
Seen thru the cattails, an evening flight of ducks 
try wing shots. His result of that 
morning’s shoot was a total of eighteen 
birds, fifteen on the wing; but far above 
that result was the conviction firmly 
implanted in his mind, he could hit any 
duck flying at any angle, and with a 
few finishing touches I could see that 
his wing shooting education was prac- 
tically complete. 
AFTER the first shoot the load was 
changed to 2 drams Dupont by %’s 
ounce No. 6 shot and that load used 
for the balance of the. season. 
He kept track of his kills by putting 
one of his empty shells into a box for 
each duck. On his fourth shoot he 
showed fifty-five shells for twenty-six 
ducks, all out of the air, and when I 
realized that was done by a boy eleven 
years of age with a single barrel twenty 
gauge, standing beside a hunter who 
had shot ducks for over thirty years, 
my paternal pride and later accounts 
of that performance did not go quite 
so far as to mention how many shells 
dad had used to down his twenty-five. 
It was beginning to loom on the distant 
horizon that dad would have to look to 
his shooting laurels, and that the 
“Chip” would soon be giving the “Old 
block” some shooting pointers. 
There was never a thought in either 
the boy’s or my mind but that he would 
shoot a twelve just as soon as he had 
the weight and age to handle it. We 
both considered the twenty as simply a 
gun with which to learn wing shooting 
and would be cast aside just as soon 
as possible for the twelve. It later ap- 
peared that while teacher was applying 
the psychology of ultimate success to 
his pupil, the little single barrel twenty 
was getting in some psychology of its 
own. We both began to notice and com- 
ment on some of the remarkable shots 
made by the twenty even with the light 
loads we first used. His first shots, 
and in fact all of his first shooting, was 
at birds at from twenty-five to thirty 
yards, all of the longer distance birds 
being assigned to the twelve. Occasion- 
ally, however, he would slip out from 
under instructions when flocks would 
come in, and blaze away, and even then 
I noticed how often the little short- 
barreled twenty, with its light load, 
would kill a duck as clean as a twelve 
at equal distance. 
The close of that season found him 
pleading for a double barrel, for his 
handicap of one shot was so evident on 
one hand and his shooting so good on 
the other, that we both decided his next 
Christmas present should be another 
twenty gauge—a double barrel. Again 
we both agreed that this should only be 
a gun to tide over a year or two at the 
utmost until the twelve would be his 
final gun. The gun selected was an 
Ithaca 20 gauge, 28 inch barrel, right 
modified, left full choke. 
ROM the beginning of the next duck 
season until Christmas he shot the 
single barrel. The load for the new gun 
was increased to a standard 2%, drams 
Dupont by % ounce No. 6 shot, and 
then things happened. 
It must be remembered that all of 

Bud’s first shotgun, an Iver Johnson single 20 gauge 

our shooting had been done in double 
blinds, which are the rule on the 
writer’s preserve. Hence all of his 
shooting had been at my side and under 
my supervision. 
HAT morning with the new gun and 
the new load, I was amazed at the 
way he brought down bird after bird, 
taking his chances shot for shot and 
range for range, making clean kills 
just as often and just as far as the 
twelve. That morning’s performance 
was so impressive, I resolved to try the 
boy’s gun for a morning’s shoot at the 
first opportunity. That test was made 
on shots figured with due regard to the 
supposed limitations of distance in a 
twenty. The result prompted another 
trial, this time at any and all ranges to 
see just how far the gun could reach. 
Any hunter who has shot ducks most 
of his life just naturally won’t ask im- 
possible shots of his gun, but that morn- 
ing I poked the gun at birds I would 
have passed up every time with the 
twelve. 
That morning’s shoot caused me to 
bid good-bye forever to the twelve and 
I have been shooting an Ithaca twenty 
gauge ever since. This, therefore, is 
the history of one hunter’s conversion 
from twelve gauge duck shooting to a 
twenty and will be Exhibit A in the 
case at hand. 
Now, listen further: that was three 
years ago. The evidence to be sub- 
mitted will be thirty years of duck 
shooting with the twelve as against 
three years with the twenty. Hardly a 
fair test you will say, but wait a min- 
ute. I have whispered into the left ear 
of ye Editor how many ducks this little 
twenty gauge Ithaca has dropped in 
those three years, and while he is honor 
bound not to reveal the exact figure, he 
will tell you the number shows unques- 
tionably a more than fair test of the 
comparative shooting qualities of the 
twenty as against the twelve. 
We shoot ducks in the rice fields of 
California, and it is a poor shooter that 
can’t get his limit of twenty-five before 
noon. The writer shoots ducks as some 
men play golf, so you have your own 
guess as to the result of three years’ 
shooting under such conditions. My 
experience with the twenty on ducks as 
against the twelve shows two outstand- 
ing advantages in favor of the smaller 
bore. 
THE very first impression made by 
the twenty was its extreme light- 
ness and ease of handling. It seemed 
almost like pointing a finger at the 
bird. Due to this lightness and ease 
in handling there was immediate im- 
provement in hits on fast flying birds. 
Straight overhead shots that have al- 
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