made by a large buck. A 
Air. Doolittle, of Woodbridg,e, and his family saw three 
deer within two weeks. One was a fine buck, and the 
others, does. A New Haven man told me that, while 
lumting in Hamden, near where I live, he saw two deer 
—a buck and doe. 
A word about trout, and I am done. The past sum- 
mer was the dryest known to the oldest inhabitants of 
this section. Trees literally dried up and died. Leaves 
which were apparently green burned like tinder, and the 
farmers were kept constantly fighting fire. Under such 
conditions streams never known to have been dry before 
went entirelj'^ dry. Sportsmen haA^e come to look on 
trout fishing as a thing of the past. The little brook 
along which the deer tracks lead, however, managed to 
barely trickle during the drought, and a trip along its 
banks a few days ago revealed quite a number of trout 
in the pools — and some good ones, too! This was a 
most welcome surprise, and it assures Us of a few at 
least in the spring. 
Taking all adverse conditions into consideration, it 
would seem that the sportsmen of this vicinity have a 
great deal to be thankful for. 
Before closing, I must mention that on my walk the 
other day I failed to find even a trace of a snare. And 
snares were very plentiful there a few seasons back. 
William H. Avis, 
HiGHWooD, Conn., Dec. 14. 
How the Boy Made a Double* 
Hudson, N. Y. — Floyd Shutte, a young lad living near 
Forest Lake, Martindale, N. Y.. has a line of traps set 
for mink and muskrats, and when visiting his traps he 
never leaves his gun at home. On his way to the lake 
one morning last week, just as he was entering a thicket 
of pines, out went a partridge, which he shot at and 
missed. Never having shot a partridge on the wing, he 
was not surprised, but said to himself, "I'll try 'em again." 
Lie had walked but a short distance when out boomed 
another. This time he had blood in his eye, and he 
shot, and down tumbled the partridge. He started for his 
game, and about the time he started for it a silent spec- 
tator to the tragedy, an owl, left the pines to retrieve the 
bird. Floyd saw in an instant that the owl would get 
there first, so he pulled up the gun and shot the owl. 
Lie picked up his trophy, and after looking it over, said, 
"Well, if this isn't the biggest partridge I ever saw, and 
I shot it on the wing." He weighed the bird, and it 
weighed just 'i pound 8 ounces. Had it weighed double 
this eould ^qt haye been happiqr/ " Q, 
