418 
FOREST AND STREA:\I 
August, 1919 
THE RIFLE FOR CROWS 
HE WHO WOULD SUCCESSFULLY HUNT THIS WARY BIRD WITH A 
RIFLE MUST HAVE ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A MASTER SNIPER 
By CAPTAIN ROY S. TINNEY, Associate Editor of FOREST AND STREIAM 
BOOKS 
For Traveler and 
Nature Lover 
ALONE IN THE CARIBBEAN 
By Frederick A. Fenger 
A most daring journey through the Lesser Antilles 
in a tiny sailing canoe. Thrilling adventure, fasci- 
nating description- — a book for traveler and adven- 
ture lover. 12nio. Net, $2.00 
UNDERSTANDING 
SOUTH AIVIERICA 
By Clayton Sedgwick Cooper 
The one all-round guide and reference book for 
traveler, business man and student, a veritable 
encyclopedia of information about the South Amer- 
ican Continent and its people. 12mo. Net, $2.00 
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 
By Mathilde Edith Holtz and 
Katherine Isabel Bemis 
The one authoritative guide-book to this new 
Rocky Mountain wonderland. Illustrated with 
many photographs. Delightful reading for stay-at- 
homes, indispensable for tourists. Svo. Net, $2.00 
SAMURAI TRAILS 
By Lucian Swift Kirtland 
A Story of a walking tour along the unfrequented 
by ways of Japan, where few foreigners ever pene- 
trate. Surprisingly original and entertaining. 
Illustrated. 12mo. Net, $2.50 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR 
By Annie S. Peck 
A thoroughly comprehensive, up-to-date guide 
book; complete information as to hotels, railways, 
restaurants — in fact, everything a tourist needs to 
know. 12mo. Net, $3.00 
THE AMATEUR VAGABOND 
John and Robert Matter 
A most unconventional and amazingly venture- 
some journey around the world, with empty 
pockets and a high heart. 12mo. Net, $1.50 
A LOITERER IN NEW YORK 
By Helen W. Henderson 
A charming, exquisitely conceived book of the ro- 
mance of Manhattan, her arts and treasures, her 
forgotten and unsuspected beauties, from the soul 
and pen of an artist. Fully Ulus. 4to. Net, $4.00 
HISTORIC SHRINES of AMERICA 
By John T. Faris 
This admirable and beautiful book visualizes for 
the itinerant lover of America, her story in states- 
manship, in war and in history, and gives the 
reader an increased knowledge of the romantic 
springs of our liberty and our national culture. 
« Fully Ulus. Svo. Net, $3.00 
MORE WANDERINGS IN LONDON 
By E. V, Lucas 
The traveler of today who requires an up-to-date 
guide to wandering will find it here, set down de- 
lightfully by a most distinguished and informing 
wanderer, who revisits London— a London all but 
made over by the rapid movement of the 20th Cen- 
tury. Fully Ulus. 12mo. Net, $2.00 
FOREST & STREAM (Book Department) 
9 East 40th St. New York, N. Y. 
UNTING crows with 
a rifle is the most dif- 
ficult form of shoot- 
ing extant. It is a 
sporting proposition 
plus, that calls for 
the maximum of ac- 
curacy in both arm 
and ammunition, the 
finest of sights, an 
ability to hold like 
a machine rest, and 
a thorough k n o w 1- 
edge of the exterior ballistics of the 
weapon used. The man who successfully 
hunts crows with a rifle is a master 
sniper, a skilled stalker and possessed 
of the patience of Job. 
Here are the conditions: 
1. Accuracy. — The vital spot on a 
crow is represented by a circle two inches 
in diameter, and any man who hits a 
two-inch objective at any range over one 
hundred yards, does so as a matter of 
luck, not good holding. Only the very 
finest of rifles will make a two-inch group 
at one hundred yards when fired from 
a machine rest. The men who can con- 
sistently keep all their shots in a four- 
inch circle at that distance are few, even 
on the target range. And to consistently 
place all your shots inside a six-inch 
circle at one hundred yards, under hunt- 
ing conditions, calls for a degree of skill 
possessed by few riflemen. 
2. Sights. — A crow never offers a 
clear, well-defined aiming point, except 
when he is silhouetted against the sky- 
line, and for that reason a telescope sight 
is necessary to obtain what riflemen call 
“defination” as it overcomes the blur- 
ing effects and optical illusions caused by 
shadows and bad light. And best of all, 
the ’scope sight betrays every slight 
tremor of the barrel; when you can keep 
the cross-hairs steady you are holding 
like a rock. 
3. Trajectory. — On paper, the problem 
works out this way; as the killing space 
is two inches in diameter we should use 
ammunition having the necessary degree 
of accuracy at one hundred yards to keep 
within that area, and a trajectory of 
not more than two inches. This is true 
in both theory and practice and such 
cartridges at the 25/35, the .256 and the 
.22 hi-power are all good medicine, but 
it is not safe to shoot such ammunition 
in the populated districts where crows 
abound, as the bullet after perforating, 
or more often passing the said crow, goes 
on a mile or so beyond its objective and 
causes some “innocent bystander” to play 
leading man at a coroner’s inquest. 
4. The Safe Cartridge. — The 22/5/40, 
commonly known as the “long rifle” cart- 
ridge, possesses the necessary range, 
power and accuracy to do the work, an 
ideal form of ammunition, except in the 
matter of trajectory, and that difficulty 
Is easily overcome. 
5. The Continuous Danger Zone. — The 
trajectory of the 22/5/40 at fifty yards 
is \V 2 . inches and up to that range get- 
ting the crow is simply a matter of good 
holding, when shooting parallel with the 
surface of the earth. When firing up 
into a tree at an angle of from 30 to 50 
degrees the trajectory curve does not 
exceed two inches up to 70 or 80 yards, 
and the bullet will hit where you hold, 
with the fifty-yard sight setting. Many 
of the old timers carefully “zero” their 
rifles for 75 yards, when firing horizont- 
ally, and this means that any crow shot 
at from ground to tree is their meat up 
to 100 yards, if the rifle is held right. 
Never for a moment forget that super- 
accurate holding is the “alpha and 
omega” of crow hunting with a rifle. 
At 100 yards the trajectory is five 
inches, which means that the bullet is 
never more than fhat distance above 
the line of sight. For extreme range 
shooting, “zero” the rifle at 100 yards 
and hold low for birds fifty yards away. 
At 25 and 75 yards the trajectory error 
is not worth considering, in fact if you 
hold where you want to hit at all times 
you are reasonably certain of getting 
your bird. From ground to tree this 
sight setting will be effective up to 150 
yards, a range well beyond the capacity 
of either man or weapon to intentionally 
or semi-consistently hit the two-inch vital 
zone. 
6. Measure of Skill Required. — Take 
the Standard Small Bore Match Target 
prescribed by the National Rifle Associa- 
tion, 2-inch ten-ring, 4-inch nine-ring, 
and 6-inch eight-ring, all blackened for 
a sighting bull ; back off a hundred yards, 
actual tape measurement, drop into your 
favorite position in your own peculiar 
way and “sight in.” If you can put up 
a score of 96, or better, out of a hundred 
possible points, for ten consecutive shots, 
with all your shots inside the 4-inch 
nine-ring, you can hit crows, otherwise 
not. It is useless to attempt hunting 
until you have attained this degree of 
skill on the paper target. Some folks 
don’t like paper targets because they tell 
the truth regarding a man’s ability to 
place his shots; let the bang-bangs who 
slaughter tin cans at thirty feet sniff at 
“target shootin’ ” and brag of exploits 
physically impossible, it is all they can 
do, they can’t shoot or they would not be 
satisfied with the tin can performance. 
7. The Rifle. — Use a heavy single-shot 
target rifle, one weighing eight to nine 
pounds, the repeating arms are to light 
to permit of the close holding required 
and as one shot is all you will get, the 
repeating mechanism simply becomes a 
cartridge box. The telescope sight and 
a webb sling are important, almost vital 
aids to accuracy i:. the hands of a man 
trained to use them. Be careful to cam- 
ouflage in the matter of clothing, Brer 
Crow is keen of vision; stalk carefully 
and intelligently; hunt patiently and per- 
sistently and you get the crow — mavHe. 
