540 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Small Game Rifle Is Not Appreciated At Its Worth 
It Should Be Used More in the Case of Small Game, as It Leads to Better Marksmanship and a Higher 
Degree of General Sportsmanship 
HERE was a time, still within 
the memory of the living, 
when skill with the rifle was 
a distinguishing mark of the 
American. The story of Davy 
Crockett and the ’coon would 
have applied with equal force 
to nine out of ten of the old 
trail-blazers. In those days a rifle was a rifle; 
so far as the caliber was concerned, there was 
little difference. The old-time hunter brought 
down his deer and bear with the same weapon 
with which he shot his squirrels. 
But with the advent of the breech-loader and 
the growing scarcity of the larger game animals, 
the use of the rifle declined. The pioneer 
farmer found it much easier to shoot such small 
game as was left with a shotgun. When an 
infrequent and impudent deer was encountered, 
he had recourse to buckshot. And in those 
favored localities where deer and bear were 
still to be found in fair numbers, the use of 
even so comparatively low-powered an arm as 
the old 44-40 was an extremely risky proceed¬ 
ing, on account of the proximity of one’s neigh¬ 
bors. It was this consideration that led New 
Hampshire legislators to pass the law prohibit¬ 
ing the use of rifles in deer hunting. 
In the wilder parts of the country, where big 
game was still plentiful and neighbors scarce, 
By Waldo R. Smith. 
the rifle held its own; but over part of the 
Eastern states, the shotgun became the one 
official arm of the small-game hunter. 
Just why the small-caliber rifle should have 
been so completely ignored as a hunting arm is 
a mystery; but perhaps the ease with which game 
could be killed with the scatter-gun contributed 
largely to this state of affairs. 
Naturally enough, the hunter chose the easiest 
way to a full bag; and as the use of the rifle 
required a certain degree of skill, and increased 
the chances of missing, he adopted the shotgun. 
And as the game became still more scarce, 
he felt that he could not afford to let anything 
escape. 
Then the development of wing-shooting en¬ 
couraged the use of the shotgun by sportmen 
to such an extent that until quite recently, the 
small rifle had no standing at all in the field, 
and was used exclusively as a target arm. 
Lately, however, there seems to have been a 
reaction, and the small rifle is coming in for its 
share of popularity. 
There is hardly any kind of small game that 
cannot be shot with a rifle in skillful hands. 
Shooting quail on the wing with a single ball 
will probably never become popular; yet it has 
been done. However, I would not advise' the 
average shot to attempt anything so difficult as 
this. Prairie chickens, however, with their 
straight, level flight and larger size, are entirely 
possible targets for the rifleman. 
Squirrels are altogether too easy with the 
shotgun; the hunter in full enjoyment of his 
eyesight who would riddle a sitting squirrel 
with a cloud of shot is unworthy the name of 
sportsman. I should like to see a law in every 
state where the squirrel abounds prohibiting 
such shooting. 
Rabbit hunting with the rifle partakes of much 
of the nature of deer shooting. To be sure, the 
deer offers a much larger target; but he is also 
usually much farther away, and going consider¬ 
ably faster. Any naturally good shot should be 
able, after some practice, to stop a running 
cottontail at twenty-five paces with a rifle— 
and to continue to do so. 
In the case of somewhat larger game, ’coons, 
foxes, and the like, there can be no question 
that the rifle is much the better weapon. The 
smallest rifle strikes a harder blow than the 
largest gauge shotgun, loaded with the heaviest 
shot. Even when buckshot is used, the small 
rifle is superior. One can place his shots; and 
it is an axiom that one well-placed shot is 
worth a dozen scattering wounds in killing 
effect. Witness the old-time deer hunter with 
his clumsy, long-barreled rifle and pea-bullet, 
compared to the flustered tenderfoot with a .45-90 
repeater. If the deer of to-day could be ap- 
