January, 1922 
FOREST AND STREAM 
29 
places and woods of deciduous trees and 
go to the thick evergreen growths of 
spruce, fir, pine, cedar and hemlock, with 
a sprinkling of ash, birch, beech, maple 
and dogwood. The evergreen trees also 
furnish in winter the oleaginous foods 
which are the heat producers, and of 
which the ruffed grouse are very fond. 
Perhaps, when we think more about 
this subject of the woods in relation to 
game, fur as well as feather, we will see 
the necessity of the encouragement of 
the growth of the evergreens, and we 
might also discourage their destruction 
by the demand of Christmas for these 
trees. The desire could, doubtless, be 
met by an artificial product, which, after 
a season of custom, would be just as 
satisfying. We would, no doubt, find 
some objection to the movement for the 
discouragement of the use of the natural 
trees, but it might be well for us to be 
reminded that there were also those who 
objected to a “sane and safe” Fourth of 
July. Were we thereby made any the 
less loyal ? Perhaps the more reasonable 
we are, the better citizen we will make. 
When we feel that we are able to spare 
a few minutes to a subject that concerns 
and interests us all, we may see that, 
after all is said about the destruction of 
game, the thick evergreen forests are the 
only protector against the cold sleets, as 
well as against the hunter, hunger, and 
rapacious birds. Let us ask ourselves 
what would become of the ruffed grouse 
were he forced to spend the winter in the 
park of one of our great cities, with its 
growth of deciduous trees, standing with 
bare limbs, like the spars of the bank 
fleet in the harbor for the holidays, al- 
lowing the wind to drive through with- 
out any resistance whatsoever. Watch 
for a day when the high winds with its 
cold blasts from the north, and the ther- 
mometer registering ten or twenty, or 
even more than thirty degrees below 
zero, and let us take a walk through such 
a wood. Then, and only then, will we be 
able to realize what a thick growth of 
evergreen trees means in such a time. 
We will then begin to think about all 
animals and what we can do for their 
comfort and preservation. Let us not 
live with that primitive spirit of cruelty 
and destruction. Let us feel that other 
animals are our companions and have an 
equal right to be here. 
Burton Boyd Bowser, Canada. 
QUAIL IN TEXAS 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
'^HE quail is of great value on the 
* farm, as all know, but the quail has 
been on the decrease for the last twenty 
years here in the Pan Handle. There are 
several reasons — one is because of our 
severe hailstorms and another is the in- 
crease of hunters — but the main reason 
is because of snakes and hawks. The 
hawks destroy more quail than all other 
vermin combined. 
According to my observation, in 1919 
there were a lot of quail during the sum- 
mer, but when the hunting season opened 
there were 'few to be found. When one 
was found under a bunch of plum bushes. 
there would be two or more hawks on top 
of the bushes waiting for it to stir. 
Hawks have been increasing all the 
time, especially the ring-tail prairie kinds, 
thfe blue and the red. The farmer should 
protect the quail by killing all the hawks 
he can and by planting cover for the 
birds, always leaving as many as thirty 
pairs for stocking the place next year. 
There should be a bounty paid for almost 
all the hawk family, and especially the 
two prairie kind. It should be at least 
two dollars. Then it would not be very 
long before they would be like the buf- 
falo — all gone — and our quail would have 
a chance. D. S. Bruce, Texas. 
THE HUNTER’S TARGET 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
R eferring to Page 455 of the Octo- 
ber number and the article by Major 
John Considine, I would like to point out 
a much simpler and easier method of ar- 
riving at the same target which he recom- 
mends. There can be no doubt as to 
the correctness of his ideas, either for 
target or game-shooting. 
Target used in Canadian Service 
The method we employ in Target prac- 
tice in the Canadian Service is one which 
will work equally well for the hunter and 
consists simply of cutting the black bulls- 
eye in half, leaving the lower half white. 
You aim at the line half way down the 
bulls-eye and have a straight line which 
the eye will quite naturally bisect as the 
middle of the group. 
We find that new men will make good 
scores immediately and a rifle so ad- 
justed will be correctly adjusted for the 
woods. 
This would remove any objection tO' 
the sighting of military rifles for hunting 
purposes. 
Major N. C. Sherman, Canada. 
SIGHTING FOR GAME 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
T he article on “A New Target for the 
Hunter” in your October number, by 
Major John A. Considine, is illuminating, 
but I fancy that there is no real substi- 
tute for game shooting. I have been a 
hunter all my life and at times have done 
some fair shooting. 
Mountaineers, with eyes keen for game 
in the woods and elsewhere in natural 
conditions, have an enormous advantage 
over the city man. Their quick recogni- 
tion of an animal as differentiated from 
surrounding objects is marvelous. A 
deer will stand looking at a city man at 
fifty yards as he approaches in plain 
view and all he will see is his disappear- 
ing jump and the flash of his flag. 
As to sighting a rifle for individual 
use, that is a serious problem. My own 
experience is that for shots inside of 
sixty or seventy yards — the kind we so 
often miss — our rifles are invariably 
sighted too fine. 
I had a wonderful rifle once — ruined 
by cutting down the barrel — which I 
sighted in this way; Ivory hunting front 
sight cut down to medium size; flat bar 
with centre marked on the barrel. 
I shot it in this way until I knew that 
when the bottom of the bead touched the 
bar and the top of the bead was on the 
target the aim was correct. 
That was all right for target shooting, 
but I found myself shooting over on 
game. I lost plenty of shots. Then I cut 
a V in the barrel sight one-eighth inch 
deep. This exposed the whole front 
sight, but the flat ends of the barrel sight 
when in alignment with the bottom of the 
bead gave a perfect gauge. I have killed 
grouse flying at thirty yards, flushed 
when the butt of the gun was on the 
ground and the safety “on,” and I natu- 
rally had perfect confidence in my gun. 
I believe it is the best possible running 
sight and quite as accurate as if it were 
finer. 
It should be manufactured thus: A 
straight bar fixed in place to be adjusted 
by the owner ; back of this a folding leaf 
for 100 yards and another for 200 yards, 
or as Required. For focusing to the eye 
it might slide forward or backward over 
three inches. A Lyman or Marble peep 
sight may be used on the tang. 
When you realize that with a pump- 
gun with no rear sight at all, using ball 
cartridges, a good man may hit a 3-inch 
bull’s-eye at forty yards all the time ; and 
with bow and arrow, the arrow being 
drawn to the ear, thus giving no line of 
sight at all, excellent results may be at- 
tained, it must be clear that there is much 
nonsense in all the talk about sighting 
rifles for game. The error is all in the 
leaning toward fineness as adapted to 
target practice. The successful shot is 
generally made in spite of the sighting. 
A very important factor is the distance 
from the eye to the barrel sight, which 
should be at the point of focus of the in- 
dividual eye and varies from three to 
five inches. For older men this is of 
greatest importance. Therefore an axial 
adjustment should be possible. 
A crack shot in the .'\dirondacks whom 
I knew had taken the ba.se of an old 
model Lyman peep sight, reversed it and 
screwed it on his Savage .303 so that the 
V-shaped space in the post holding the 
peep came in line with the front sight. 
Through this he saw the whole front 
sight with the bead at the top. 1 killed 
one deer witli this gun and found the 
sight perfect for quick shooting. 
A sight like this might serve just as 
