September, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
457 
No. 4 . The sights are as big as the deer at two hundred yards 
No. 5 . Showing peep sight correctly aligned 
rest maybe, is not in the physical frame 
of mind to make the most natural posi- 
tion easy and his nerves are just 
enough overstrained so that the rifle 
may be tipping when it looks perfectly 
upright. The result is a miss and a hard 
trigger pull, poorly sighted rifle, or de- 
fective ammunition will be held at fault 
for the error. In many cases buck fever 
is the excuse given for a poor shot which 
the best marksman in the country would 
have made if he had tipped his gun over 
to one side. Make sure that you know 
when a shot is mechanically impossible 
and then don’t shoot. 
In a great many cases it is necessary 
to make a long shot through trees at 
game. Now, suppose that there are large 
overhanging limbs on these trees, but 
by hugging the ground in a prone posi- 
tion the shooter may be able to get a 
clear view of the game and so believes 
a shot possible. He shoots and misses 
because his bullet had to travel higher 
than his line of vision and so sped into 
the overhanging limbs before it got half 
way to the game. I know a certain path 
deep in the heart of the Adirondack 
mountains where there is a boulder pro- 
jecting out several feet over the trail. 
Just beyond is a beautiful beaver mead- 
ow. As you walk along the trail you 
seem to look through a door out across 
that pretty scene. For many years it 
has been the practice of old guides to put 
up a target way across that 
meadow and then to get a sports- 
man shooting at it from several 
yards back along the trail, the 
target showing just beneath 
the rock. Of course the bul- 
let went into the overhanging 
rock every time and no shooter 
could hit the target. A few 
misses in this position, when 
the target was an easy one, 
taught the shooters a good 
lesson in remembering the 
mechanical possibilities and 
limitations of their rifles. 
Many a missed shot in the 
woods has been the result of a 
leaning tree in the way, or 
maybe an elevated log, heavy 
limb, or projecting rock that 
stopped the bullet before it got 
started well on its way toward 
the animal it was meant for. 
T here is another consideration about 
shooting over varying distances that 
make the correct aiming of the rifle 
very difficult. Suppose the deer in photo- 
graphs No. 1 and 2 was about fifty yards 
away. Note the size of the sight com- 
pared to the deer. The aiming here is 
very simple because the target appears 
so much larger to the eye than it would 
be if the deer was one hundred yards 
away. In photograph No. 3, is illustrated 
the approximate size of the sights and 
deer as presented to the eye. Of course 
under natural conditions, as the distance 
was increased, the deer would become 
smaller while the sights would always 
remain the same to the eye. But I am 
supposing that the deer remained the 
same size while the sights increased in 
size as the distance was made longer. 
The problem of accurate aiming will b< 
the same for both cases. See how cuni- 
bersome the sights show up at one hun- 
dred yards compared with those at fifty 
yards. Obviously the work of aiming at 
the deer in photograph No. 3, is a far 
more delicate job than at No. 1 or No. 2 , 
for now your sights, relatively, are so 
much larger while the deer appears 
smaller. 
Suppose the distance from target to 
rifle is increased to two hundred yards, 
the result is illustrated approximately 
in photograph No. 4, where the sights 
are about as big as the deer. Certainly 
the problem of aiming is mighty hard 
here for the sights nearly cover up the 
game. Then, as the distance increases, 
the sights would increase, or else the deer 
decrease until you have a condition where 
the deer would not show up any larger 
than the front bead itself, say at four 
hundred yards. To consider these facts 
will not make you a poorer shot, but 
ought to increase your accuracy by the 
full realization that distance is pretty 
tricky when it comes to shooting. Many 
times, too long shots are tried when it 
would have been better not to frighten 
the game and take the chances of getting 
within range. A gun that shoots a mile 
is no deadlier than the range of accuracy 
of the shooter’s eye, arm, and nerve. Do 
you know where your limit is? There is 
some distance over which you have found 
it unsafe to expect accurate work because 
your sights were too big at that range 
relative to the size of the game and so 
no shot ought to be attempted unless you 
are sure that no other will be presented 
and want to take one chance in a hun- 
dred. 
Some men make a specialty of pulling 
off long shots with open sights, but I 
notice that they miss a score of shots 
before they make a hit, and they only 
talk about the hit. Of course that is 
all right if it suits the shooter, but for 
accurate and dependable work with the 
rifle in the field, when it means to lose 
or win game at the one op- 
portunity presented, then the 
range of the individual shoot- 
er’s ability to hit should be 
reckoned with. A man who is 
a quick judge of his range of 
accuracy, even if it may fall 
short of another shooter’s abil- 
ity, will in the long run get his 
share of the game. Ability to 
accurately estimate distance is 
very essential, for upon it will 
depend the elevation of the 
sights for the shot. 
O NE of the reasons why 
peep sights are popular 
with big game hunters is 
the fact that as the distance 
increases the sight does not 
show up so much larger ac- 
cordingly. Even at long range 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 496) 
