FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 8, igm. 
each contestant. Accordingly as the referee calls "dead" or "lost," 
the scorer shall promptly respond with the call "dead" or "lost," 
In keeping a contestant's score, the scorer shall use the figure 1 
to denote that one barrel was used to effect the kill; the figure 2 
to denote that two barrels were used to effect a kill, and a 0 
to denote that the bird was lost. The scorer's record of the com- 
petition, so kept, shall be the official score, and it shall govern 
all awards and records of such competition. At the close of each 
contestant's score, the scorer shall distinctly announce the total 
of it. _ tw7m£***rt*3 ' 1% " '-' ' ' J m" 
RULE 4 —PULLER. 
Section 1. The puller shall have charge of springing the traps. 
He shall spring a trap instantly in response to the contestant's 
call of "Pull." 
Section 2. The puller shall have an unobstructed view of the con- 
testant at the firing points. 
Section 3. When a mechanical device is used to determine which 
trap shall be sprung, the puller shall be so placed and shall so act 
that any contestant who is at the firing point cannot know in 
advance which trap is to be sprung for him. 
Section 4. The management may appoint an assistant puller to 
take charge of the mechanical device and to require that the traps 
be sprung accordingly as determined by it. 
Section 5. If the puller springs the traps so irregularly or so 
negligently as to impair the equity of the competition, the man- 
agement may forthwith remove him. 
RULE 5.— CONTESTANT, 
Section 1. A contestant is prohibited from loading his gun at 
any time other than when he is at the firing point, and he shall 
open it and remove therefrom all cartridges or empty shells before 
turning from or leaving the firing point. Should any contestant 
willfully violate this section of this rule, or violate it after having 
been warned, the referee or the management may fine him from 
$1 to $5, or may disqualify him. 
Section 2. When at the firing point, ready for competition, the 
contestant shall to the puller distinctly call out "Are you ready?" 
When the puller responds, "Ready," he thereby signifies that he 
is ready to spring the trap promptly to the contestant's command. 
When ready for the bird, the contestant shall distinctly give the 
command, "Pull," and thereafter he is unqualifiedly in the com- 
petition. 
Section 3. A contestant may hold his gun in any position. 
Section 4. A contestant must be at the firing point within two 
minutes after having been duly notified to compete; failing therein, 
he may be fined $1 by the referee or the management, or the 
management may disqualify him. However, the management, if 
good cause is shown for it, may grant a reasonable delay to a 
contestant, as for instance, when his guns breaks down, etc. 
Section 5. After a contestant fires his first barrel, he must fire 
his second barrel immediately or leave the firing point. 
Section 6. If a contestant has a misfire or apparent misfire, he 
shall forthwith hand his gun, unopened, to the referee for inspec- 
tion. It shall thereupon be the referee's duty to try both triggers 
if the gun has double triggers, or the trigger if the gun has only 
one trigger, before opening the gun or cocking it. Should the 
cartridge which has misfired or apparently misfired be exploded 
when thus tried, the referee shall declare the bird "lost." If in 
the case of a misfire or apparent misfire the contestant opens his 
gun before handing it to the referee the bird shall be declared 
"lost" (See Rule 9, Section 1, (o) and (p), Rule 14, Sections 
3 and 4.) 
Section 7. A contestant may stand back of the mark asigned to 
him at the firing point if he chooses to do so, but the mark as- 
signed to him shall be the official mark. 
Section 8. When firing, the contestant's feet shall be behind the 
firing mark assigned to him. 
Section 9. Shooting on the grounds in any place other than at 
the firing point is strictly prohibited. 
RULE 6 - CHALLENGE. . 
Any contestant may challenge the load of any other contestant 
under Section 2 of Rule 14. A challenge must be in writing and 
signed by the challenger, and must have ?5 forfeit posted there- 
with in the hands of the management. On receipt of such chal- 
lenge, the management will obtain a cartridge or cartridges from 
the challengee when he is at the firing point, and if, after public 
examination of the cartridge or cartridges so obtained, the manage- 
ment finds that the challengee violated Section 2 of Rule 14, he 
may be disqualified or not, accordingly as the management deems 
the offense wilful or otherwise. In the case that the challengee is 
wholly innocent, the forfeit aforementioned shall be paid to him; 
otherwise it shall be returned to the challenger. 
RULE 7.— DEAD BIRD. 
The referee shall declare the bird "dead," when it is gathered 
within bounds Under the conditions enjoined by these rules. (See 
Rule 9, Sectional, (b) ). 
RULE 8.— LOST BIRD. 
The referee shall declare the bird "lost" after the call of "Pull," 
respectively, 
(a) when the s bird is once outside of the boundary, except as 
provided in Section 1 (d) of Rule 9, and in Section 8 of Rule 12; 
(b) when the bird dwells, even for the briefest moment, on the 
top of the boundary enclosure, whether it perches thereon on not; 
(c) when the contesant fails to fire because his gun was unloaded 
or uncocked, or because the safety was faultily adjusted, or because 
of any other reason chargeable to his own oversight or neglect; 
(d) when the contestant, after leaving the firing point, returns 
and shoots again at the same bird, or when, after firing one shot, 
he opens and closes his gun, and shoots again at the same bird. 
RULE 9.— NO BIRD. 
When the referee declares "no bird," it gives the contestant 
another inning, with the use of both barrels. 
Section 1. The referee shall declare "no bird," and shall allow 
another bird, respectively, 
(a) when, in his opinion, the bird, being on the ground and not 
having been shot at, cannot fly properly, whether it has been on 
the wing or not; 
(b) when a bird is on the ground when the contestant fires his 
first barrel, if the bird is afterward gathered within bounds. If 
a bird is on the wing when the first barrel is fired, and it is 
killed on the ground with the second barrel, it is a dead bird; 
(c) when the "bird walks in one yard from the traps, or when, 
after having been on the wing and still being unshot at, it alights 
between the traps and the dead line, and thereafter walks toward 
the contestant at all (see Diagram II) ; 
(d) when the bird, after being shot at, escapes through any open- 
ing in the boundary, the same being permanent or not, if, in the 
opinion of the referee, it could not have escaped otherwise; 
(e) when the bird is shot at also by some one other than the 
contestant, if, in the opinion of the referee, the bird could have 
been gathered had there been no such interference, or if he con- 
siders that such interference constituted a balk; 
(f) when a contestant, through his own fault, shoots and kills 
from a mark which is nearer than the one assigned to him. If he 
misses, thebird'is lost; 
(g) when both barrels of the contestant's gun are discharged 
simultaneously ; ' 
(h) when a contestant's gun or cartridge misfires from an imper- 
fection of either (Rule 8, c); 
(i) when the contestant, to avoid endangering life or property, 
does not shoot; 
(j) when seven balls have been thrown at a bird, whether it 
has been on the wing or not; 
(k) when the contestant is balked. Whether the interference 
constitutes a balk or not, is for the referee alone to decide. In 
case a claim of balk is allowed to a contestant, it gives him a right 
to a new inning and the use of both barrels; 
(1) when the trap is not sprung with reasonable promptness to 
the command "Pull," or when the bird, not having been on the 
wing, refuses to fly after the trap has been sprung, if in either 
instance the contestant declares "no bird;" 
(m) when the bird is caught in the trap and there held long 
enough for the contestant to cover such trap before the bird 
can take wing; 
(n) when the bird is hit by a missile; 
(o) when a contestant has a misfire with the first barrel, if he 
does not fire the second (except as provided in Rule 14, Section 4) ; 
(p) when, after firing his first barrel, he has a misfire with his 
'second barrel if he does not kill the bird with the first barrel 
(except as provided in Rule 14, Section 4) ; 
(q) when he has a misfire with both barrels (except as- pro- 
vided in Rule 14, Section 4); 
(r) when, the overground system being used, a trap or traps 
are unfilled before the contestant shoots. 
(s) See Section 8 of Rule 12; 
"No birds," in case of b, f, g, h, 1, o, p and q, shall be paid for 
by the contestant. 
Section 2. In case the contestant uses a magazine gun, it is "no 
bird," and the referee shall allow another bird, respectively, 
(a) when the head of the empty shell is pulled off in the attempt 
to eject it, thereby obstructing the chamber of the gun and pre- 
venting the reloading of it for the second shot; 
(b) when, after the first shot is fired and the gun is opened 
properly, the extractor has failed to extract the empty shell. 
"No birds," in the case of a and b, shall be paid for by the con- 
testant. 
Section 3. In case the contestant uses a magazine gun, it is 
not a "no bird," and the referee shall not allow another bird, 
respectively, 
(a) when, after the first shot, the empty shell, although it be 
extracted from the chamber, is not ejected from the gun, thereby 
preventing the reloading of it for the second shot; 
(b) when there is any failure to shoot caused by a cartridge 
which is too thick or too long, or by any other failure of any kind 
whatsoever, caused by a reloaded shell. 
RULE 10.— NO BIRD, IF REFUSED. 
If a contestant refuses to shoot under any of the following cir- 
cumstances, the referee shall declare "no bird," and shall allow 
another bird; but if the contestant shoots, the result shall be 
scored, respectively, 
(a) when the contestant has not given the order to "Pull" and 
the trap is pulled nevertheless; 
(b) when, in single-bird shooting, two or more birds are liber- 
ated at the same time. If a contestant shoots at both birds, he 
shall be required to pay for both, and shall also be fined $1 by 
the management. The first bird shot at is the only one which can 
be scored dead or lost under these Circumstances. 
RULE 11.— REFUSAL TO FLY. 
Section 1. When, on the trap being properly pulled, the bird 
refuses to fly, the referee shall forthwith order to be exercised 
such means as are provided by the management to make such bird 
fly. A bird, hit by a ball or pushed by a flush rope, shall be gov- 
erned by Rule 9, Section 1 (n). A contestant cannot call a "no 
bird" after the bird has been on the wing, but if he desires to 
make such bird a "no bird," he may shoot it on the ground, in 
which case it will be governed by Section 1 (b) of Rule 9. 
Section 2. In case of possible doubt as to whether a bird has 
been "on the wing" or not when it has flipped up, the referee shall 
declare it "on the wing" when in his opinion it was so, and shall 
promptly so inform the contestant by calling out "on the wing." 
RULE 12. — GATHERING. 
Section 1. To be scored dead, the bird must be gathered within 
two minutes after it falls to the ground or is legally killed on the 
ground, excepting as provided in Section 4 of this rule. The 
management may appoint or may permit the contestant to appoint 
some one to gather the bird, or a dog may be used for that pur- 
pose. The moment that the bird touches the ground, the referee 
shall order it gathered. 
Section 2. Only one man or one dog may be used at a time to 
gather any one bird. 
Section 3. When the gatherer does not know the whereabouts of 
the bird, the referee or some one else appointed by him may give 
the gatherer such information as may be necessary to aid him in 
respect to it, but no one, other than the referee, shall be allowed to 
accompany the gatherer. 
Section 4. When a dog is used to gather a bird and he cannot 
find it, in such case the time limit shall not apply. Such dog 
shall be called in, and after he is in control, the referee shall ap- 
point some one to gather the bird, whereupon the time limit shall 
apply. 
Section 5. In case of a dog pointing when gathering, the time 
lost by such act shall not count as a part of the time limit. The 
referee may send someone to urge the dog off the point, or he 
may direct that the dog be called in, after which the referee will 
proceed under Section 4 of this rule. 
.Section 6. The bird, when once within the grasp of the gatherer's 
hand, if the gatherer be a person, or within the grasp of the 
gatherer's mouth, if the gatherer be a dog, shall be scored as 
dead. 
Section 7. The gatherer, whether man or dog, should go 
directly to the bird without any prejudice whatever to any con- 
testant's interests. It devolves upon each contestant to so kill 
his birds that they can be gathered without any extraordinary 
strategy or effort. 
Section 8. Should the dog break away or be liberated to gather 
the bird before it has touched the ground, and, while chasing the 
bird, it passes beyond the boundary, the referee may allow the 
contestant another bird, provided that the referee is of the opin- 
ion that the bird would have been gathered within the time limit 
if the dog had not interfered. 
Section 9. The puller shall not spring the trap until the trapper 
and retrievers are back in their places, even though the con- 
testant calls "Pull." 
RULE 13— MUTILATION. 
The mutilation of birds is prohibited. Any contestant who is 
convicted of violating this rule or of conniving at its violation, 
shall forfeit all rights in the contest 
RULE 14.— GUNS AND LOaDS. 
Section 1. In the Grand American Handicap tournament no con- 
testant shall use a gun whose bore is larger than a 12-gauge, nor 
whose weight is over 8 pounds; nor use in any other competition 
a gun whose bore is larger than a 10-gauge. 
Section 2. No contestant shall use any load of shot, exceeding 
1*4 ounces, any standard measure, struck. 
Section 3. Any contestant who uses reloaded ammunition must 
abide by the results. (Rule 8, (c). 
Section 4. — Any contestant who knowingly uses a gun or car- 
tridge which has once misfired in the competition must abide by 
the results. 
RULE 15— SHOOTING OUT OF TURN. 
Whenever the referee deems it necessary to do so, for the pur- 
pose of saving time, etc., he may require any contestant to com- 
pete, whether it is such contestant's turn to compete or not. 
Shooting out of turn does not affect the competitive standing of 
any contestant. 
RULE 16. — TRAPS. 
Section 1, In all competition there shall be used five ground 
traps, placed 5 yards apart, in the segment of a circle whose radii 
are 30 yards, the center of which circle is the center of the 30- 
yard firing point. A straight line drawn through this center, and 
the center of the boundary should pass through the center of all 
the other firing points, whether more or less than 30 yards. The 
traps are designated by numbers from left to right, namely, No. 1, 
No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, (See Diagram I). The management 
shall see that the traps are in working order and so kept during 
the competition. 
Section 2. When the overground system of trapping is used, the 
referee will require that each of the five traps contains a bird 
when the contestant is at the firing point. When the underground 
system is used, the trappers are required to exercise their best 
endeavor to keep the traps filled. 
RULE 17.— BOUNDARY. 
Section 1. The boundary shall be a dead line and a segment of 
a circle whose radii are 50 yards, and whose center is No, 3 trap. 
The dead line is the chord of the circle, and its center is bisected 
by a line drawn from the center of No. 3 trap through the center 
of the firing points. The center of the dead line is 33 yards from 
the center of No. 3 trap. (See Diagram.) The management 
reserves the right to change the boundary when occasion requires. 
Section 2. When the boundary is marked by stakes, or anything 
else which does not show the continuous arc of the circle, the 
boundary shall be straight lines from stake to stake, etc., con- 
secutively. In case such boundary is used, a bird, lying on the 
line or touching it when gathered, is a dead bird. 
RULE 18.-DIVISION OF MONEYS. 
Unless otherwise provided, the moneys of the competition shall 
in the division be governed by class shooting.* 
RULE 19.-TIES. 
Should there be any ties in a contest, they will be shot off as 
soon as possible after the contest is finished, under the same con- 
ditions of handicaps, etc., excepting the number of birds, which 
will be as follows: In 10-bird events, or less, 3 birds; 11 to 25 
birds, inclusive, 5 birds; 26 to 50 birds, inclusive, 10 birds; 51 to 
100 birds, inclusive, 25 birds. Any contestant in any tie may be 
paid on demand his pro rata share of the money, unless the con- 
ditions prescribe that all ties shall be shot off. 
RULE 20,— UNFINISHED COMPETITION. 
In case that darkness or bad weather stops the competition, such 
competition shall be postponed to a date not later than two weeks 
thereafter. Should the contestants fail to agree on a time and 
place, the management will name the time and place to hold such 
unfinished competition. Any contestant who fails to appear in any 
contest at the time and place set for it, loses by default and for- 
feits all his rights therein. 
RULE 21.— PROTESTS. 
All protests or claims of any nature whatsoever, concerning the 
competition of a competitor, must be made before the next com- 
petitor shoots. The referee's decision is final. 
RULE 22.— CHANGES AND AMENDMENTS. 
The management reserves the right to make any alterations and 
amendments to these rules whenever it deems it for the best in- 
terests of all concerned to do so. 
Powder Makers and Pigeon Guns. 
Under the above caption, the following is presented in the prac- 
tical work, Experts ou Guns and Shooting/' by G. T. Teasdale- 
Buckell: 
There has of late arisen a curious competition between gun pow- 
der makers for the patronage of pigeon shots, under the false im- 
pression, as it seems to us, that what pigeon shooters use to-day 
game shooters will use to-morrow. We have discussed this ques- 
tion latterly with various powder makers, and with gun makers 
who supply pigeon shooters with their guns and cartridges, and we 
have heard the opinions of the competitors themselves and we 
propose to set forth the views of all three classes as clearly as we 
are able. First of all, the powder and gun makers are very well 
aware that the supplying of pigeon shooters themselves is too 
insignificant a business to cultivate; but some of them believe that 
game shooters follow as a guide to themselves what the pigeon 
shooters do, and that, therefore, the advertisement is worth having 
when their powder wins prizes. We grant that there was a time 
wnen this was the case, but that was twenty to twenty-five years 
igo, and before powder makers hit upon the idea of "running" 
pigeon shooters as their advertisement. This they practically do 
now; it is done in various ways, but the most favored just now is 
the doubling of the prizes by certain powder makers when they 
happen to be won by the use throughout the contest of the particu- 
ar powder made by these manufacturers. In the first place, this 
liberality is jumped at by some of the shooters, some of whom are 
heard to confess that there musf be something wrong with the 
powder if such advertisement is wanted by the manufacturers of it. 
The obvious reply to that would be that, if the pigeon shooters 
really thought there was anything wrong in the powder they would 
be the last to use a bad article when shooting for prizes. That, 
however, is of the character of the all too obvious— too apparent not 
to have a weak place in it. No two powders made differ so much 
as to double or halve the chances of the shooters; yet some of the 
powder makers double the former's chances for them by the simple 
process of doubling the prize money when a particular powder is 
used. As the above remarks were written in May, 1898, there may 
have been a change for the better since. 
But it is obvious that the worst powder in the market could soon 
obtain the best advertisement on such lines as these, because, as 
most of the events are handicaps, the worse the powder a man 
habitually shoots with, the nearer he will be put to the traps, and 
whether he shoots at 24yds. or 33yds., he claims the double prize 
on the assumption that he has influenced the public judgment by 
shooting with a particular gun powder. We have an opinion that 
the powder maker is making a mistake in that he does not credit 
shooting men with common intelligence, and he is misinformed in 
thinking that the average game shooter is a big fool. 
For our part, we thought it wise to drop reports in Land and 
Water of pigeon shooting at Hurlingham, and the Gun Club years 
ago, when most men first discovered that they preferred not to 
shoot in their own names. [We are pleased to see that assumed 
names are now gradually dropping out again.] Of course, we make 
exception of the international week, which has always attracted a 
large number of shooters who arc- careless, who know what they 
do. If anything connected with pigeon shooting would point to 
the makers 6f the best guns and the best powders, the international 
week would do it, provided gun makers and powder makers would 
leave shooters alone to choose the guns and powders they prefer. 
As a matter of fact, this is not done, and if a man is a particu- 
larly good shot he will probably obtain both his cartridges 
and his guns for nothing, and pay the gun maker and powder 
maker with no thanks and less money for providing them. If there 
are game shots who do not know all this, we think that the time 
has arrived when they should do so, for it appears to us that a 
sport has gone very far indeed in the wrong direction when most 
of the best horses are nobbled and the rest are not worth getting 
at. There is clearly nothing dishonest in the nobbled, nor in the 
nobblers; nevertheless, it hardly accords with British ideas of 
sport when men willingly handicap themselves in order to double 
their winnings. It savors slightly of professionalism. It is quite 
as unsportsmanlike as pulling a horse, and the only difference, as 
it seems to us, is that it is not dishonest. We cannot understand 
why it has been countenanced at the clubs, for assuredly their 
members can do without these doubled prizes. 
To the game shooter the records of pigeon shooting as now car- 
ried on, can be of no possible value unless he can tell what passes 
behind the scenes. If he happen to be a crack pigeon shooter 
himself, he may have discovered that all the possible winnings are 
not publicly advertised, and when once this is discovered, he will 
pay very little attention to the records and the prizes won as to 
what powder or cartridges or guns are used, and will not settle 
his own practice in imitation of pigeon shooters. 
Another thing he should know is that the very men who shoot 
with a particular powder at pigeons frequently use something else 
at game. 
We never thought that it was much of an advertisement for 
either gun or powder makers when the winners had a six or eight 
yards' allowance, as frequently happens in the handicap shooting, 
and when, in addition to shooting at distance at which it is no 
credit to kill, the competitors are bribed to use a particular kind of 
powder that they would not otherwise use, it only has to be pub- 
licly known to be regarded as a very costly method of advertising 
a bad or moderate performance. 
We do not wish our remarks to be applied to pigeon shooting 
in the past, for it is only very lately that the objectionable practice 
of converting Hurlingham and the Gun Club into a powder makers' 
advertisement, has grown up, and we would suggest to those con- 
cerned that unless they wish to kill the credit of pigeon shooting 
altogether and "blow upon" their productions, it would be wise 
to allow all the competitors to revert to their own normal state of 
free choice. 
Be that as it may, we are sure that the present system cannot go 
on for very long. First of all, pigeon shooting, in the partial ab- 
sence of shooters' names, is of no interest whatever to the public, 
except as a competition between gun makers and powder makers, 
and we would ask whether, when the results are, like Dickon, of 
Jockey of Norfolk fame, both bought and sold, by doubling prizes, 
the press can long go on publishing the records. It is, in fact, 
the press that is the worst evildoer in the matter. Without it the 
abuse would not exist, for the advertisement would not be worth 
paying for without it was reported. The records of pigeon shoot- 
ing have by process of time become a mechanical record, without 
any attempt at real explanation or analysis. If. they were accom- 
panied by the information as to the reasons, well known upon the 
ground, for using the powders and the guns of makers, we should 
have nothing to say, but at the present moment they are abso- 
lutely misleading as free advertisement, and as records of sport 
they do not exist; that is, some of the competitors take the great- 
est care that their names shall not appear in print. How the 
capital sportsmen who manage these things can have allowed such 
practices to grow up in the fashionable clubs we cannot say; but 
can only assume that the growth has been too slow and too grad- 
ual to startle them into observing to what it tends. As these com- 
petitions take place at private clubs, it would be easy to stop all 
publication of the results. That would be far preferable to the use 
of assumed names. The use of the latter, coupled with the culti- 
vation of reporting in the press, is at first sight inexplicaii e, but 
as a good many members are interested in the gun trade— and 
some are, we believe, proprietors of gun businesses— it becomes 
easier to understand why publicity should be cultivated for the 
guns and the powders used, and why the personal element should 
observe that modesty that is only equaled and rarely exceeded by 
the alias-lovers generally. 
We have nothing whatever to say against pigeon shooting as 
such, and against pigeon shooting as it is carried on we could not 
say half as much as some shooters themselves say when they shoot 
under assumed names. If anybody should know whether it is 
worthy to associate their names with, it is they themselves. In 
making this observation we do not for a moment hint at anything 
that we have not said. The worst charge that can be brought 
against it is that it is professional, or at the very least that it is 
conducted on the principle of the makers' amateur by many of 
the shooters. We have nothing to say against the maker; nothing 
again the makers' amateur; but we have a good deal to say about 
publishing the records as guides to sportsmen without observing 
as to how they are got, when it is well Known on the ground that 
men do not shoot with that which they like best, but with that 
which it pays best to use. 
[vo m conarnaj . 
