
Summer 
Shooting 
By C. S. LANDIS 
HE three or four months that now 
intervene between July and the 
opening of the shooting season 
need not be dull ones for the gun enthu- 
siast; he can find several legitimate 
marks for his weapon. 
The summer-shooters can probably be 
classified into three general divisions: 
Those who are interested only in shoot- 
ing; fishermen who would like to do a 
little shooting on the side; and automo- 
bilist and campers who run into count- 
less opportunities for rifle or shotgun 
practice. All these need to keep a gun 
handy. 
It is self-evident that the principal 
reason for shooting is for the fun we 
get out of it, and as summer-shooters 
are more apt to shoot for fun than 
for the good they are likely to do, any- 
thing of this kind ought to be incentive 
enough to be really worth while as a 
sport. And in most cases that is just 
what summer-shooting actually is. 
One of the most common forms of 
summer-shooting is woodchuck or 
groundhog hunting. Anyone who has 
ever tried it where “chucks” are really 
plentiful, knows that woodchuck-hunt- 
ing provides more actual rifle-shooting 
than any other form of field-shooting 
with the possible exception of squirrel- 
shooting. 
EER-HUNTING in most of the 
eastern states usually consists of 
three days to a week of the hardest 
kind of driving, or of watching along 
runways—usually a cold and dreary 
job at best, to every shot that is actu- 
ally fired at a buck, and yet there are 
hundreds of thousands of hunters who 
would rather go deer-hunting than eat. 
Woodchuck-hunting, on the other 
hand, provides the maximum amount 
Page 395 
Rifle and Shotgun 
‘Need Not Remain 
Idle—There Are 
Splendid Possibilities in 

When properly loaded the Springfield sporter makes a very effective 
“chuck” rifle 
of shooting with the minimum amount 
of work. It is usually best in settled 
communities in the northern Middle 
Atlantic and New England states and 
southern Ontario, which are quite 
easily reached, and it is almost invari- 
ably popular with the average farmer. 
Therefore, “No Trespassing” signs hold 
no terrors for the chuck-hunter. 
“Chuck-hunting” is usually the real 
rifle-crank’s particular hobby, because 
the average “chuck” is a tough and alsa 
a wise customer. He is hard to kill, 
hard to stalk once he has been fired at, 
and he is hard to hit—and yet “chucks” 
are plentiful enough to provide almost 
unlimited shooting, in some localities. 
If you knew you would be sure to get 
anywhere from five or ten to even 
thirty or forty shots a day—and prac- 
tically every day, would you go hunt- 
ing? Of course you would. Well then, 
go “chuck” hunting most anywhere be- 
tween southern New York, and well up 
into Ontario and as far east as Maine. 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even 
Delaware provide a fair amount of 
“chuck” shooting as do also many of 
the western states—at somewhat dif- 
ferent varieties. 
.25 or a .30 caliber high-power rifle, 
or even a.22 rim-fire, if the “chucks” 
are tame, or if they are being shot along 
the bushy hills that flank rivers and 
creeks, make satisfactory weapons for 
woodchuck-shooting. A telescope sight 
is a wonderful help in aiming in ground- 
hog-shooting, and is well worth its cost 
because many of the “chucks” are so hid- 
den that they are hard to aim at with 
iron sights. 
The camera enthusiast will also find 
much to interest him in “chuck” shoot- 
ing. Most of the shots are out in the 
open, the weather is usually quite favor- 
able to photography and a 38-A or a 
small Graflex is not too heavy to carry 
along with the rifle on most expeditions 
of this character. It will record the 
details on many a hair-raising shot or 
stalk, or a good day’s bag that you 
would like to keep more than a mental 
record of. 
FEW early morning or late after- 
noon tramps with a rifle and camera 
in good “chuck” hunting territory are 
an experience that any outdoorsman 
will remember with pleasure. It is one 
of the few remaining varieties of rifle 
or field-shooting in which the shooting 
is the most prominent detail. 
Another subject for the summer- 
shooter is the red squirrel. In many 
places red squirrels are much more 
plentiful and almost as crafty as grey 
squirrels and are well worth hunting 
where there is nothing much to shoot. 
This is especially so when using the 
small caliber rifle. The “reddy” is 
hard to hit, “sassy” and more or less 
of a general nuisance, and is a good 
subject for the rifle nut who wishes 
plenty of woods-shooting and wants it 
when regular game including grey, 
black and fox squirrels are not in sea- 
son. 
The camper will have all the uses for 
a firearm that either a hunter or fisher- 
man will have and at the same time he 
will devise a good many that are more 
or less peculiar to the man who obtains 
a great deal of pleasure in merely 
cruising around in the woods and fields. 
It isn’t so much what he actually shoots 
or has the opportunity to shoot that 
makes his trip enjoyable as what he 
imagines he “might” get a shot at—if 
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