FOREST AND STREAM 
17 
ask: “Why this gun-to-the-shoulder business?” 
If he cannot give the answer himself, someone 
of the experts will 'tell him the reason much 
along these lines: “Game, whether birds or ani¬ 
mals, when flushed are as a rule pretty close to 
you. They are well within shot and, while some¬ 
times you have to shoot quickly on account of 
brush or some other cause, you generally have 
plenty of time to get your gun 'to your shoulder 
and pick off a right and left. If you don’t get 
them the first time, you can follow them up and 
flush them again. And don’t forget another 
thing—"that while they jump quickly, they gain 
speed as they go, and fly or run faster as they 
place the yards between you and them. Now, 
to get back to the clay target game: You want 
to get all you can and either beat the other 
fellow or tie him; therefore you want to break 
as many targets as possible. You know where 
the target is going to start from, and can there¬ 
fore get ready in a way you never could do in 
the field. In fact you are glad to take every 
advantage of an inanimate object, and act in a 
way that would seem unsportsmanlike in the 
field. You flush your clay target when you are 
ready for it, and but very few quail or cotoontails 
are so considerate as to wait for the word. Fur¬ 
thermore the target starts like shot out of a gun. 
and puts the yards between you and it much 
more rapidly than the fastest bird that flies—up 
to about gunshot range, when it begins to fall to 
the ground. That target must be broken if it is 
to be scored to you. As the saying is: ‘They 
make them small enough at the factory’; hence 
you must get them when your pattern is at its 
best; that is, within forty yards of the spot you 
are standing on. Also you’ve got to get that 
target the first time it is flushed; yon can’t walk 
out and jump it again. It can’t jump, and even 
if it could, the referee would unkindly disallow 
any success that might attend such second effort. 
Summed up, the whole matter resolves itself into 
this: Take it from me that if you want to break 
targets, the thing to do is to adopt the methods 
as to position, style, etc., of those experts who 
have reduced clay target shooting to a science, 
and then practice up a bit. You will soon find 
that it will all come to you, and then you will 
have them all guessing.” 
The field shot will find another thing, too, and 
that is that an exact duplicate of his old favorite 
in the field will not be just what he wants. If 
he is a good quail (Virginia partridge) shot, ten 
to one he uses a fairly straight stock. That will 
be O. K. as a guide for his trap gun; but he can 
use a longer stock on his trap gun to good ad¬ 
vantage and should bear this in mind when order¬ 
ing his gun. It will benefit him in assisting to 
take up the recoil, and as he can adjust his gun 
before calling “Pull,” it will not catch under his 
arm and bother him, as it would if he were 
shooting in the gun-below-the-elbow or field style. 
*“Drop,” as applied to the stock of a gun, denotes 
the distance between an imaginary line representing 
an extension of the rib of the gun and two certain points 
on the stock known as the “comb” and the “heel.” 
The Shooting Costume 
Clothes That Will Make Your Shooting More Comfortable 
Time was, and not so very long ago either (for 
the sport of trap shooting is comparatively youth¬ 
ful—particularly the clay target branch of the 
sport), when any old clothes would do in which 
to attend a tournament. Moth-eaten sweaters were 
clung to, much as an old guncase is—-for the pur¬ 
pose of distinguishing the old-timers from the 
novice in the game, and also for comfort. But 
nowadays it is fortunately fast becoming the 
thing to dress just as neatly for a tournament 
or a club shoot as for the street. The same 
costume for the latter would do very well for the 
former, with the possible exception of the coat or 
shooting jacket. The coat must be loose and 
easy across the shoulders and under the arms; 
anything in the shape of wearing apparel that 
tends to hinder absolutely free action on the part 
of the arms is to be eschewed when shooting. 
Some coats and shooting vests have accordion 
pleats under the arms with just that very object 
in view, and these accomplish part of the object 
very well. A sort of Norfolk jacket with a box 
pleat down the back is a good thing, the pleat 
being held together at the back with thin strips 
of elastic, which give easily when the gun is 
brought to the shoulder, but quickly pull the 
pleat back into place when the gun is taken down. 
No one style of shooting coat, jacket or vest, 
or even sweater, can be said to be the proper 
thing. The style and make must be left to the 
taste of the individual; the only thing that should 
be borne in mind is that the presence of ladies, 
both as spectators and as comrades at the score, 
is much to be desired, and that consequently no 
shooting costume is too good or too neat for the 
occasion. The collar is another item of dress 
that must be considered. No man can do really 
good work with a tight or high collar; in fact, 
to most men a “boiled collar” is a decided handi¬ 
cap when shooting. A soft shirt, with a soft 
collar comfortably loose, will be found to be an 
aid to better scores. 
In hot weather—that is, when the time of year 
and the temperature of the air call for shirtwaist 
suits—-many shooters will stick to the shooting 
coat or vest that they have found fits them to 
a T, as any change in the thickness of the cloth¬ 
ing makes a difference in the length of the stock. 
Others, however, prefer to shoot in their shirt 
sleeves, and for them either a leather bag sus¬ 
pended by a belt around the waist, or one of the 
latest ideas in the shape of canvas belting to hold 
a box of 25 cartridges, is neat and suitable to 
the occasion. Very often posts are placed in 
front of each 16-yard mark, with a piece of 
board, 6 or 8 inches square, on top of them. These 
are very convenient for shooters to use as tables 
for a box of cartridges, if they don’t want to 
carry the shells in their pockets or in a bag. 
Shooting at the traps is not like going gunning. 
No swamps or creeks to wade; no thick brush or 
bramble patches to force one’s way through. 
Why then not dress so that your wife, sister, or 
may be some other lady in whom you may be 
interested, will not be ashamed to bow to you or 
recognize you when she meets you on the club¬ 
house piazza? 
PENNSYLVANIA SHOOTING AND FISHING. 
Hazleton, Pa., June 24.—Deer are reported in 
the sections generally visited during the hunting 
season and the local Nimrods are marking down 
the places where they have appeared. 
Several fine specimens have been discovered by 
John and Joseph Neeb on their farm near Pine 
Run. This is close to Weissport. 
Deer are overrunning the Delaware Valley, 
destroying gardens and grazing upon lawns. 
Around Stroudsburg and up in the Pocnones 
the animals have caused great ire among the 
farmers who claim they are ruining crops. 
If you want to catch trout worth hooking from 
14 to 18 inches—don’t attempt it during the day¬ 
time. 
That’s a fact that the fishermen of this part of 
the state have learned this spring and some of 
the finest catches ever made in the state are now 
being made daily—but after night. 
They're starting about 6 o’clock in the evening 
and fishing until about midnight and the bait that 
the big fellows are devouring are white worms. 
Lloyd McHenry and Frank Derr, of Blooms- 
burg brought home a big lot this week measuring 
from 14 to 18 inches—one of the finest creels of 
trout ever angled for in this part of Pennsylvania 
and they caught them as night approached. 
McHenry landed one 14 inch trout by the tail 
and the fight he put up before he finally was 
flopping on the creel bank makes a story in itself. 
Lily Lake was thronged with Hazleton fisher¬ 
men on June 15 when the pike bass and pickerel 
season opened. The pike bit well and many good 
catches were made. One hundred big fellows 
were pulled out the first day. One Nescopeck man 
landed a pike that was 18 inches long. Bass bit 
poorly though and so did pickerel. 
SPRING CRUISE OF THE RED DRAGON 
CANOE CLUB. 
A number of members of The Red Dragon 
Canoe Club and their friends made a voyage 
down the Pennypack Creek from Bethayres, Pa. 
to the Delaware River, on May 24th. This 
stream has recently been taken over, for part of 
its course, by the city of Philadelphia as a park 
and has not been used as canoeing waters to any 
extent. Thus the trip was one of exploration 
and investigation. 
The canoes were taken to the Spread Eagle 
Hotel at Bethayres by motor truck on Saturday 
and the trip started on Sunday morning at the 
head of canoe navigation. 
The water was not very high in places and 
some wading was necessary. However the 
scenery is very attractive and earlier in the year 
there would be no difficulty in getting through. 
The distance makes a pleasant day’s trip and 
lands the canoeist at the Delaware near to a 
number of Clubs and to convenient transporta¬ 
tion facilities. 
There are several fine runs and rapids and the 
accession of this stream to the City Parks is a 
valuable addition. 
W. H. LOGAN, JR.. 
Vice-Commodere R. D. C. C. 
