first, hang the target up by a long 
string where it can swing. After shoot- 
ing at this a while you will be ready to 
try them thrown up again. Gallon tin 
cans or something of simliar size is 
about right to begin with. If you are 
practicing with the idea of learning to 
- shoot at deer, it is better to get so you 
can hit a large object quick, than to 
take more time and hit a smaller target. 
‘ you live in a hill country where 
there is snow, you can rig up a small 
box target with runners and run it on 
a crust—when you have one. It will 
run even and smooth like a trotting ani- 
mal, or a large bird flying. 
To practice “snap shooting” I know 
of nothing better than a bar- 3 
rel head rolled on a steep side 
hill. Have an assistant roll it 
for you, and shoot at it at 
right angles as it goes by. 
Make sure that your assistant 
is safe. You should be from 
25 to 75 yards from the bar- 
rel head as it goes by. This 
target will bound around so 
swift and irregular that you 
cannot follow it closely with 
the front sight. The only suc- 
cessful way is to do accurate 
snap shooting. When you can 
hit it twice out of three times 
you are doing well, and will 
stand a lot better chance to 
knock down a running deer 
than you did before. In prac- 
ticing snap shooting it is best 
to use your regular high power 
rifle with full charge loads. If 
you can’t do this safely in your 
locality the next best is to use 
a 25-20 with the new Reming- 
ton Hi-Speed loads that have 
a velocity of 2,200 ft. per sec- 
ond. Peters and Savage also 
make a similar load. If you 
learn with a low velocity rifle 
and then change to one of high 
velocity you will shoot ahead, 
so learn with the high power 
ammunition. 
A friend of mine, when a young lad, 
had a very good air rifle given to him. 
He used it a lot, as it was very ac- 
curate at short range. He got so he 
could hit small objects, such as crab 
apples, marbles, etc., thrown up in the 
air with seldom a miss. When he 
changed to a real rifle it was years be- 
fore he could get so he didn’t shoot 
ahead, in fact he didn’t have so much 
time to shoot and he never got so he 
could do as well as he did with the 
air rifle. He said no boy of his would 
ever start in with an air rifle—when he 
was old enough to have a gun it would 
be a real rifle. I am telling this here 
as it may keep some one from making 
the same mistake. 
Another thing about practicing with 
the high power rifle—expanding bullets 
at a velocity of 2,800 ft. sec. or over 
seldom glance. They are pretty sure 
to stop where they hit. Go to some 
out of the way place where you can 
shoot into a hill and you and the natives 
will be quite safe. However, if they 
are within hearing distance, the report 
will worry them a lot. A .22 short is 
all right for shooting at cans thrown 
up in the air as the cans go com- 
paratively slow. 
The last way, that is holding ahead 
where you think the game will go and 
shooting when it gets there, is hard to 
duplicate in targets. You might try 
shooting at your sled target running 

If all shots could be like this, rifle shooting in the field 
would be greatly simplified. 
down hill when there is a crust on the 
snow. The best way to learn this 
though is with a hound in a good rab- 
bit country when there is a snow on. 
Many hunters—yes, I might say in 
fact most hunters—spend a lot of 
money on their hunting trips, and yet 
they carry a rifle that they never shot 
a box of cartriges from! They spend 
tens—often hundreds of dollars for car 
fare, licenses, board, guides, etc., and 
yet they can’t afford to pay $10.00 a 
hundred for a few hundred cartridges 
to practice up with. Take my advice 
and learn your rifle—and how to shoot 
it as well as you possibly can. If it 
costs you $100 it will be money well 
spent. You will be surprised how much 
you can improve your shooting with 
two or three thousand .22 shorts and 
one thousand high power loads—and 
save enough of them for your fall hunt. 
One of the best guides and hunters 
in Pennsylvania is an old friend of 
mine. Last fall he had a party out 
after bear, he left this fellow to watch 
in the head of a small sag. A fox 
trotted up on the other side of the hol- 
low not over 40 yards away from the 
hunter, he shot, but the fox kept on 
going. Later the same day a nice black 
bear came down the sag directly to- 
wards the hunter; the guide had told 
him if the bear came from that way 
not to shoot ’til the bear came up to 
the spring to drink, the way the wind 
was the bear would not get the 
hunter’s scent, and if kept still 
he would not see him, he would 
have an easy shot at not over 
30 yards. 
OWEVER, when the bear 
was about 80 yards away 
he stopped broadside in an 
open spot, and the hunter 
could not resist shooting. He 
hit the bear, knocking him 
down, and he rolled down be- 
hind some logs before the 
hunter could shoot again. 
After thrashing around a 
minute the bear got up and 
ran as well as if he had not 
been hit, he ran right by the 
hunter, even closer than the 
fox, but several shots failed to 
take effect. This hunter only 
lacked practice at running 
game as the guide said he was 
naturally a good shot. What 
would you have been willing 
to give, if you had been in this 
hunter’s place, to have been 
able to stopped both the fox 
and bear? It surely would 
have been a successful day to 
long remember. 
One hundred dollars spent 
for ammunition and this used 
for carefully planned practice 
at moving objects would without doubt 
have made it possible for this hunter 
to have scored a kill on both animals, 
and I’ll bet he would have come close 
to getting his $100 worth of fun out of 
the practice, to say nothing of the skill 
he would have acquired. 
The guide said he was sure the bear 
was fatally hit, but he got into a laurel 
patch and quit bleeding and they had to 
give him up. 
A rifle in the hands of a poor shot is 
about as worthless as a motor car 
which the owner cannot drive. How- 
ever, practice is good sport in itself and 
the rewards are well worth while. 
Begin now and practice for that fall 
hunt. 
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