480 
FOREST AND STREAM 
His wings didn’t even flutter as he came 
down. Never saw a duck drop so dead. 
That far reaching, hard hitting 
LEFEVER 
Shot Gun 
DID THE BUSINESS 
It will do as much for you. At the traps, 
in the fields, in the blinds. 
You can count on the shooting qualities 
that have made GUNS of Lasting Fame. 
WRITE FOR CATALOG 
TODAY 
Shoot the Lefever Single Trigger This Year 
Lefever Arms Company 
200 Maltbie St., SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
MAXIM SILENCER 
Why Don’t 
You Get One? 
You know about the Maxim Si¬ 
lencer— butyou can’trealizehow 
much it really adds to the pleas¬ 
ure of your hunting trip or target 
— - Sjsjjk practice until you attach 
ijRjgf one to your rifle. It si- 
giSSi, lences the report noise. 
* * stops flinching. Makes 
your aim more accurate 
WRITE FOR FREE BOOK, filled with actual experiences of scores of 
yoltr fellow-sportsmen with the Maxim Silencer. It’s mighty inter¬ 
esting reading Ask your dealer for a Silencer. If he has none, tell 
us his name and we will arrange to supply you 
MAXIM SILENCER CO., 12 Huyshope Ave., Hartford, Ct. 
JOHN MURGATROYD 
ESTABLISHED 1882 
TAXIDERMIST 
High Grade Work in All Branches of Taxidermy 
57 West 24th Street, NEW YORK CITY 
A new edition of the Naturalists’ Directory has just 
been published by S. E. Cassimo, Salem, Mass. This 
directory is invaluable to naturalists, since it is the 
means of bringing together students and collectors in 
all parts of the world through correspondence. The 
directory .contains an alphabetical list of English 
speaking professional and amateur Naturalists in all 
parts of the world, also a list of Scientific Societies 
and Periodicals. The price of the Directory is $2.50 in 
Cloth Binding and $2.00 In Paper Binding. Sent post¬ 
paid. As only a limited edition has been printed, it is 
advisable for any one wishing a copy to order at once. 
gets scores 282 points in 30 shots, the average value per 
shot is 9.4. This is A’s figure of ability and his handi¬ 
cap will be .6 per shot, or 6 points in a 10 shot com¬ 
petition, and 18 in a 30 shot competition. An absolute 
novice should average between 6 and 7 per shot, but 
usually improves very rapidly and it is not safe to 
award him more than 1.5 per shot or fifteen points in 
ten shots to start with. 
No scratch man, or rather an imaginary scratch man 
who can always score 100 per cent., is assumed in this 
system and every member, expert or otherwise receives 
some handicap. The winning score plus handicap may 
exceed the possible net score, but this has no signif¬ 
icance when there is no scratch man. The handicapper 
or handicapping committee must keep a careful record 
of every Competition and must frequently alter handi¬ 
caps as members improve or otherwise. 
The handicaps for all members should be posted in 
the Club pavilion in the following form: 
WASHINGTON RIFLE CLUB HANDICAPS. 
Subject to Alteration. 
•4 
•S 
.6 
•7 
Jones 
Scott 
Spence*- 
Tenkins 
Williams 
Taylor 
.Dietz 
Hewitt ' 
Smith 
Harmer 
Clay 
Williams 
Roberts 
Brown 
Fish 
Rolfe 
Wells 
Black 
Lake 
Budley 
White 
Winter 
Lewis 
Griffiths 
Martye 
Thomas 
MacDonald 
Capern 
Baker 
Han 
Robertson 
Mackay 
The above handicap, per shot, will be added to mem¬ 
bers’ scores in single entry competitions, or half the 
above handicap in unlimited re-entry competitions. 
W. SMITH, Handicapper. 
The success of any handicapping system depends upon 
the diligence and care of the Handicapper and as the 
interest of members in competitions upon which the 
prosperity of the Club so much depends will also de¬ 
pend upon the excellence or otherwise of the handicap¬ 
ping, too much pains can not be taken in selecting an 
able energetic handicapper or handicapping Committee. 
Members should have the right to appeal from the 
handicapping to the General Committee and on the hear¬ 
ing of an appeal both should be required to furnish 
statistical data of scores showing the ground for griev¬ 
ances and the handicap allotted. 
On general principles novices should be handicapped 
liberally and altered frequently, while the handicaps of 
regular shooters will seldom require alteration. 
STATISTICS. 
Each club should keep a book or card system in which 
the conditions, individual scores and results of every 
competition should be recorded. Moreover the handi¬ 
capper will find it very useful to keep an indexed book 
of members’ performances to aid him in adjusting handi¬ 
caps. 
HOW TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN ENTHU¬ 
SIASM, MATCHES, COMPETITIONS. 
Nature seems to have ordained that a very small per¬ 
centage of the human race shall under any circum¬ 
stances be born rifle bugs, but a great many may be 
developed providing the Club is so managed that mem¬ 
bership is not unduly expensive and shooting is easy 
and enjoyable. 
The initial members of a club will usually be charged 
with enthusiasm beyond the average and to ensure the 
permanent success of the Club this must be maintained. 
So far as the prosperity of the Club is concerned the 
best use to which the super-abundant enthusiasm of its 
first members can be directed is to induce others to 
join the club. A few of the new comers will ultimately 
become infected so that a continuous supply of enthu¬ 
siasts will be forthcoming. These will constitute the 
mainstay or life of the Club, and will do the bulk of 
the shooting but the majority of the members may only 
be expected to shoot when the inclination seizes them 
and this will recur more frequently when publicity is 
given to the doings of the Club in the Local Press. 
COMPETITION THE LIFE OF ANY SPORT. 
As practice alone without some more immediate and 
definite object than the acquisition of skill soon loses 
its interest, it is necessary to invest it with some at¬ 
tractive feature. Nothing hitherto has been found more 
successful than to foster competition by frequent in¬ 
dividual competitions and team matches. The majority 
of competitions should be on handicap terms so that 
all may enter with reasonable prospects of success. But, 
as team matches can only appeal to a few for an. hour 
or so a week they cannot alone constitute a sufficiently 
large and attractive shooting program for a large mem¬ 
bership. 
A NUMBER OF PRIZES OF SMALL VALUE, 
RATHER THAN A FEW PRIZES OF 
LARGE VALUE. 
Competitions imply prizes and prizes cost money. A 
very few Club funds will admit of devoting more than 
a very nominal sum to this purpose. Fortunately large 
sums are unnecessary and an entry fee of five or ten 
cents will generally provide a fund out of which a few 
inexpensive prizes, more as mementoes of the event than 
as rewards, can be awarded. 
A GOOD SHOOTING PROGRAM. 
A shooting program which has proved successful in 
inducing about 10 per cent, of a club to shoot every 
week for nine years might be adopted with advantage. 
The basis of this is a weekly handicap sweepstakes in 
'JllWW'' 
Nyoil Absolutely Prevents Rust] 
Use it on your gun, revolver, bicycle.l 
talking machine, reel— in fact, for any! 
purpose for which a fine, pure, lubricat-l 
ing oil is desired. It never chills or I 
hardens, “ gums” or smells bad. Askl 
sporting goods or hardware dealer. Large| 
bottle, cheaper to buy, 25 c.; trial size, 10 c. 
WM. F. NYE New Bedford, Mass. I 
Ask your wabeh repairer whose 1 
oil he is asmc oh your watch. 
which the entry fees, 10 cents per competitor, are 
divided in the ratio of one prize for about every five 
competitors. Assuming for example that there are twenty 
entries in any week, the entry fee would provide first, 
second, third and fourth prizes value $1.00, $.50, $.30, and 
$.20. Club vouchers for these amounts are given to 
the respective winners and at the end of each year the 
amount due to each member on his accumulated vouch¬ 
ers is used to purchase a more or less substantial prize 
to serve as a memento of his prowess. 
HOW CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP IS DETERMINED. 
The best twelve or some other convenient number of 
net scores made in these weekly handicaps constitute 
the first stage for the Club Championship and the 12 
highest scorers in the first stage shoot the second stage 
shoulder to shoulder on some convenient date in the 
Fall for the Championship medals; the winner becom¬ 
ing the Club Champion for the year. 
A single entrance fee of $.50 to cover the cost of say 
one gold, one silver and a few bronze watch fobs should 
be charged for the championship irrespective of the 
weekly handicap fee. 
THE WEEKLY HANDICAP. 
The weekly handicap sweepstakes, for which only one 
entry per member per week should be permitted, should 
require at least ten shots at twenty-five yards, ten shots 
at fifty yards and ten shots at one hundred yards, and 
the aggregate score at the three distances plus the 
handicap will determine the winner each week. 
A VARIED PROGRAM ENCOURAGES SHOOTING. 
Such a program provides a competition every week 
which with equitable handicapping, every member may 
enter with a reasonable chance of success, while, in 
conjunction with the Club Championship it furnishes a 
powerful inducement to shoot every week in the year. 
Similarly, unlimited entry competitions, terminable 
weekly or monthly in which very small entry fees pro¬ 
vide small prizes will furnish a further motive for shoot¬ 
ing when the other competitions have been shot. On 
determining the conditions of Competitions the Com¬ 
mittee should not lose sight of the purpose for which 
competitions of this sort were originally conceived. 
Primarily, of course, their purpose in rifle clubs is to 
encourage shooting, and not as is often supposed to 
discover and reward the skill of the most expert, for 
this reason conditions should be so framed as to en¬ 
courage novices equally with experts and should always 
require a large number of shots. 
American Big Game 
Hunting 
By 
Theodore Roosevelt 
AND 
George Bird Grinnell 
White Goat Hunting, Elk 
Hunting, Prong Buck Coursing; Old 
Times in Black Hills; Nights with Griz¬ 
zlies; Black Tails in Bad Lands; Notes on 
Forest Reservations and Game Refuges— 
Comprehensive in scope, authentic in its 
information. The best book of its kind 
extant—Post paid $2.50, in fine cloth 
binding. 
Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
22 Thames Street 
New York City 
