Feb. 13, 1909-] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
261 
Targels, and Other Things. 
“We will now listen to the report of the tar¬ 
get committee.” 
Had I been kissed by the right goddess when 
I came into the world, I never would have been 
put on “the target committee,” and much of 
the worry and work that falls to the lot of one 
so unfortunate would have been avoided. I 
did not at first realize the full significance of 
the honor of being on this “board of experts” 
in target construction, but it all came to me in 
full measure as time went on and the club 
wanted something to cast at, and wanted it at 
once. 
Our first effort in this line could hardly be 
called a bird, and it certainly was not a fish. 
In the rush to get it out for the opening of 
the season, we were obliged to go ahead with¬ 
out further delay and this forced on us the use 
of material which was twice as heavy as I had 
figured on using. The thing, briefly, consisted 
of a galvanized iron pan 1254 feet in diameter 
supplied with the necessary flange-shaped rings 
and mounted on a frame-work of wood to se¬ 
cure the necessary stiffness and buoyancy. It 
was a grand thing to catch and hold casting 
weights when ^our line happened to let go at 
the right time, and it may have had other 
virtues. 
Unfortunately the heavy material we were 
compelled to use also called for twice the num¬ 
ber of cubic feet of wood underneath to carry 
the load or weight of the target, which 
amounted to 325 pounds, when clean and dry, 
but after the mud came down the river and 
found the target, nobody knew how much it 
weighed. It took fully half the members of the 
casting club to get the thing out from under 
the platform and the same number to get it 
back again when we were through casting. 
You never could tell when the thing would stay 
level or in balance for five minutes, and in 
many ways it proved very unsatisfactory. 
The river ran high for quite a time in July 
and the target got a thorough soaking, and 
shortly after this it was pulled out into the 
open for use. It rested on the surface for a 
few minutes, took one sad glance heavenward, 
and then, as though tired of life, gave up the 
ghost and went to the bottom. Here was a 
whole bunch of advice about targets, and all 
you had to do was to reach out and take it. 
The end of the season settled conclusively 
that we needed a target more than anything 
else, and it was up to the target committee— 
which had long since reduced and eliminated 
itself to all but me—to get up something good, 
and it was several months after this that the 
refrain quoted at the beginning of this letter 
began to assume the proportions of a night¬ 
mare. 
Sketch after sketch was made and many 
schemes taken up only to be cast aside as un¬ 
available on account of the difficulty of getting 
the material the particular scheme called for, 
or for lack of facilities for doing the work even 
when the materials were available. With more 
and more persistency came the wail, “We will 
now listen to the report of the target com¬ 
mittee.” Kellenberger, so the neighbors say, 
got to calling it off in the middle of the night, 
and during the daytime while dictating letters, 
and things in general were getting in a bad way. 
