274 
August 7, 1875. 
menced your practice on game and ■without rule or rea- 
son — a good shot. In cover, snap-shots have to be made 
constantly, if the sportsman would shoot at all; and for 
this reason I would never advise the learner to begin 
anywhere but in the open. When they can be got at- 
the common sora rail is the best bird I know of for prac- 
tice for the young shot. Their flight is slow and heavj^, 
for the most part, and they rise near the gun, though 
occasionally they fly fast and for long distances. 
The next best bird is the quail, when found in the 
open, though they require hard hitting, and will carry 
away more shot than any other bird of their size. When 
you have become expert on these, the American snipe is 
the bird of all birds for final practice, as they are the 
most diflBcult of all to hit. One great trouble with manj’ 
young shcts — and with some of the older ones, too — is, 
that in shooting with a double-barreled gun, they are 
too apt to blaze away with the first barrel before the 
bird is fairly covered and when much too near the gun, 
depending upon the second barrel to kill if the first is a 
miss. For this reason I should always recommend the 
learner to begin with a single gun, and, if I remember 
rightly, “ Forrester,” in his “ Manual for Young Sports- 
men,” does the same. Quite recentlf I heard one of the 
most experienced sportsmen in the United States saj' 
that “ if none but single-barreled guns had ever been 
made, and those built with the same care as to materials, 
weighl and balance as the double guns, he was satisfied 
that not only more game wou|d have been killed than 
has been, but that many who are now onl)' moderatcl}’ 
good shots would beat their present scores, and that all 
who do shoot -would shoot better; and for the simple and 
excellent reason that they would take more time to cover 
fairly a rising bird.” Certainly more shots are missed 
by shooting too quick than bj’ being too slow. 
LETTERS vmm SPOBTSMEI^. 
Sport in Texas. 
Austin, Tex., June 29. 
Editor Rod and Gcn: 
I am glad to renew my subscription to your really 
interesting paper, and herewith inclose amount for 
three months. I am deploring the loss of about half 
my numbers, but am still satisfied if I receive that many. 
Sporting notes are scarce, every one prefering to hunt 
cool spots, and leave the game to a more seasonable 
time. I hope to give you a few dots on sporting in our 
Lone Star State when the close season is at an end, 
which is earl}’ in August, when we have plover and 
chicken. Further west (and hot far, either,) is about as 
near a hunter’s paradise as can be found. During the 
winter buffalo, deer, antelope and turkey are as com- 
mon as sheep. Send some of your sweet-scented sport's- 
men of the kid glove order, and we might scare up a 
Comanche or so for their benefit. They are “ sorter ” 
common at times, too. I have to enter my protest 
against the Bridgeport shell ; at least one-fourth out of 
twenty-five failed to explode in my Daly 7f lb. No. 12 
gun, which seldom fails to explode an Ely. 
Trusting that your paper will have the success it 
merits H . P. P. 
Everybody's Dog. 
Windsor, Ont. , July 2-L 
Editor Rod and Gun : 
W ould you allow me a little space in your very in- 
terestmg paper to have a little talk on dogs. You are 
aware every sport.smau has the best dogs he ever saw, 
and I never knew anj’ one who said he had a bad one. I 
see different notices about importing celebrated field 
trial dogs, and Mr. Burges I see, wants to part-with his 
field trial bitch Di, although he has not shot over her 
yet ; but I suppose when the mother is field trial, all 
her progeny are the same. 1 wonder whether she is like 
two dogs I once owned. I was veiy anxious to get an 
imported Gordon setter, so in the course of time I got 
one with a pedigree as long as the moral law, and ver}’ 
handsome. I sent him to an old gamekeeper to instruct 
him the way to go, and in the course of three months 
he sent him back to me say’ing he was too fine bred, his 
nerves would not stand the shock of the gun ; so, to 
make sure, I took him out, and as soon as I fired off" my 
gun he ran home, hid himself under the bed, and could 
not be tempted to come out for two days. This wa.s 
No. 1. My No. 2 was a lemon and white, with a strain 
back sixty years, from the kennel of the Duke of Buck- 
ingham. I found him very little different from No. 1, 
so, having a friend in Sandusky who -was considerable 
on the dog, I sent him, with pedigree, collar and chain. 
In due course I got a letter telling me how pleased he 
was with him, how he had been admired by all the 
sports around ; but in a month I got another letter ask- 
ing me to look out for him, as he fired his gun off up the 
railroad track, and he ran away, and that was the last 
of him. I suppose both these dogs had too much blue 
blood in them. I was very much pleased to see your 
article on the spaniel, and I am glad to see the worth 
of them is being found out, as I consider they are the 
best sporting dog we have for general shooting. I send 
you the quantity of game shot last season bj' James 
Skuce over a pair of hver-color Cockers, Bob and Jack: 
387*woodcock, loo snipe, 4.58 quail, 141 partridge, 10 
duck, 73 golden plover, and this in a country’ teeming 
with dogs and guns, from a blue Balton, Laverack, 
Irish, Russian, and forty' other blue blood breeds, and 
from old carbines down to choke bore No. 10 Scott. 
Can anybody beat this? If so, send me his card. Yours 
truly, Bang. 
Ex-Gunmaker. 
Rifle Range, July 23. 
Editor Rod and Gun : 
In your issue of May 29 appears a communication 
from an ex-gunmaker, in which he informs the readers 
of the Rod and Gun that he can do shooting with a cer- 
tain manufacture of muzzle-loading rifles at 1,000 yards 
which, if I read the records aright, will eclipse by more 
than 100 per cent, any'thing in the line of rifle shooting 
ever done, and in which he says, “the manufacturers 
of said rifles, Lewis & Bellingham, can turn out arms 
that will beat the Sharps and Remington ten to one, of 
any desired weight.” Which means, I suppose, 10 lbs., 
or the regulation weight used in rifle matches at long 
range. When asked by “ Hamburg ” to step up and 
show us how to pick off 12 out of 15 turkeys at 1,000 
yards, he passes him by, as I suppose he will me, not- 
withstanding his assertion that he stands here to back it 
up at any moment. 
Now, ex-Gunmaker, if you can do what you say you 
can in the referred-to article, why not step down to 
Creedmoor and, in the interest of American rifle shoot- 
ing, show us how to do it, and ■wipe out the claims of 
Fulton to the first shot in America, if not the universe; 
as you say any tolerably fairish day will answer yotir 
purpose, and it will take but a single one to give you a 
world-wide reputation, and the first prizes at Creed- 
moor, nay, more, even Wimbledon, -will lie at your dis- 
posal; and the reputation of your friends the gun- 
makers, said Lewis & Bellingham, will stand forth as a 
beacon light to this generation of rifle shooters, and add 
more laurels to the bright genius of America . 
Now, my friend, you must pardon me if I believe that 
you are blowing, and that you cannot do, nor anything 
nearly approaching the accuracy of what you say, and 
will be convinced of the truth of your statements only 
when you will sustain them in a public trial, conducted 
under similar regulations to the prize shooting of Creed- 
moor and Wimbledon. And believe me, sir, when I 
say that no one will be more gratified than myself to see 
you accomplish in a public trial aU you claim, in which 
event I will make haste to repair the imputation your 
article has forced upon me. Ike, 
Prospects for Prairie Grouse Shooting. 
Rockford, 111., July 24. 
Editor Rod and Gun : 
At this day in the season one can form somewhat of 
a reliable opinion of what the shooting will be in August 
and September, the t-wo best months for hunting this 
bird. It is a settled fact that there will be good hunt- 
ing and many birds this season, notwithstanding the 
wet weather. The birds will be late on account of the 
unfavorable -weather in the early spring. The coveys 
are quite full, numbering from five to a dozen. I have 
seen no covey of less than five, while I have heard of 
some with fifteen and sixteen young birds. There was 
an unusually’ large number of old birds -wintered over, 
notwithstanding the heavy slaughter" last winter. 
Larger coveys and more mature birds will be found on 
the high prairie lands, because many nests were washed 
away in the low lands, and the grouse -were obliged to 
rebuild, thus losing three or four weeks. 
Yesterday I saw a covey of young grouse hatched in 
slough grass, hardly able to fly ; -while 1 saw coveys a 
week ago that were half grown. Their growth from 
this time will be very rapid. They take on their deli- 
cious fat during the first two weeks after wheat ripens, 
or from the 1st of August. They eat a great number of 
grasshoppers and insects, on which they grow fat verv 
fast. The corn -will be too high to shoot in this s«a.sou, 
on account of the favorable growing weather. Last 
year the drought kept it down, and large numbers of 
grouse were shot from it. 
Don't go after them before the loth of Augu.st, when 
the law expires in Illinois and Iowa. You can ship no 
birds from Iowa, but the farmers are not as strict in 
that State concerning the trespass law as they are in 
most parts of Illinois — it is wilder and newer. People 
there can shoot birds on their own land at any season, 
I believe. It is a little loose. Splendid shooting may 
be had in Illinois within three hours of Chicago, on the 
C. & N. AV., C. B. & Q., or Illinois Central. Poiutei’s 
are preferred to setters on account of the heat ; but I 
have seen unexceptionable work done by setters. You 
can get an average of twenty -five birds a day at some of 
these places, while you may some days get fifty or 
seventy-five birds. Places in Iowa will give you 100 
shots a day with good dogs. It will cost $15 from 
Chicago to AVestern Iowa Board at hotels, $2 
per day. Almost any station on the Iowa branch of 
Illinois Central, between Independence and Fort Dodge, 
Iowa, will afford capital shooting. Storm Lake is a 
favorite spot. A Sportsman House, kept by sportsmen, 
is there. One can hardly’ miss good shooting from Inde- 
pendence or AYaterloo, Iowa, in a western or northwest- 
ern direction, keeping a-way from the woods, and taking 
new or thinly settled districts. Kansas or Alissouri are 
as good as Iowa ; Nebraska is good. But good shooting 
with better accommodation may be had nearer home. 
|3 or $4 railroad fare from Chicago will land you in 
good shooting if you only know what place to stop at. 
Good dogs and good shots or no sport. AVe anxiously 
wait for the next three weeks to pass away, and then 
we will be in there, making the feathers fly over the 
crisp, well-gleaned stubbles. “ Chicken shooting is a 
sport ” ne plu^ ultra. Tom Tramp. 
Content. 
New A'ork, July 20. 
Editor Rod .ax'd Gun: 
I advertised in your esteemed Rod and Gun for a 
thoroughly broken Gordon setter bitch, and one of the 
answers was from Mr. George L. Thompson, Foxboro, 
Alass., claiming, in a modest way», that he could furnish 
me with what I wanted. Liking his description of the 
bitch, I took a run up to Foxboro, and was shown such 
Gordon setters as I never saw before. Queen Bess the 
first, the dam of all the others, is the handsomest of her 
kind in this country, is bred from a pair of imported 
Gordons, and every litter she has is black and tan. She 
now has eight pups, all black and tan, and perfect 
beauties. I could write a whole day and not get all 
down I would like to say’ about these dogs, but think. 
Air. Editor, it would well repay you to give Foxboro a 
flying visit and examine for yourself. I purchased 
Queen Bess the second — dam Queen Bess the first sired 
by Dr. Polhemus’ Duke— and consider her one of the 
finest in all the Jerseys. 
Trusting you will pardon my wasting your time, but 
knowing the exertions you have made to benefit the 
sporting mankind of this country in furnishing them 
with good dogs, I, as one who has suffered hut now 
am satisfied, thank you. Yours, etc., AVestfield. 
Shad Rods. 
St. Louis, July 20. 
Editor Rod anti Gun : 
In a former number the shad is mentioned as the “an- 
gler’s joy,” and in your last you speak of a fishing-rod for 
shad. Now what does this mean? AA’hen did a shad 
bile at a bait? If so, what bait? when and where? I 
never heard of such a thing, and should as much expect 
a shad ow to bite as a shad, and would as soon thin k of 
fishing for one as the other. Let us hear about this. It 
sounds like a piscatory heresy to make such a statement. 
“ Shad-ows we are and shad-ows we pursue.” I know 
that; but not with rod and reel. If shad, in fact, have 
been improved up to biting at a bait, a good many Con- 
necticut Yanks, who moved out AVest years ago, w’ould 
like te be posted. A shad biting at a bait— a man fishing 
with rod and line for a shad, each trying to find the otherl 
An y one, philosopher or mere man, might laugh himself 
