896 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Quick Eye and the Steady Hand Count for Much, But Do Not Overlook the Dog. 
The Colonel at the Traps and Afield 
That “Shootin’ Groove” Is Worth Waiting a Long Time For—A Little 
Dissertation for the Amateur 
By Virginius. 
from a large section of the East is only one of 
the reasons why it has become a fixed purpose in 
the plans of the summer campaigner. The air 
is buoyant, the scenery restful, and its intricate 
lakeland ever a delight. The geographical situa¬ 
tion of the Adirondacks emphasizes the fact that 
Nature intended those who dwell in the cities 
to spend a part of each year in the woods. 
The great National Parks of America and 
their environs offer perfect conditions and the 
refreshing abandon of life in the open. Not 
only because of the bigness of the out-of-doors 
but because the very atmosphere of the West 
spells freedom. Once across the iooth meridian 
the plain becomes an infinitude of purple dis¬ 
tance. Suddenly, like a mirage, it ceases and the 
earth, tiring of its formality, rises to majestic 
heights. There are twenty-seven mountain peaks 
in the state of Colorado alone, over 12,000 feet, 
that are yet unsealed and unnamed.— (WE all 
the while supposing that the silent hosts of the 
Undiscovered had retreated off the map.) 
Fortunate is the young man who can spend a 
summer on a Western ranch of which there are 
excellent ones in the country surrounding the 
national parks. In the Rocky Mountain states 
as in California, outdoor life has reached per¬ 
fection, favored by unusual climatic conditions. 
While the rugged setting of the former lends 
itself to the exquisitely invigorating, semi-bar¬ 
baric existence, summer life in the valleys and 
on the beaches of California approaches the idyl¬ 
lic. It is the true life al fresco. 
Permit our imagination to stray over the latest 
map of Canada and it may seem that the trail 
has been replaced with long converging lines of 
steel, but this is true only where new ways of 
travel were necessary to reach distant points 
heretofore impossible to any but a favored few. 
In the vast forest preserves of Algonquin and 
Temagami and elsewhere, the haunt of otter and 
bear, the track of the wild red deer, and the hush 
of solitude remain inviolate. From the spark¬ 
ling islands of the St. Lawrence to the snowy 
passes of British Columbia and beyond, Canada 
presents an immense paradox in which a man 
may both lose and find himself at the same time. 
That is why so many go there. 
“With their rods and reels and traces 
And the starlight in their faces.” 
A legend exists to the effect that when a 
canoeist “packs his last supplies,” so to speak, his 
spirit returns to some far Canadian river. Just 
as the departed hunter will continue to stalk the 
giant moose in New Brunswick wild and lily 
bog. Such is the power of habit! 
WHERE TO GO. 
A PRIL opens the spring fishing season in a 
number of the Northern states—see 
Game Laws in Brief. Trout fishing be¬ 
gins in Maine as soon as the ice is out, which is 
generally in late April. The same holds true 
with the Adirondacks, but early anglers must 
not expect too much. Ice in the Canadian lakes 
—that js, in the provinces of Quebec, New 
Brunswick, Ontario, etc.—is apt to linger into 
May. 
The lake trout (Namacush) comes to the sur¬ 
face of the Northern lakes in the spring and is 
caught occasionally on the fly, but as a rule he 
must be trolled for. 
June is the real fishing month. Then the bass 
may be taken. 
W HY is it that I can kill as many birds in 
the field as you can, but you consistently 
beat me shooting clay birds?” I inquired. 
“Well, I reckon trap-shootin’ is what you might 
call a ‘state o’ mind.’ Yes, and it’s more than 
that,” answered the Colonel. 
“Now, let’s see you try to hit ten straight, and 
we’ll find out what’s wrong.” So I broke five 
out of the ten for him. 
“Hm’m’m,” hummed the Colonel, “you missed 
three ’cause you over-shot them, and the other 
two were right-quarters. Yo’r head isn’t down 
where it belongs. You must sight the whole 
length of yo’r barrel ’cause yo’re a one-eyed 
shooter; if you could shoot with both eyes open 
you wouldn’t have so much trouble. Now let 
me show you how to put a coarse rear sight on 
that gun. Curve the fingers of yo’r left hand 
around the barrel on one side and yo’r thumb 
on the other, leavin’ about half an inch between 
them. That half inch openin’ wants to be over 
the groove between yo’r barrels. There! Now 
you-all can sight through that just as though it 
was the rear sight on a rifle.” 
I tried ten more birds and missed all the right 
quarter shots. “Why can’t I get those right 
quarters, Colonel?” I asked. 
“Well, you don’t stand in a reasonable posi¬ 
tion for ’em; that’s why. Face the right with 
both feet pointin’ straight ahead of you; they 
should be at right angles to the trap with yo’r 
weight on yo’r left foot, ’cause yo’re right hand¬ 
ed. Now try a few right quarters standin’ that 
way.” 
I did so and broke eight out of the ten. I 
found that when I swung to the right I was di¬ 
rectly facing the birds in that quarter, and they 
were as easy to break as any other shot. 
“How can I ever get around to a left quar¬ 
ter with my feet in this position?” I asked. “I’ll 
have to shift them, won’t I?” 
“No, sir; try a few left quarters and see if 
they aren’t just as easy and comfortable as ever.” 
Sure enough; there was no strain at all in 
swinging to the left. 
“Now I notice,” began the Colonel, “that you- 
all swing too stiff; in the first place yo’r left 
hand is too far out on the barrel, and also you 
try to use yo’r arms too much. Swing with yo’r 
body instead of yo’r arms. 
“There! See how much easier it is that way 
to get a nice smooth swing? You don’t follow 
through the way you should either; keep yo’r 
gun movin’ till after you shoot. Yo’re a little 
inclined to jump ahead of yo’r bird and then 
stop just as you fire. Follow yo’r bird right 
from the start and overtake it gradually; just 
as you pass it fire. You won’t have to try to 
figure out leads if you shoot that way.” 
After all this advice I thought I would see 
how I could handle twenty-five straight. I broke 
nine targets without a miss, and the tenth, which 
was a straight-away, fooled me completely. I 
turned to the Colonel. 
Hm m. Wait till those straight-aways reach 
the top of their rise; then they stand still for a 
second, and that’s the time to shoot.” 
I went on with the twenty-five and missed five 
in a row. 
“Here! You-all gi’mme that gun!” exclaimed 
the Colonel. “Now you stop shootin’ and calm 
(Continued on page 922.) 
