Nov. 29, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
439 
Fourth Tuesday of each month. Hell Gate Gun Club's shoot at 
Cutwater's Riverside grounds, Paterson Plank Road, Carlstadt, 
N. J. _ 
Second Friday of each month (January and July excepted), shoot 
of Hell Gate Annex, at Dexter Park, Brooklyn. 
Saturdays, Brooklyn Gun . Club's shoot, Enfield street, near 
'Libert}' avenue, Brooklyn. Visitors welcome. 
Saturdays, Newark, N. J., South Side Gun Club's shoots, South 
Broad street, near Lehigh Valley coal depot. 
Saturdays, Cutwater's grounds, Carlstadt, N. J., live bird han- 
dicaps. 
Interstate Park, pueens, L. I. — Two miles beyond Jamaica, on 
L. I. R. R. Trains direct to grounds. Completely appointed 
shooting grounds always ready for matches, club shoots or private 
practice. 
DRIVERS AND TWISTERS. 
Club secretaries are invited to send their scores for 
publication in these column^j also any news notes they 
may care to have published. Mail all such matter to 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 346 Broadway, 
New York. Forest and Stream gOes to press on Tues- 
day OF EACH WEEK. 
The open season this year seems to be one of exceptional interest 
to the devotees of the shotgun, if their absence from the traps is a 
true criterion by which to judge. About New York, excepting the 
Mght shoots held by the regular clubs, there is no activity in shoot- 
ing matters. However, after the holiday season, there will be a 
revive .Of interest and action, 
After a long trip througii the western part of Canada, in which 
Capt. A. W. du Bray visited Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and 
other leading cities of that great game region, he is now journeying 
homeward to Cincinnati. We fancy that Capt. du Bray could 
relate some shooting experiences incident to his trip which would 
be of public interest. 
The annual meeting of the Interstate Association will be held on 
Dec. II, and clubs which desire the good offices of that Association 
in the matter of a tournament should set forth their wishes in a let- 
ter to the manager, Mr. Elmer E. Shaner, who officially mentions 
the matter this week in our trap columns. 
The third and decisive win of the Crescent Athletic Club's 
November cup was scored last Saturday by Mr. H. B. Vander\''eer, 
at the club's shoot at Bay Ridge. This win was the third successive 
ione for him this month. 
Mr. A. W. Baldwin informs us that the Mountainside Gun Club, 
of West Orange, N. J., will hold an open prize shoot on the Valley 
Road grounds, on Thanksgiving Day at 1:30 P. M. Turkeys and 
other prizes will be offered in the various events. 
The offices of the Hazard Powder Co., in New York, were re- 
moved on Nov. 22 to the Engineering Building, 1 14-118 Liberty 
street. The Eastern agents are Messrs. John L. Lequin and E. S. 
Lentilhon. 
There is a team race fixed to take place on Tuesday of this week 
between Cincinnati and Mechanicsburg (Ohio) teams, at the latter 
city, for the Phellis trophy. 
The Passing: of Awthofities* 
In a recent issue we published some extracts from "Hawker on 
Shooting," the title page of which bears the date of 1838. Lieut.- 
Col. P. Hawker was a marvel of an authority in his day, the strong- 
est point to sustain him being the force of his conviction. We have 
received so many communications expressing interest on this sub- 
ject that we feel sure some more extracts from the writings of the 
redoubtable Peter Hawker would have more than a passing interest. 
The following excerpts are taken from his work aforementioned, 
and however erroneous they may be concerning ballistics, they are 
very sound as to the matter of the dangers of careless gun handling, 
as follows: 
I shall leave the following directions, as they originally stood, for 
flint guns, repeating my observation that with detonators the young 
sportsman has only to make half the allowance at crossing objects, 
etc. 
Let every one who begins shooting take warning from the many 
serious misfortunes that have, alas! too often occurred, and start 
with the determination of never suffering a gun at any time to be 
held for a moment, or even carried, so as to re likely to come in 
the direction of either man or beast. One who strictly abides by 
this golden rule would be less liable to accidents, even if he went 
from his door with 50th barrels cocked, than he who neglected it for 
a few frivolovis maxims. 
Although we are not all blessed with such nerves as to aspire to 
being first-rate shots, yet I have ho doubt but almost every man 
may be taught to shoot tolerably well; and indeed the art has of late 
been so much improved that, although but little more than half a 
century ago one who shot flying was viewed with wonder, we now 
frequently meet with schoolboys who can bring down their game 
with the greatest dexterity. 
Most men who can in a slow, bungling manner kill more birds 
than they miss, or now and then shoot brilliantly, have the name of 
being "excellent shots"; and as this character has an opening for 
scandal, the world is too happy to indulge them with a circulation 
of it, while others who have real skill are laughing in their sleeves, 
and have real sense to conceal it. 
But (to be brief, which is here my study) allow me to suggest an 
htmible attempt fof- the instruction of the complete novice. First, 
let him take a gun that he can manage, and be shown how to put it 
to his shoulder, with the breech and sight on a level, and make him- 
self master of bringing them up to a wafer. 
Then (with a wooden or bone driver, instead of a flint or any- 
thing to protect his lock from the concussion of iron versus iron, if 
a detonator), let him practice at this mark, and when he thinks he 
can draw his trigger without iiinching, he may present the gun to 
your right eye, by which you will see at once if he is master of his 
first lesson. In doing this, he must remember that the moment the 
gun is brought tip to the center of the object, the trigger should be 
pulled, as the first sight is always unquestionably the best. 
Then send him out to practice at a card with powder, till he has 
got steady, and afterward load his gun occasionally with shot, but 
never let the time of j'our making this addition be known to him, 
and the idea of it being perhaps impossible to strike his object, 
will reniove all anxiety, and he will soon become perfectly collected. 
The intermediate lesson of a few shots, at small birds, may be 
given; but tliis plan throughout must be adopted at game, and con- 
tinued in tlie first instance till the pupil has quite divested himself 
of all tremor at tlie springing of a covey, and observed in the last 
till most of his charges of shot have proved fatal to the birds. If 
he begins wth both eyes open he will save himself the trouble of 
learning to shoot so afterward. An aim tnus, from the right 
shoulder comes to tlie same point as one taken with the left eye 
shut, and it is the most ready method of shooting quick. 
Being careful to remind him (as a beginner) to keep his gun 
moving, as follows: Before an object, crossing; full high for a bird 
rising up, or flying away very low; and between the ears of hares 
ind rabbits, running straight away; all this of course in proportion 
to the distance; and if we consider the velocity with which a bird 
flies, we shall rarely err by firing, when at forty yards, at least five 
■>x six inches before it. (As the barrels of double guns usually shoot 
little inward at long distances, there is so far a preference in 
favor of the right barrel for an object crossing to the left, and vice 
k-ersa, that if we were beating along the side of a hedge, it would 
3e best to keep the barrel next to it in a state of preparation.) Till 
he pupil is au fait in all this, he will find great assistance from the 
light, which he should have precisely on the intended point, when 
le fires. He will tlius, by degrees, attain the art of killing his game 
n good style, which is to fix his eyes on the object, and fire the 
uoment he has brought up the gun. He may then, ultimately, ac- 
luire the knack of killing snap shots, and bring down a November 
jird the moment it tops the stubble, or a rabbit popping in a furze 
.irake, with more certainty than he was once used to shoot a young 
grouse in August, or a partridge in September. 
Many begin with very quick shooting, and kill admirably well; 
ut are often apt not to let their birds fly before they put up tlieir 
runs, and therefore dreadfully mangle them, and I have observed, 
ire not such every day shots as those who attain their rapid execu- 
lon on 3 slow and good principle. 
Gaffield Gun Clwb. 
Under date of Nov. 17, the Garfield Gun Club, through its sec- 
retary, Dr. J. W. Meek, has issued the following circular noticer 
"ihe postponed .semi-annual meeting of the chib will be held at 
Uie office of the secretary, 182 Park avenue, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 
a „'„i 1. n :vr r^^^ ^j^ii^ j^^g^ closed a most successful 
at 8 o'clock P. M. 
season of twenty-one shoots as per inclosed statement. Owing to 
the recently passed city ordinance, there will be no pigeon shooting 
on our grounds this winter. There will be no more target shooting 
on our grounds until next May, except by special notice." 
SEASON. 
1ST SERIES. 
3D SERIES. 
3D SERIES. 
V^r V Northcott. 
J S Boa.... 
O Von Lengerke 
C P Richards 
A Ilellraan 
Dr J W Meek 
Dr S Shaw 
A Marshall 
A E Midsley 
T P Hicks 
T W Eaton 
A D Dorman 
W H Baker 
N H Ford 
J E Dafter 
Dr J A Huff 
J D Pollard 
T L Smedes 
P McGowan 
L Thomas 
T T Fanning 
Dr T T Liddy 
W T Johnson 
W A Jones 
Dr A A Mathews 
A W Fehrman 
J McDonald 
F I Cooper , 
G W Drinkwater 
F H Wolf 
S E Young 
S Palmer 
F G Barnard 
R S Leete 
A McGowan 
Ed Eaton 
Thos Jones 
C T Keck 
F S Baird 
J C Kissack 
M G Eldred 
Mrs Dr Shaw 
W^m Brown 
Dr C H Graves 
Jas Gardiner 
M Lowry 
L D Price 
C J Wolff 
T Monighan 
M F Wilson 
W A Stuchlick 
R H Trail 
Dr W S Royce. 
C H Kehl 
M R Bortree 
E B Ellicott 
L Wolf 
Townsend Smith 
T H Haggerty 
Geo E Adams ......... 
C W Stiger 
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Trophies awarded during the season: 
First Series— Dr. J. W. Meek, Class A; T. W. Eaton, Class A; 
A. D. Dorman, Class A; Dr. J. Huff, Class B; J. McDonald, Class 
Second Series— A. Hellman, Class A; G. W. Drinkwater, Class B; 
C. H. Kehl, Class C. 
„ Third Series— L, Thomgs, Class A; J. McDonald, Class B; M. T. 
Wilson, Class C. 
Targets during the season, 27,322; targets broken during the sea- 
son, 18,618; club average, .6810; Targets thrown during season in 
trophy shoots, 8,857; targets broken during season in trophy shoots. 
6, 120; club average, .6932. 
Club averages: 1893, .7138; 1894, .7129; 189S. .7131; 1896, 
'6805 ' ^9°^' 
Others potter on in the old way all their lives, and offer to shoot 
with any man in England, because they can cock an eye and kill 
twenty slow shots running! Such adagio sportsmen take care never 
to fire random shots, as they call all, that are the least intercepted or 
confined to time; but usually point, and then take down their guns— 
a practice that is seldom admissible. Such is my opinion of a slow, 
poking shot, that I would rather see a man miss in good than kill 
in bad style. For instance, if I saw one man spring a covev of 
birds close to his feet and keep aiming at one till the covey "had 
flown thirty or forty yards, and even bring down his bird dead, and 
another man miss both barrels within the same distance, I .should 
say perhaps the latter, if in good nerve, may be a good shot, but I 
was quite sure that the former never could be one, because he was a 
hundred years behindhand in the art of using a gun. I know many 
old pokers who would feel sore at this assertion; 'but this I cannot 
help; It is my humble opinion, and therefore I have a right to 
give it. 
There are few of my young readers, I dare say that have not at 
some time or other met with a man who, wishing to show off his 
shooting, has never fired but when he was pretty sure of killing, 
and whose pride was to be able to boast after dinner, that he had 
bagged so many birds without having missed a shot the whole morn- 
ing. But before we give tliis person credit for the name to which 
he aspires, let us ask him whether in so doing he brought home as 
much game as he ought to do ? Or whether, in order to bag a dozen 
head of game without missing, he has not refused at least twenty 
shots in covert, etc., and, taking all chances, about eight or ten of 
which ought to have been killed ? It is generally the mistaken idea 
of those who are no judges of shooting, that if a man kills a certain 
number of times without missing, he is to be put down as a first-rate 
shot; and that another person, because he has been seen to miss, is 
to be considered as his inferior. 
For example, the one man goes out and springs birds enough to 
fire fifty times within forty yards, and perhaps, being a reputation 
shooter, only twenty of these shots happen to suit his fancy. He 
never fires a second liarrel unless the birds rise one at a time, or a 
covey happens to spring from under his feet; and in short, he kills 
his twenty birds in twenty shots. The other man takes the whole of 
the fifty shots, many of which may be very difficult ones, and under 
extreme disadvantages; he kills thirty-five and misses fifteen. A 
fair sportsman and really good judge, I conceive, would not hesi- 
tate to say that the latter has claim to be considered the better shot 
of the two. 
We will then bring a first-rate shot into the field, and he shall 
kill forty-five out of the fifty (never failing of course to work both 
his barrels on every fair occasion) ; he will then have missed five 
times; and would any old sportsman judge so unfairly as to place 
before him the never-miss gentleman with his twenty trap shots 
running? 
For my part, I should not, even if he missed an open shot or two 
within five yards of his nose; because such a cii-cumstancc might 
arise from his being nervous, or an accident, when the other, if put 
to the difficulties that he had been doing, would acquit himself no 
better than an old woman. 
If such a person, therefore, has a pride about him. and v/islies to 
be thought a great shot, let him throw aside his double barrel, and 
under the plea of having only one charge to depend on, he may 
come off with great eclat among the average of shooters. 
With regard to_ the distance which constitutes a fair shot, there is 
no speaking precisely; but, as far as such things can be brought to 
paper, and guns to an average, I should say that, provided a gun is 
held straight, a bird should scarcely ever escape at' f ortv yards; and 
that that is the outside of point-blank range, although at fiftv vards 
the chances are three to one in favor of killing, with a good aim; 
but as a gun never shoots twice alike, a bird at this distance may 
.sometimes be struck with three or four shot, and at others may 
escape through an interval, though the piece be never so well 
directed. But if a pellet should take a bird in a vital part, or the 
wing, at seventy or even eighty yards, it would probably come 
down, though the odds (at such distances) are of course against 
your hitting it at all. Birds flying straight away or coming to vou 
require a much harder blow than those crossing or living directly 
over your head; by reason that, in the first instance, they are partly 
.shielded by the rump, and in the second, the featliers are apt, at 
long distances, to glance the shot. 
Under these circumstances a man must either pick his shots or 
occasionally miss, though his gun be every time held straight. I 
may venture to say there is no sportsman living who has not been 
known to miss the fairest of shots; and there are very few but 
now and then in a season will shoot badly for a whole day. It 
stands to reason when the most skillful may become for a time un- 
nerved for shooting, by ill-health, oppression of mind, one night's 
debauch, or anything that will operate on the temper or nerves. 
Une who vexes himself about missing a fair shot is the less likely 
to support himself at all times as a first-rate performer, because that 
vexation alone might be the very means of his missing other shots, 
and therefore he could not be so much depended on as another man 
who bore the disappointment with good humor. When a good shot 
misses from Iseing nervous, it generally occurs through his left hand 
dropping as he pulls the trigger; and, if it happens that his gun 
should miss fire, he will immediately detect tliis by seeing that the 
muzzle has fallen below the line of aim. The best way to remedy 
this IS to make a firm resolution to fire full high, and firmly grasp 
tne stock for a few shots; and as soon as a few birds have fallen 
handsomely he will, most likely, recover his nerves and his shoot- 
ing. 1 have luckily felt just enough of this annoyance to enable me 
to prescribe a little remedy for it; as I well know the unpleasant 
teeJmgs of a shooting sportsman when deprived of his usual skill 
—he becomes like one with gout, love, or seasickness— cruelly tor- 
mented and laughed at into the bargain; 
_ When two persons are shooting together, there cannot be a more 
simple way of avoiding confusion than for each man, when a covey 
rises, to select the outer birds on his own side. Let all birds that 
cross belong exclusively to that shooter for whose side their heads 
are pointed; and let all single birds that may rise and go away fair 
for either person, be taken alternately, and left entirely for the two 
barrels of the shooter to whom they belong. By this means there is 
no wiping of noses!" as they call it; no "blazing a volley into the 
brown of em! or, in other words, no jealousy; no unfair work- 
and two sportsmen may thus shoot coolly together with good nerves 
and m good friendship, instead of with jealousy and greediness, 
which not only destroys all pleasure, but soon lessens their good 
shooting, if not their good fellowship. I adopted these regulations 
for three seasons, with one of the best shots that ever went into a 
field; and our diversion by this means invariably went on so pleas- 
antly that we shot with additional confidence when in each other's 
company. Ihe gentleman alluded to was my lamented friend, the 
late John Ponton, Esq., of Udders House, Dorset. 
Taking the average of shooting companions, however (except to 
beat a double hedge-row, or divide what could not be seen on both 
sides), I should pardon any old sportsman for saying that he would 
rather have their room than their company. 
For one who professees himself an adept with a double gun, it is 
expected that he will kill a bird wnth each barrel, almost every time 
the covey rises within fair distance; unless impeded by the smoke of 
his first barrel or other obstacles, which he should endeavor to avoid 
Ihe usual method is to take down the gun, and present it afresh 
after the first shot; but as I have seen fourteen successive double 
shots killed the other way, I venture to recommend it as being 
more expeditious. It is never to take the gun from the shoulder 
till both barrels are fired, by which means so little time is taken 
between the two shots that the first, as well as the second, bird mav 
be suffered to fly to a proper distance; and let those who are not 
to be trusted with both barrels cocked, get the gravitating stops 
or use a single gun. 
Since publishing the first edition of this work, I have seen on the 
plan here recommended fifteen double shots at partridges fairly 
killed m succession, provided I may be allowed to include one of the 
number which towered and fell at so great a distance that it was 
never bagged. It is of course not meant to include among these 
doublets such birds as were sprung by the report of one barrel and 
killed with the other. Shots of this kind certainly intervene'd as 
well as single ones at different sorts of game. The number alto- 
gether kiMed by the same person in about five days amounted to 
sixty head, without one miss. 
As a further proof of the quickness with which two barrels may 
be correctly fired, provided the gun is kept to the shoulder, T shall 
mention an instance: John Ford, game-keeper to the Earl of 
Portsmouth, and a man about six feet six, laid his gun on the 
ground, of course with both barrels cocked; and after throwin"- off 
two p'jnny pieces himself, he took up his gun and hit them both 
most handsomely, before either fell to the ground. He requested 
me to try with his gun if I -could do the same. At first I failed 
for want of being what we used to call at Eton a good "shy" but 
after Ford had given me a few lessons in the throwing department 
I did It the first time (though, perhaps, more by luck than skill)' 
putting five shot m one and six in the other, which led me to con- 
clude that, by practice, this might be reduced to about the same 
