(Tf) Sp) Lut (aa CS = (oa q> Louw © > C= THE RULES OF TRAP-SHOOTING. bs THIRD EDITION, REVISED TO DATE. NEW YORK: FOREST & STREAM PUBLISHING CO, : 1891, Copyright, 1891, by FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO, TO THE SPORTSMEN OF AMERICA THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, . - ae © —. . . a “ caer , ‘ ‘ ba 2 tenga i " 7 Ts alae 4 eels. wea) A : . ? } f rahe — ‘ = a p iS 4 eet i ‘ 59 : “aha. r ‘ : hee a Ped. Ee Lies ‘ 4 * rad ‘ : a : hate ‘ ; - ‘ ee a i + = ‘? . RAS “ ; 2 ’: f . té* ea : hee , ag : nd oS Mates gone Pato ie Gee E BENG ts 2 ‘ ue : ‘ ie Nie Swit cr: oe a J yu y bi et oe m . ‘4 r J r- id a . rN : ! . ee 3? ae am 7 : i F * . Me pas Nay ® “ath Bie) y r ‘| we ; i) mm. cs ey ; i eat yee : ; - CONTENTS. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR, ‘ = ° ee le a 60s oS CHAPTER If. GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Great Increase of Field Shooting—Delights of the Sport—Expe- rience in the Field—Beginning in Albany County, New York, at Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock—Removal to Sangamon River, Illi- nois—Great Abundance of Game—Numerous Deer—Removal to Elkhart, Logan County—Vast Numbers of Pinnated Grouse— Gillott’s Grove—Osage Orange Hedges and Quail—Pinnated Grouse shot too early—Diminution of Breeding Places—Migration of the Grouse late in Fall—Ducks and Geese in Corn-Fields —Nesting Places of Grouse and of Quail—Evil of Prairie- Burning late in Spring—Snipe, Golden Plover, and Upland Plover —The American Hare or Rabbit—Hawks after Game—The Win- nebago Swamp Breeding-place of Ducks and Crane—Wolves in the Swamp—A Wolf-Hunt in Gillott’s.Grove—Eagles and Foxes, etc...’ peepee fe oo oe : : ohn . . 15-37 CHAPTER II. GUNS AND ‘THEIR PROPER CHARGES. Skill and Ingenuity of Gunmakers—Improvements and Inventions of Late Years—Vast Advantage from the Breech-Loader—Safest and best of Guns—Metallic Cartridge-Cases—Size of Guns—Advan- tage of Weight—The Suitable Stock—Proper Filling of Cartridges— Trials of Guns—Loading of Cartridges—Quantity of Powder—Sizes . of Shot for Different: Game—Dead-Shot Powder—Disadvantage of very Large Shot, . 6 A is : P - - . 388-52 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PINNATED GROUSE SHOOTING. Abundance in the Prairie States—Of Service to the Farmer— Grouse Polygamous—Booing' of the Cocks in Spring—Nesting- time and Nests—Rapid Growth of the Young Birds—Supposed Hybrids—Grouse Shooting in August too Early—The Easiest there is—The Corn-Fields the only Protection—Grouse found at Morning in Stubbles—In Clear Weather no Shooting in the Middle of the Day—On Damp, Cloudy Days Grouse in Stubbles all Day—On Clear Days Shoot again towards Evening—Grouse in Pasture-Land—Shooting in McLean County—Beware of Shoot- ing too Quick—Mr. Sullivant’s Great Farm—Water for Men and Dogs must be Carried, . E . . ‘ : : 3 55-71 CHAPTER IV. LATE PINNATED GROUSE SHOOTING. The Middle of the Day the best Time—Good Shooting in Corn after the Frosts—Wheat Sowed in Corn-Yields—No Shooting on Cloudy Days—November Shooting Best—Grouse in Sod Corn—A Day in Champagne County—Grouse will not Lie on Damp, Cloudy Days —Indian Summer a Good Time—The Prairies in Spring—On Bright Mornings in Winter—Scene near Chatsworth, Iroquois County, on a December Morning—Necessity of Silence in Late Grouse Shooting—A Trip to Christian County, . : . 72-88 CHAPTER V. QUAIL SHOOTING IN THE WEST. Abundance of Quail in the Western States—Increase in the Prairie States—Osage Orange Hedges a Great Cause—Afford Nesting Places, Protect from Hawks, and Shelter in Severe Weather— Nesting Places and Nests—The Quail Hawk—Beginning of the Shooting—Best Shooting after the Frostsin November and De- cember—Up at Early Morning—Fine, Clear Days Best—Lie well when Scattered—Pack late in Fall—Run in Damp and Wet Weather—Netting now Unlawful—Quail Shooting on Salt Creek, Sangamon River—Quail not Difficult to Shoot—Missed through Haste—Shooting on Shoal Creek, Missouri—Quail in Hedges— Quailin the Bouth,. <2 l-. cane We ene oe eee ae { Ul CONTENTS, CHAPTER VI. RUFFED GROUSE SHOOTING. Distribution and Habits of the Birds—Found in Wild, Lonely Places—Favorite Food of Ruffed Grouse—Beauty and Pride of the Bird—The Drumming of the Male—Deceptiveness of the Sound—Macdonald’s Drummer-Boy—Much Drumming Before Rain—Nest of the Ruffed Grouse—The Young on the Cass River. Michigan—Wolves at the Camp on the Cass—The Chippewa Indians—Wildness of Ruffed Grouse—The First I ever Shot— Ruffed Grouse hard to Shoot Flying—Goes for Densest Part of the Thicket—May be Shot over Setters, . : : : 107-120 CHAPTER VII. SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. Arrivai in Spring—The Breeding Season—Nest of the Woodcock— A Woodcock in Confinement—Voracity in Feeding—Young Full Grown in July—Solitary Birds after Separation of Brood—Noc- turnal in Habit—Supposed Second Migration—Laboring Flight in Summer—Difficult to shoot—Density of Foliage—Snap Shooting— Swift and Twisting Flight -in Autumn—Bottom:s and Islands of the Mississippi River—Woodcock on the Illinois River—Scarcer . in general in the West than in the Atlantic States—Fall Wood- cock Shooting, : ; : : : - : : : 121-132 CHAPTER VIII. THE SNIPE AND SNIPE SHOOTING. Breeds North of Virginia, but only sparsely in the United States— Arrives at Columbus, Kentucky, early in March—Never appears before the Frost out of Ground—Nearly a Month Later in Illinois than in Kentucky—The Spring Shooting Best—Snipe Wild at First Arrival—Get Fat and Lazy—Snipe Shooting on the Sanga- mon—Snipe very Abundant in the West—Should be Beat for Down-Wind—No Need for Dog on Good Snipe Ground—Difficult to Shoot in Corn-Fields—Shooting on the Bottoms—Easy to Kill when Fat—A Proposed Match—In Snipe Shooting much Walking Required—Snipe Shooting along Sloughs and Swales—Hovering of Snipse—The Fall Snipe Shooting, : : : ‘ : 133-148 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. GOLDEN PLoveR, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. Arrival of Golden Plover and Curlew—First Seen on Burnt Prairies —Plover like Bare Earth and Pastures—Golden Plover and Cur- lew in Flocks Together—They Foliow the Plough—Lying Down for Plover—Plover Shooting from a Buggy—The. Method of It— How to Shoot Plover on Foot—Plover Circle Round the Wounded —An Afternoon’s Shooting near Elkhart—Plover Shooting in Christian County—Golden Plover Scattered—Fast Flyers and Good Practice—The Upland or Gray Plover—Last of Spring Migrants—Breeds in Illinois, lowa, etc.—Ready to Pair when It Arrives—Should not be Shot in the Spring—Nest of the Upland Plover—Difficult to Shoot in Autumn—Horse and Buggy Needed © —Flight of Upland Plover—Sand Snipe and Grass Snipe, . 149-167 CHAPTER X. WILD DuCKS AND WESTERN DucK SHOOTING. The Prime Western Ducks—Beauty of the Wood Duck—Its Rapid Flight—The Mallard—Its Exceilence and Beauty—Comparison with Canvas-Back—Mallards’ Nests—The Flappers—Ducks begin to Arrive by Middle of February—Habits of Mallards and Pintails —Their Vast Numbers—Remain Four or Five Weeks—Coming of Ducks in the Fall—Vast Numbers—When Cold Sets In—Heard in the Air all Night—Duck Shooting in the Corn-Fields—Color of Clothes Important—Ducks Wary and Far-Sighted—Method of Shooting, . 4 ; : : ; ; ; ‘ ‘ : 168-182 CHAPTER Xi. DUCKS AND WESTERN Duck SHOOTING. Cold Work in Hard Weather—The [Illinois River—The Western Corn-Fields—Shooting in Them in Fall—Osage Orange Hedges— Flight of Ducks in Wet, Windy Weather—In Clear Weather— Ducks in Flight seem Nearer than They Are—Shooting at Prairie Ponds and Sloughs—Live Decoys Best—Dead Duck Decoys bet- ter than Wooden—Method of Setting Dead Mallards as Decoys— Duck Shooting in the Winnebago Swamp—Duck Shooting in Ford County—Mr. M. Sullivant’s Great Farm—Duck Shooting on the Sangamon—Shooting from the Timber—Ninety-five Mallards with No. 9 Shot— Water Fowl Seek Timber in Hard, Windy Weather, . : - : ‘ 5 anf ; ; . . 183-197 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. Witp GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. ‘ The Canada Goose and Brant Goose—Mexican Geese—Hutchinson’s Goose—The White-Fronted Goose—The Snow Goose—Migration of Wild Geese—Flight of Wild Geese—Habits of the Geese—Fixst of the Spring Migrants— Geese on Pasture-Lands—The Best Shooting Places—Means of Concealment—Shootirg on the Pas- tures from a Buggy—Long Shots at Geese—The Fall Geese—In Wheat-Fields and Shocked Corn—The Roosting Places—Times when Geese Resort to Timber—A Flock on the Ice—Getting into the River—The Ague, and a Remedy—Shooting Brant and Mexican Geese—Great Packs of Mexican Geese—The Cranes of the West —The Sand-Hill Crane—Its High Flight in Spring—Feeding on Corn in Fall—The Large White Crane—Wounded Cranes Fight Hard—Flesh of Cranes when Hung—Pelicans and Swans on the Mississippi, : : ; ; ¢ ; : : : : 198-222 CHAPTER XIII. WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. &xcellence and Beauty of the Wild Turkey—Its Haunts and Habits — Methods of Shooting Turkeys—The Wild Turkey’s Nest—Track- ing Turkeys in Snow—Shooting in Thick Snow-Storms—Shooting at Crossing Places—Tracking Turkeys on the Sangamon—Lost in the Timber—A Walk Homeof Thirteen Miles—The Great Gobbler of the Sangamon—Turkey Shooting on Shoal Creek—The Cold Nights in Camp—Eleven Turkeys to One Gun in Half a Day— After a Wounded Deer—Camping Out without a Tent—A Heavy Thunder-Storm on Delavan Prairie—Deer Shooting in the West— Haunts and Habits—My First Deer—Deer Shooting on Horse- back, . : : : “ Lanta cubes, 5 < Prats : . 223-250 CHAPTER XIV. THE ART OF SHOOTING ON THE WING. The Art Easily Acquired—Boys Should begin to Shoot Early—No Danger of Accidents—Loading Guns—Large Shot and Too Much Shot Mischievous—Guns for Boys—Handling the Gun—Loading the Gun—Light Loads at First—Shooting at a Target—No Shoot- ing at Sitting Birds—Shooting Larks and Blackbirds—How to Aim—Shooting at Young Grouse—The Causes of Missing—How to Aim at Crossing Birds—Long Shots—The Shot Towers at New York, Sd oc ee PES er Oa cpr et eae - - 251-275 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. SporRTING DoGs—BREEDING AND BREAKING, Setters and Pointers—Advantages and Drawbacks of Each—The Sharpness of Prairie Grass—Coekle-Burrs in Setters’ Coats—Set- ters Retrieve Well in Water—Cross-Bred Dogs—How to Breed Them—Their Stoutness in the Field—No Timid Dogs Among Them—History of Fanny, Daughter of a Pointer Dog and Setter Bitch—An English Pointer not to be Called Off—He Points at Grouse ali Night—Best Age for Breaking Dogs—Method of Break- ing—The Setter, Jack—Dick, Son of a Pointer Dog and Setter Bitch—Miles Johnson asa Breaker, . ‘ : ‘ F 276-299 CHAPTER XVI. PIGEON SHOOTING. My Beginning at Pigeons—Match against Staunton—Against A. Kleinman—Championship of Illinois—Match to Shoot from Buggy —Match at Five Hundred—Match to Kill One Hundred Consecu- tively—Match against Mr. King—Match against Doxie—Sweep- stakes at Chicago—Match against J. Kleinman—Match with Ira Paine—Championship and Other Matches—Matches with A. Kleinman—Match against Four Marksmen—Advice to Members of Shooting Club—Suggestion for New Rule—H and T Traps— Scores of Championship Matches—Scores of Exhibition and Other Matches, . 5 . - ; - . A - - . 800-325 APPENDIX. Favorable Reception of ‘Field, Cover, and Trap-Shooting ”—Match with Paine—Trip to England—Kind Reception there—Match with Mr. Fowler—Match with Mr. George Bimell—Match with Shaw— Letter from Mr. Harris, the famous London gun-maker—A Trip to California—Great Matches at Glass Balls—Hints on Dogs and Dog-Breaking—A Chat with Sportsmen—Best Scores on Record the World over—How Guns are Made—The Rules of Trap-Shoot- ing, : : A : : ; ; : A Sven ec) . 326-494 PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. THE generous reception accorded ‘Field, Cover, and Trap-Shooting” upon its appearance; the many encomiums showered upon the work by press and public; the numerous compliments that the author has received regarding its value, both to the be- all- these combined, to- ginner and to the expert gether with various other reasons which it would be superfluous to mention, have induced Captain Bogardus to issue a third and more complete edi- tion of the book, and it is universally acknowl- edged that no one is_ better qualified, on account not only of his long experience both in field and trap-shooting, but also on account of the wonderful successes he has attained in both of these branches of the use of the shoteun. It will be noticed that the work is like the man — strong, vigorous, and, what is of far more value, thoroughly trustworthy. To this third edition has been added such ma- terial as makes the work truly modern in every respect. 14 PREFACE. Since presenting ‘Field, Cover, and Trap-Shoot- ing” to his friends, Captain Bogardus has_ entered upon his sixth decade, and feels, after his long life before the public of both hemispheres, that he is justified in retiring from shooting matches. He has won all championship matches in which he has con- tested, though he now retires from the field. This, however, is no case of “The king is dead; long {?? live the king for the champion retained his title to the end of the time that he remained in the lists, defying the world to pick up his gauntlet, and, with his “blushing honors thick upon him,” covered with medals, bearing cups won on many a smoke-crowned field amidst the plaudits of the admiring spectators, he made his bow to his dis- comfited adversaries, who acknowledged that they had been honorably and chivalrously defeated, and that the champion had fought for the honors he had acquired against obstacles that would have dis- heartened a less skilful and confident competitor. New York, 1890, FIELD, COVER, AND TRAP SHOOTING. CHAPTER I. GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. WirHIn a.comparatively recent period the num. bers of those who follow the delightful and healthful sports of the field have increased almost beyond calculation in this country, and they are still ra- pidly augmenting. Among all those sports there is none so easy of attainment, and certainly none so invigorating, useful, and enjoyable, as the pur- suit of game-birds, waterfowl, etc., over dogs, or, at flight time, in the neighborhood of the haunts of the latter. The vast extent and variety of our territory—woodland interspersed among prairie, pas- ture, and cultivated farms—the great abundance of game to be met with by those who know when and where to seek for it, and the many kinds to be found in these favorite haunts at the proper seasons, afford such excellent and varied shooting as may hardly be experienced if sought for anywhere 15 16 FIELD SHOOTING. else. The art of shooting swift-flying birds on the. wing is of comparatively recent origin in this country. Years ago but few people followed it, and they had mostly acquired their skill in Europe before they came here. The quickness and art necessary for even moderate success were almost comparatively unknown in the regions where such game most abounded, and they were in a great measure deemed worthless, of no more practical use than the curious tricks of a juggler. This was not unnatural. The backwoodsmen, and those set- tlers who had made lodgments in the immense prairies of the Western States, could kill a buck with the rifle, or knock over a fat turkey with the same arm; and those who had old-fashioned smooth- bores seldom shot with anything less than buck- shot, or the largest sizes of other shot. Hence they looked with a sort of lazy curiosity akin to contempt upon the doings of the men who, with good guns and small shot, killed “ little birds,” as quail, plover, woodecock, snipe, etc., were denomi- nated. The use. of the setter and pointer was practically unknown. ‘The game was considered to be a trifling matter, not worth the powder and shot expended upon it. The latter were somewhat dear, and money was yery scarce, The hunters GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1% and Indians called the shot-gun by the derisive term “squaw gun,” and wondered that grown men should delight in its use. All that is now greatly changed. Thousands every year enjoy sport of the highest order, and fill their bags in the most artistic man- her, in many parts of the country where shooting on the wing was formerly unknown. Shooting of this sort once enjoyed is never willingly relinquished altogether. Those who are able to afford the cost and spare the time from their avyocations in the great cities impatiently count the days which must intervene before the time comes for them to jump aboard the train with their guns and their sporting paraphernalia, bound to the shooting-grounds—the places where game is to be found in abundance, Arrived in these sections, and meeting with old friends, the harassed and weak grow vigorous again, and the strong become stronger. The consciousness of skill, the confidence begotten of success, give such a spring to the mind and nerves, and inflame the ardor of pursuit to such a degree, that the fatigues of the excursion are scarcely perceived, and_ its privations, if such they may be called, are laughed at and merrily endured till speedily forgotten. The habits of the various kinds of: game are a subject of great interest and observation, The fine and 18 FIELD SHOOTING. eager instinct of the dogs, their great sagacity, en durance, and patience, are remarked with pride and admiration. The features of the varied landscapes —hill and vale, woodland and riverside, vast prairies with groves and fringes of timber on the branches of winding and meandering streams, broad fields of land, now m_ pasture, now covered with brown stubble, now waved over by the green flags of the corn, tall, strong, and a place of refuge for quail, grouse, etc.—aftord constant pleasure to the sports- man. And after the labors and sports of the day are done, the camp-fire beneath the trees, on the banks of a stream or the margin of a little lake, a place of calm recreation and repose. You may hear the call of the night-birds, and the low, sup- pressed noises of the nocturnal animals afoot after their prey, but neither the hoot of the owl nor the howl of the wolf will drive slumber from the pillow of brush upon which you rest. The night brings enjoyment almost as pleasant as that which was the recompense of the exertions of the day. Having followed shooting since [ was fifteen, mostly all through the different seasons, and some- times camped out as much as three months at a time, never sleeping in a house during that period, J believe I have a-sound and extensive practical GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 19 knowledge of the matters upon which this book is to treat. | am no scientific naturalist, and what I know has not been derived from books. I cannot give the Latin names of birds of game, waterfowl, snipe, woodcock, ete., and if I could you would not care about them, because the constant repetition of them makes no impression at all upon the sportsman. To him the quail is simply a quail, the pinnated grouse (commonly called prairie chicken) is a grouse, and no Latin is required to maké him understand what you mean by a snipe or a woodcock. I cannot set down the sci- entific names by which naturalists distinguish the birds of which I[ shall treat, but I know their haunts and habits, and [ can tell you when and where to seek them, and how to kill them in a sportsmanlike and satisfactory manner. I was born in Albany County, New York, and began to shoot at fifteen years of age. I[ was then a tall, strong lad, and have since grown into a large, powerful, sinewy, and muscular man. I have always enjoyed fine health, had great strength and endurance, and been capable of much exertion and exposure. When | began to shoot, there was a good deal of game in Albany County, and it chiefly consisted of ruffed grouse and woodcock, 20 FIELD SHOOTING. which are difficult birds for young beginners. ° | received no instructions from anybody, but I pos- sessed a quick, true eye, and steady nerve, and had, as | believe, the natural gifts which enable a man to become in time, with proper opportunity, a first-rate field shot. I[t was a long time after that before [ ever shot at a pigeon from a_ trap, and I confess that [ had for many years a strong prejudice against that sort of shooting. There were no quail, snipe, or ducks about Albany County at that time, and it was not until I. re- moved to the West that [ became familiar with them and with the pinnated grouse. In the Fall of 1856 | moved to Illinois, and settled on the Sangamon River, near Petersburg. It was more a broken, swampy country, with much cover, than a prairie land like that to the northwards in the State. Game of all sorts was in vast abundance. There were vast numbers of quail; the pinnated grouse were rather numerous, though nothing like as much so as upon some of the great prairies; ducks and geese came in immense flocks every spring and fall, and deer and turkeys abounded. It was, too, and is to this day, one of the best places for snipe that 1 know of. It was a para- dise for a sportsman; and as for the snipe and GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21 quail, there was hardly a man there who could | 4 a kill them except myself. Lots of men used to go out to see me shoot. There was one, a great hunter of deer and turkeys, with whom I became very intimate. At first he laughed at me when he saw me loading with No. & shot. «That wunt kill nothin’, stranger,” said he. “ What little I dosat ~quail- | do -with No. 1 shot, and for prairie’ chicken T always use BBs. You can’t stop “em with anything lighter.” | But he changed his opinion when he found by experience that I could kill ten to his one, and then it was the old story of the fox and grapes. “ Darn the little creatures, I say!” he exclaimed; “I got no use for *em anyhow!” At that time I used to stint myself in quail-shooting time to twenty-five brace a day. When I had got them, [ gave over for the day. Often when I was_ shoot- ing quail in the oak barrens two or three deer have got up close to me. I shot some turkeys ; but my bag was mostly made up of quail and pinnated grouse in the fall, and of snipe in the spring. There were snipe in the fall too, but not so many. Ducks and geese were plentiful in the fall and spring, but I did not go after them much . at that time. I had no wagon and team, and a 22 FIELD SHOOTING. bunch of ducks and geese is very heavy to carry. The country about the Sangamon was wild and very sparsely settled. Even now it has no large population, and remains a great resort for ducks and geese, a fine place for snipe, and the quail still abound. There was a fine variety of ducks. The bag would include mallards, bluebills, pin- tails, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal, with some wood-ducks. I consider the mallard the best duck we have in the West, and I doubt very much whether there is any better anywhere else. A great deal is said about the canvas-back, and with justice; but I do not think them any better eating than mallards are in the fall of the year, when they come on large and fat and glorious in plumage from the wild rice-fields of the north- west, away in the British territories. After staying on the Sangamon about two years I moved to Elkhart, in Logan County, where I have lived ever since. It is in the heart of the State of Illinois, a hundred and sixty-six miles south of Chicago, eighteen miles northwest of Springfield, and one hundred and fifteen miles from St. Louis. It was then a grand place for game, and is very good now late in the fall, when the pinnated grouse pack and partially migrate. Fif- CAPT. A. H. BOGARDUS: AND SONS. PETER. A. H. BoGARDUS, JR. EDWARD. GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 25 teen years ago the prairies there were but, sparsely settled, and not one acre in a thousand had been broken up. The grouse were in immense num- bers; the quail, though, were not as plentiful as on the Sangamon in the brushy land of the oak barrens. There was, however, and is now, a grove of timber six hundred acres in extent, not far from the town. It is one of the finest in the State, and in it and on its borders there were many -quail. This grove was then owned and still belongs to Mr. John D. Gillot. He has a great stock-farm, his pasture-land running for seven miles at a stretch. Being a man of great enterprise, as well as large means, he planted hedges all over this estate. They have now grown up, and, affording harbor and nesting-places for the quail, the latter are now more plentiful in that neighborhood than they were when I first went to live there. At that time very few in those parts used the double- barrelled gun, and shot over dogs. I was about the only one who followed shooting systematically and thoroughly. But though the quail in that neighborhood are now very abundant, they are hard to kill. The corn, grows very tall, and as soon as a bevy is flushed away they go for the corn-fields. Once in them, with the stalks stand- 26 FIELD-SHOOTING. ing thick and high above your head, you can only kill birds by snap shots such as you make at woodcock in thick cover. You can find them on the stubbles and in the pastures at the right time of day, but when you have fired your two barrels at them they are off to the corn. The pin- nated grouse lie in the corn and on the borders of it a good deal too. There was no trouble in killing a great number when | first went there. I have known sixty young ones to be killed in a morning in one field, not more than a quarter of a mile from Elkhart. For my part, I am very much opposed to such doings. The commence- ment of the shooting season ought to be fixed by law a month later. When the shooting begins, the birds are very young, though of good size, and do not fly either fast or far; the weather is hot, and I am satisfied that above half of those which are killed are spoiled and never used. At the present time the grouse are much more scarce about Elkhart, especially young grouse. The chief reason is the want of good nesting-places. Except in Mr. Gillot’s extensive pastures, there are no good nesting-places left of any account. This is - what causes the great diminution of the numbers of pinnated grouse. They are so prolific, and GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 27 their food is so abundant, that they could stand shooting ii and out of season, ana cven the trap- ping and netting which are so extensively carried on in many parts; but when the prairie is all or nearly all broken up, no good breeding-place: remain, and young grouse are not to be found. Thus it has been in a great measure about EIk- hart. Late in the fall, when they pack and come in from the distant prairies where they breed, the birds seem to be as plentiful or nearly as plentiful as they were before. About the last of October and in November you may see as many as five hundred in a pack. They are then strong and wild. Some people maintain that the pin- nated grouse do not migrate from one place to another. I am certain that with us they do. There are now ten times as many about Elkhart in November as there are in September, therefore the bulk of them are not bred there. Moreover, I have been at Keokuk in Iowa late in the fall, and have seen the grouse coming from the interior of that State in large numbers, and flying across the Mississippi River into Illinois. They are never known to do so at any other season, and if that is not migration | do not know what it can be. The river there is so wide that the flight 28 FIELD SHOOTING. across is a long one for a grouse, and I[- think nothing but the migratory instinct would induce the grouse to make it, unless it were pressing danger. Now they face the danger in order to make their migration, for the people shoot at them as they fly over the town to cross the river, and some are killed. I think they no doubt cross the Mississippi at many other points to make the east bank, and no one ever sees them return to lowa. Ducks and geese are not so s plentiful about Elkhart as they are on the San- gamon. Still their numbers are very large at times, They come out in the evening to feed in the corn- fields, and at such times | have often killed twenty couple, which is a pretty good bag for one gun. Snipe are now scarce in the neighborhood of Elk- hart. Cultivation and the draining -of swamp- lands have converted the places which were the favorite resorts for snipe into the best wheat and corn land in the State. The change of condition in the-land is the chief cause of the diminution of game of various sorts in particular places. It has more to do with: it than all other -eauses.. Al- though the pinnated grouse are trapped and netted by thousands, as well as shot in a sportsmanlike manner, it would not of itself reduce their num- GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 29 bers so as to be greatly perceptible. Immense numbers are sent East which are taken in nets and traps. Some are killed by coming in contact with the telegraph wires in’ their flight. But all these causes would be inadequate to reduce the stock much if the breeding birds had the nesting- places which they formerly used. The grouse used to breed in the prairies, commonly along the edges of the sloughs. In many parts the prairies are nearly all broken up and brought under cul- tivation. Many now make their nests in_ the fields of the farmer, and these nests are nearly all broken up and destroyed by the ploughing in the spring. Quail, whose nests are made in hedges and corners of fences and under bunches of bram. bles, escape, and we see them increase in numbers in the very places where the grouse diminish. A great source of destruction to the nests of the grouse might be easily prevented. In most places there are patches of prairie left for pasture, and in these the birds build. Many farmers follow a practice of burning these patches over late in the spring, under a notion that it improves the pasturage by causing the young grass to spring up fine and succulent as soon as the weather gets warm. When these patches of prairie are burned \ 30 FIELD SHOOTING. over, there are commonly many nests in each, sometimes scores of them, and they are half-full of eggs. This cuts up the supply of grouse root and branch, and reduces the numbers to a serious extent every year. It is a great mistake on the part of the farmers, for the grouse, by consump- tion of grasshoppers and other destructive insects, is one of the agriculturist’s best friends,- and the grass would be just as good if the patches of prairie were burned over late in the fall, when there would be no nests destroyed. It is to be hoped that this plan will be adopted for the fu- ture; and I think it will be, for the possession of guns and sporting-dogs, end the love of shooting, are spreading among the farmers of the West, and these, after all, will be in time the most efficient preservers of the game. The men, such as my- self, who go every fall to shoot in the great un- broken prairies which still exist in Ford County, Champagne County, and about there, burn the grass themselves late in the fall, and thus leave nothing to be burned the following spring in_nest- ing-time. By this means the stock of grouse is fully kept up, and it is from thence the great packs migrate towards the last of October and in November. Upon this subject I consider myself GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 31 competent to speak. | have had much experience, and have conferred with many practical men whose experience is nearly or quite as great as my own. What I have stated I know to be true, No doubt, when the hen-birds have lost their first - nests by the plough, or by the much more destruc. tive burning of the prairie patches late in spring, they make other nests; but these also are often destroyed; and if they are not, the broods are small and late, and quite unable to take care of themselves when the shooting season begins. The best spring shooting in Illinois is snipe; and in many parts, such as that on the Sangamon River, the birds are found in abundance. I know of no better ground for them anywhere. After the snipe come the golden plover, sometimes in very large flocks. This beautiful and delicious little bird stays with us some three or four weeks, and the sport they afford is excellent. They are commonly shot from horseback, or by means of a wheeled vehicle, as is said to be the prac- tice in the Eastern States. You must be a good sportsman to fill your bag with them, and there is no better practice for a good shot than at them. After remaining with us abouts a month the ‘golden plover go farther north to breed. The up 32 FIELD SHOOTING. land or gray plover stays with us and breeds in Illinois. They flock to some extent, but not in such large numbers as the golden plover do. I have often seen as many as four hundred or five hundred of the latter together, and they sometimes fly so close in the pack that a great many can be cut down with two barrels when you can get within fair distance. After they have scattered and run before they fly, the practice at the single birds is as good as anything for the education of a marksman. The upland. plover are more open in their flight, as well as in smaller flocks. They ought not to be shot at all in the spring with us, for they do not arrive from the South until about corn-planting time, and then they are ready to pair and make their nests. September is the proper month to shoot them. They are then very fat and delicious for the table. They frequent the great pasture I mentioned belong- ing to Mr. Gillot. When Miles Johnson of New Jersey was in Illinois shooting with me over that ground, he said he had never seen such plover as those before—that is, for size and fatness—and that each of them would fetch half a dollar in Boston market. Eight or ten years ago the American hare; GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 33 commonly called the rabbit, used to abound about Elkhart. I and another man, by beating the hedges, one on each side, after the first snow, when there was about four inches on the ground, once killed a hundred and sixty in a day. They decreased at one time, but recently they have been getting numerous again, and there is now a good head of them. The abundance of game in any given year depends very much upon the breeding season, for there are commonly old ones left to raise a good stock. If the spring is warm and moderately dry, the broods of quail and grouse are large, and the young birds grow up strong, so as to be able to fly fast and go a good distance when the shooting season begins. When the spring is cold and wet, many broods are lost through the nests being drowned out. The broods which are hatched out are small, and the young birds have a hard time of it until summer begins. The last spring was a very favorable one in the West, and grouse and quail are numerous and strong. Farmers who had seen many nests of grouse told me that in most in- ‘stances every egg had been hatched out, and in June I saw myself as many as twelve young grouse in a gang. All the old ones that I ob 34: FIELD SHOOTING. served had large numbers of young birds, and the Jatter were large and strong. The Western coun-. try abounds with hawks, and these persecute the quail, grouse, and duck very auch. 1 have seen a bevy of quail in such desperate terror when pursued by a hawk that they dashed against a house and many were killed. I kill all the hawks I can, and often let a grouse go unshot at in order to bring down a hawk. There is one bird of that order which makes great ravages among the ducks. It just kills for the sake of killing, for it’ strikes down one after the other. It is a small, long-winged hawk, very muscular and strong, and uncommonly rapid in flight. I have seen this hawk when pursuing ducks strike one down and let it lie, going on after the others, and continuing to harass and kill until the prey could reach water. This hawk does not consume a fourth of the grouse and duck it kills. Tt is not large enough to carry away a_ good-sized duck, and I doubt whether it could fly away with a grouse for any distance. Kighty miles from Elk- hart there is the Winnebago Swamp, a large and wild track of water, moss, and cover. Ducks, such as mallard, teal, and widgeon, breed there in large numbers. I have often flushed them GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, dD from their nests when [ have been shipe-shoot- ing thereabout. A few geese breed there also, but perhaps these are only those which, owing to being wounded or to some accident, have been unable to join’ the great flocks in their spring flight towards the North. From what I am told by men who have been explorers and hunters in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, no matter how far north Indians or white men may penetrate, it is found that the geese go farther in ro) the summer, and bring back their broods in the fall. In this Winnebago Swamp [ have occasion ally found the nest of the’ sand-hill crane, and sometimes that of the blue crane. The crane builds its nest on the top of a muskrat house, just as the geese do in that section, It lays two eggs, much larger thai those of a goose, especially in length, and one of the cranes commonly keeps watch bythe nest. Thé nests of the ducks are built on tussocks of grass. The Winnebago Swamp used to harbor many wolves, and there are a con- siderable number there yet. Three years ago, in company with a hunter named Henry Conderman, 1 found the den of a she-wolf in the swamp, and we took her litter of six wheips. Afterwards we trapped the old one. We got thirty-five dollars 36 FIELD SHOOTING. _from the county, as it pays a bounty of five dol- lars a head. The gray prairie wolf is very de- structive of young pigs, lambs, geese, ete., and wolves are more numerous in Illinois now than most people suppose. Last. spring Mr. Gillot took a litter of five whelps in his grove near Elkhart. He has a grand wolf-hunt every sum- mer. The men who have hounds in the neigh- borhood meet, and a small pack is got together, with which we ,hunt the grove, and there is nearly always fine sport. Mr. Gillot’s daughters have fine saddle-horses and are good riders. | With some other ladies they see the chase from the hills, and there is a grand time. Last summer we ran three down in the pastures and killed them. Another also took to the open, and was killed after the hunt was over in one of the pastures by Mr. L. B. Dean. Thus there were four ac counted for, all of one litter and about half. grown. But the old wolves got away, as they usually do, for our hounds are not able to run on to an old wolf. They go very fast, keep up their lope for a long time, know the ground well, and are very cunning as well as fierce when cornered or brought to bay. Gray foxes are numerous with us, Eagles are commonly to be GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. a1 found along the creeks, and they are sometimes very bold. Last winter one made a_ sudden peunce and grabbed a grouse [ had just shot. I gave him the No.6 shot from the other barrel, and as he was near I expected to see him fall, but he got away with the charge without the grouse. From that which has been stated in this intro- ductory chapter, it will be apparent that there is no trouble in finding places where good shooting may be had. Even where there are no pinnated grouse, the sportsman may find plenty of work for his dogs and his gun. It is not to be expected that, in parts very thickly settled and populated, there will be the abundance and variety of game which might once be found. Many snipe-grounds are now drained, and some are even thickly built over. The brakes and thickets which once held the woodcock have largely been cut up and cleared away. Quail, however, are more nume- rous in many States than they ever were before. CHAPTER II. GUNS AND THEIR- PROPER CHARGES. I couLD never see any use to the shooter in a long theoretical or practical description of the principles and details of guns as they are made. All such knowledge is necessary to the gunmaker, but of no practical use at all to the shooter, for which reason | shall say next to nothing about it. It is no more essential to the marksman or young sportsman that he should understand the mecha- nism and mode of manufacturing guns, than it is that he should determine whether the Chinese or Roger Bacon first invented gunpowder before he shall fire a shot off’ Sportsmen may safely leave such matters to the gunmakers, who are nearly everywhere a very ingenious, painstaking, trust- worthy class of men. There is no handicraft in which more care is displayed or more ambition felt to excel. The improvements and ingenious devices which have so rapidly followed one an- other of late years, all proceeding from members of 38 4 GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. - 39 the art and mystery of gunmaking, establish this beyond doubt. There are plenty of men among us who can remember when nothing was in use but the old flint-lock gun. They have not forgot- ten the misfires which often occurred, when the sportsman was left staring after the bird, which flew away rejoicing, and impartially distributing his curses between the flint, the lock, and the priming. The percussion-lock with its detonating cap Was an immense improvement, and, no doubt, suggested the use in the household of the friction matches which have quite superseded the old- fashioned tinder-box with its piece of flint and steel. Then came the breech-loader, an invention of enormous value, and improved upon since its first discovery and application. I first began to shoot with an old musket—flint- lock, of course, and probably one of those specimens of “Brown Bess” which had been used in wars against the French and Indians before the Revolu- tion. [was then a boy, and soon found out that for the game about Albany County, New York, “ Brown Bess” would not do. As soon as by hard. work and careful saving I had got together twenty-five dollars (twenty-five dollars was rather hard to get in those days) I bought a muzzle-loader, It was a 40 FIELD SHOOTING. cheap gun, and I do not recommend cheap guns; but when a man cannot afford an expensive one, a cheap gun is a good deal better than none, or than an old “Brown Bess” musket. For some years after | went to Illinois as well as before, | never shot with any but common guns. I killed plenty of game, and could always sell a gun when it was pretty well worn out for as much as I had paid for it. Men looking at the size of the bunch of grouse or ducks I brought in, or at the twenty brace of. quail to which I stinted myself in the oak barrens on the Sangamon, thought it was the gun which accounted for the success, and were ready to buy it. Afterwards I got a Greener gun, one of the best muzzle-loaders that I have ever seen. 1 paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars for it, and it had but one fault. It weighed seven pounds and a half, which is too light for my estimate of excellence. It kicked when pretty heavily charged, and kept my finger and cheek sore. But it was a close-shooting, hard-hitting gun, and when the breech-loaders came out I would not have swapped it for a hundred of them. I thought they would not put their shot regular and close, and that they would lack penetration. I have since completely changed that opinion, GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 4] A gun of ten gauge, thirty-two inch barrels, ten pounds, is one for all sorts of uses. It will stop anything that flies or runs on this side of the Rocky Mountains, if properly charged and aimed. Many may think ten pounds too heavy to carry, but the advantage of a good solid gun in delivery of fire is very great. I do not like light guns, neither is a cheap arm at all economical. The breech- loader | am now using was a_three-hundred-dollar gun, and, considering the prices they were selling at when I[ bought it, was worth the money. It has done a great deal of work—much hard work —and done it well. I have shot with it twelve times in matches against time, undertaking — to kill fifty birds in eight minutes, and have won the money every time. I have also killed with it fifty-three out of fifty-four birds in four min- utes and forty-five seconds. This was at Jersey- ville, I]inois, twenty yards from the trap and two birds in the trap. H. B. Slayton was present. At New Orleans | killed one hundred and eleven out of one hundred and eighteen in seventeen minutes and thirty seconds, and picked up my own birds. I have shot. many other matches with this gun, besides using it in a vast amount of field-shooting every sprirg, fall, and 42 FIELD SHOOTING. winter. All this work it has stood well. It has never been to a gunsmith-shop to be repaired, and is as tight at the breech and as perfect in the opening and clasping action as ever it was. These facts prove conclusively that there is no- thing wrong in the principle of a_ breech-loader, and that, if such a gun is properly constructed, it will stand as much wear and tear as a muz- zle-loader. [ am, however, of the opinion that shooting the time-matches has somewhat impaired the fine shooting qualities of this gun by mak- ing the barrels so hot. I fancy it does not now throw its shot so close or distribute it so evenly as it did before the barrels were heated in these matches. They got so hot that the resin broiled out of the soldered joints along the rib, and in one instance burned my hand through a buckskin glove. To shoot well, a man must have his gun so stocked as to fit him. Some require a longer stock than others. Some like stocks which are nearly straight, while others can shoot with a gun the stock of which is crooked. It depends mostly on the build of the man. A_ long-armed man does not want a gun with a short stock. A man with a moderately long neck cannot use a gun which is straight in the stock with ease t U GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 43 or pleasure. 1 choose a stock of moderate length, and one that is rather crooked—one with a drop of about three inches. This sort of a gun comes even up to the shoulder with most men, and you do not have to crook the neck much in taking aim with it. Some people pretend that there is no need to look along the rib at the bird in order to shoot well. They shoot well, and they say they do not do so. I believe they are mis- taken. Taking aim does not mean dwelling on the aim and pottering about in an uncertain way with the gun at the shoulder. Even in snipe. shooting there is a distinct aim taken, though, when a good-fitting gun is brought up to the shoulder, the aim is almost instantaneous, and the discharge follows on the next instant. At pigeons some men do shoot without sighting the bird ; but they know just where the bird must. fly from, and they have the trick of covering the trap by raising the breech and lowering the muzzle as if done by a gauge, and then they blaze away. Such men often kill the bird before it gets on the wing, and this proves that practically they shoot at the trap and just beyond it, rather than at the bird. This sort of thing is impracticable in the field, and there, if not everywhere else, the man 44 FIELD SHOOTING. who sights his bird along the rib of his gun, in shooting straight forward, makes the best bag There are, of course, some situations in which you must practise snap-shooting to get any shooting at all. At woodeock in cover, or at grouse and quail in corn, you can have but a glimpse of the bird you shoot at, and you must aim just where intui- tion, as it may be called, tells you the bird will be. In cases where the bird can be plainly seen it should be distinctly aimed at. It is not a ques- tion of quickness. In the time-matclies where | must necessarily shoot very quick, and in those matches where I stand between two traps forty yards apart, which are pulled at the same time, | sight my bird before I pull the trigger. If I did not, I could never accomplish the feats which have become easy to me. There were once many men_ prejudiced against breech-loading guns, and some who had given them a trial remained so. But in most of these latter cases the men had either got hold of a poor gun, or did not know how to load a good one. If the cartridge is not properly filled, wadded, and turned down, the shooting will be inferior, no matter how good the gun may be or how skilful the shooter. One time I saw a match shot at Frank- . GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 45 fort, Kentucky, in which one man used a breech- loader and the other a muzzle-loader. As soon as they began to shoot | saw that the breech-loader, although it was in the hands of the best man of the two, would be beaten. And why? Because his cartridges were not properly filled. The wads on the powder, instead of lying flat and snug, were often partty edgewise. It was the same with the wads on the shot, besides which the cartridges were not well turned down over the wads. The shooter who had lost the match blamed his gun. which was a light one, and sent for one of ten pounds weight, like mine. But if he is as careless in loading his eartridges for the heavy gun as he was when he had the light one, the shooting will not be any better I could have told nm how to win, but it was not my business to interfere in the matter. The shot in the cartridges should have been taken out, the wads sent home true, and the ends of the cases turned down close after the shot was replaced and evenly wadded. The first time 1 visited New York and other Eastern States for the purpose of pigeon-shooting [ spent some days with Miles Johnson, of Yard- ville, Mercer County, New Jersey. He is a famous pigeon-shooter and an excellent field sports- 46 FIELD SHOOTING. man. Few men, if any, know better how, when, and where to make a good bag of woodcock, snipe, or quail. Now, Miles had a number of crack muzzle-loaders, expressly for shooting-matches, and he was confident no breech-loader could equal them in pattern and penetration. I remarked that | had a good gun, and would shoot against him and his best muzzle-loader at a target. Miles declared with some heat and vociferation that “he'd be —” if I could beat him in shooting at a target at all, let alone using a_ breech-loader against the most famous of his muzzle-loaders. However, taking paper for targets and our guns, we repaired to an old barn near Yardville, and shot at them. Mr. Nathan Dorsey was present. | beat Miles very easily, and with an ounce of shot put more pellets in the target from the breech- loader than he did with an ounce and a half from his muzzle-loader. Miles hardly knew what to make of it, but, perceiving that the penetration of my shot was also good, he finally acknowledged that a good breech-loader would beat any other sort of gun in shooting, and he now shoots with one himself. And thus it will be found in almost every case. When a man has strong precon- ceived opinions, it is of very little use to argue GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 47 with him. The effectual thing is to show him that he is in error by actual demonstration of the facts in his presence. Nothing but actual experi- ence would have convinced me at one time that a breech-loader would shoot as well as, or better than, a first-rate muzzleloader. Now I know the fact. I convinced Abraham Kleinman, of Calumet, IIli- uois, in the same practical manner He is, in my opinion, the best duck-shooter in the country, and one of the best at pigeons from the trap. His brethers, John and Henry, are also good shots. They had used muzzle-loaders all their lives, and could not be persuaded that breech loaders were good until Abraham found that I could beat him and use one He then got one himself, and John and Henry soon followed his example. Nearly all the good shots in Illinois adopted the breech- loading gun. Some held out against it for a long time on the ground that it was new—as if every good thing which is old had not been new itself one time. Not very long ago the percussion-lock was new. Again, some people have a_ prejudice as to breech-loaders, believing them to be defective in the very points wherein they excel. It hap- pened in the early ’70’s, one April I shot at Frankfort, Kentucky, for sweepstakes. All the 48 FIELD SHOOTING. subscribers except myself had muzzle-loading guns. It was a wet, damp day, and my _ opponents had got it into their heads that the breech- loader would often miss fire in such weather. They therefore insisted upon a change in their rules so as to provide that when the gun missed fire it should be a lost bird, no matter how well the gun might have been loaded. I must admit that I chuckled inwardly as I agreed to this change. J knew the weather might affect their caps, but that it could not impair mine in the cartridges. We shot the first day; the mauzzle- loaders missed fire several times, while my breech- loader never missed fire at all. The upshot of it was that for the second day’s shooting they de- manded the repeal of the new rule, so that they could have another bird after a misfire, if the gun was properly loaded and capped. [ could, of course, have resisted this demand effectually ; for when in such a case action has begun, there can be no change in rules or conditions without the “unanimous consent of all concerned as principals. But I agreed to the change, and won both stakes. A good breech-loader will shoot as well in wet weather as in fair weather, and there will be no misfires on account of damp. But if there is a GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 49 defect in the action of the plunger, so that it does not strike square on the cap, there will be mis- fires in any weather. This is a point which needs particular attention in the choice of a gun. As I said before, | shoot with a gun of ten pounds weight now, and prefer it much to those of seven and a half pounds, with which I used to shoot formerly. But some think a gun of ten pounds too heavy to carry through a long day and use in all sorts of ground. For many a lighter gan would be better for woodcock-shooting, and for grouse and quail in tall corn. But I would not recommend any one to get a gun of less weight than seven and a half pounds for general shooting and good service. If in choosing a gun you are in doubt concerning the weight which will suit you, give the gun the benefit of it, and take one a_ pound heavier than you have had before, if it weighed seven and a half pounds or less. A man soon gets used to the extra pound in the weight of his gun, and carries and uses it as easily as he did the lighter one, while the shooting of it will be much nicer and more pleasant, and the bag of game will be larger. The question is one of conve- nience, hardly of strength; for any man fit to go into the field at all can carry and use a gun 4 5O FIELD SHOOTING. of eight pounds weight. It is true that until men nave worked themselves into some condition they will get tired in tramping over the prairies and fields and through the coverts carrying such a gun, but so they would if they carried nothing but a cane. In loading a gun of ten gauge for arouse | put into my cartridges four and a half or five drams of powder and an ounce of No. 9 shot, in the early part of the season. Later on I use No. 8 shot, and still later No. 7. In November and December, for the shooting of grouse and duck, | charge with No. 6. Some use larger shot for ducks, but a charge of No. 6 from a good gun, well held, will stop a duck as far off as seventy yards sometimes. With a strong charge of pow- der and shot of moderate size there is greater penetration, and a better chance of hitting besides. When | go out expressly for brant and geese, I load my cartridges with No. 2; but when out for general shooting, | have killed many brant and some geese with No. 6. For quail-shooting I use No. 8 ‘or No. 9%: for plover, No. 8 ior saipe No. 10. For wild turkeys I once preferred shoot- ing with a rifle, but | now use the breech-loading shot-gun with No. 1 shot in the cartridges. GUNS AND THEIR PROPER CHARGES. 51 In champion matches I use paper cases for the cartridges, and put in five drams of powder, with two pink-edged wads over it. They must be forced down square and level upon the powder with a rammer, but not rammed too hard. An ounce and a half of No. 9 shot is then put in, evenly placed, and a thin wad, or the half of a split pink-edged wad, is pressed down firmly and evenly upon the shot. The cartridge is then to be turned down smoothly and closely on the upper wad. I decidedly prefer No. 9 shot to any other number at the trap. For field-shooting I employ metallic cartridge-cases ; they shoot well and are cheap, as they can be used many times over. I load them with fivedrams of powder and one pink-edged wad square down upon it, and the same as to the shot. I employ wads two sizes larger than the bore of the gun. Thus, for a ten- gauge gun, No. 8 wads. This is necessary to keep them firm, so that the charge may not start in one barrel when the other is fired. Even with the large, tight wads in the cartridges it is best to fire the barrels as nearly alternately as may be. It will not do to shoot one barrel four or five times with the charge in the other all the while. 52 FIELD SHOOTING. ! believe there is nothing more needful to’ be said concerning guns, ammunition, and loading. Jt will have been seen that I believe in the necessity of large charges of good, strong powder more than in the efficacy of very large shot. The sinaller shot, as I believe, are driven at higher velocities, and have greater penetration, than larger ones. Besides, the number of pellets to the weight of the charge is a very material thing. The more there are, the more will, in all pro- bability, be put into the bird shot at. But, as a matter of course, in following this principle a man is not to run into extremes and use very small shot for large game. On the other hand, he is not to be too ready, when the birds are not brought to bag, to lay it to the fault of smail-sized shot. No shot is big enough to stop a bird without hitting him; and before changing the size of the shot or finding fault with the gun, it will be better to endeavor to mend and improve the aim. EDWARD BOGARDUS. CHAPTER Ili, PINNATED-GROUSH SHOOTING, THE pinnated grouse, commonly called prairie. chicken where it is most abundant in the West, is a handsome bird, weighing from two pounds to two and a half pounds, sometimes nearly three when it has reached mature size. It is a deligious bird on the table, either when split and broiled while young, the flesh being then white, or roasted when of full size. It formerly prevailed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Long. Island, and Kentucky, in parts where there were open heaths; but it is not now found until the valley of the Mississippi is reached. There are none in Ohio, but few in Indiana and Michigan; but it is plentiful in Illi- nois, lowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of Missouri and Wisconsin. The pinnated grouse is a bird of the grassy plains and great prairies, and does not frequent the woodland, save on frosty mornings, when it may be seen perched on trees near the edges of the groves. At such times, too, it will be seen perched on fences and corn-shocks. 55 56 FIELD SHOOTING, On such mornings, when the weather is still as well as chilly, the grouse may be heard cackling and chattering in the timber-land for a consider- able distance inwards, but on other occasions they never resort to the groves. This bird is certainly of much service to the agriculturist, as it consumes many grasshoppers and other de- structive insects, while the little wheat, corn, and oats it eats does not amount to anything by comparison. Indeed, its food, before the wheat- land is in stubble, is probably wholly composed of insects and the buds of heather and = other plants to be found in the prairies and in the Spacious pastures of the West. Before the great prairies of Illinois and other Western States were broken up by the plough of the settler, the grouse were more numerous than they are now, and they could not have fed on grain, because there were no fields of grain within hundreds of niles of them. It is the same now in those parts where the prairies are still extensive, and on the great pastures where droves of bullocks, hundreds strong in number, are fatted for the Eastern mar- kets. It is my firm belief, from observations made for many years about the time of the breeding season, that the pinnated grouse is poly- PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 57 gamous, like our domestic cocks and hens. I have never seen them paired off as quail are. Early in the spring the cocks are together in gangs. They get on hilly places, swell out their necks, and make a booming noise, which can be heard at a considerable distance. At this time, too, they fight with each other like game-cocks. The hens at the same season are to be found in gangs, but not on the same ground as the cocks. While the latter congregate on the hills the hens remain on the prairie, and go into the corn-fields to feed. A great deal of corn remains standing all the winter in the West, and is not shucked until it is time to plough and plant again. ‘The grouse mostly roost in the long grass of rich bottom- lands. About the last of April and beginning of May the hens make their nests. I have found one on the tenth of May containing as many as eight eggs. The nest is made on the ground, and formed of a little grass, and is a good deal like that of a domestic hen when she makes one in the fields. When the hen-grouse can conveniently get to the prairie, they build in that grass. When they cannot, they build in the fields, and often in patches of weeds. In the bottoms, which are generally wet at that season, the nests are made ‘ 58 FIELD SHOOTING. on tussocks of thick grass which rise above the surface. When the weather happens to be wet about the last of May, many nests in the bottom- lands are overflowed, and the young which may have been hatched mostiy perish by cold, starva- tion, or drowning. The hens which have had their nests destroyed by floods, by prairie-burn- ing, or by the plough, commonly build again, but their broods are late, and usually of small num- ber. The hen lays from twelve to eighteen eggs, white in color, and about the size of those of a bantam hen. The’ hen sets twenty-one days, the same as barn-door fowl. The young run as soon as hatched; and if a man or a dog should go near where they are, they will hide and skulk under the grass, even on the first day, while the old hen will try to lead the intruder away. They feed on insects for the most part, the old hens catching them at first for the young chicks. The latter, however, soon learn to catch them for themselves. As they grow larger, they feed a good deal on herbage. The young increase in size very rapidly. They are not hatched until early in June, at the earliest; and on the fourth of July, in a favorable season, | have seen broods which were half grown. The breeding-time varies ac- PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 59 cording to the season and the situation, but every year there are some broods early, some late, and some very late, the latter being brought off by hens which have lost their first nests. By the fifteenth of August some of the broods are about full grown; but they are then tame, and, having grown so rapidly, are weak on the wing, and soon tire. 1 believe hybrids- have been produced by the hen-grouse and the bantam cock. Last spring, at Omaha, Nebraska, [ saw in the possession of Mr. George A. Hoagland, President of the Shoot- ing Club, a bird of the preceding year, which had been shot out of a covey of seven or eight. This bird was believed to be a hybrid. There was another of the same brood in the town, and both were well stuffed and set up. All the brood were alike as to markings and appearance. Their size was that of a grouse two-thirds grown. In shape they were more like the bantam or barn-door fowl than the grouse. The ground color of their plumage was a dingy white, but they were spangled all over with feathers colored and. barred like those of grouse. That they were hatched by a hen-grouse is unquestionable, for she was often seen with them. She made her nest close to a house, and it was believed that a domestic cock 60 FIELD SHOOTING. was the father of her young ones. Albinos of the grouse species are sometimes seen, but those above referred to were not at all like Albinos. There is a very beautiful specimen of the Albino at the Grand Central Hotel at Omaha, and the supposed hybrids did not resemble it in the least. | was informed that this brood of spangled grouse or hybrids were exceptionally wild. But for all that most of them were shot, though but two pre- served. These birds are still to be seen at Omaha, and it might be well for a scientific naturalist to examine them. The game-law of Illinois allows the shooting of grouse to commence on the fifteenth of Au- gust,* and in some States it is suffered to begin as early as the first of that month. Both these dates are too early. The first of September would be quite soon enough, and most sportsmen would prefer that date. As the law now stands, nearly all begin to shoot early; for as some will do so, it cannot be expected that many others will refrain. On the fifteenth of August some broods of grouse are full grown, but the great majority are not, and many broods are not more than half grown, while some are so small as to be almost unable to fly. These are the broods of birds whose first * The season was changed in 1889 to Sept. 15 PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 61 nests were broken up in the spring. | never shoot at these half-callow young, but there are plenty of people who do. The early-grouse shooting is very good practice for young beginners with the gun, as they lie until you are near them, and fly slowly. But it would be just about as good if the shooting was deferred fifteen days later by law, as the birds would still lie close and fly slowly. The early shooting makes the birds wild before they would otherwise become so, and it brings many to the bag half grown that would, under other circumstances, be bagged full grown. In the early part of the season grouse-shooting in the West is the easiest there is. The birds lie well to the dogs, their flight is slow, and they ean usually be marked down near at hand. There is, however, one thing which affords pro- tection to the grouse, and presents considerable difficulty to the shooter. There are commonly corn-fields at no great distance, and if they fly into the corn when flushed in the stubbles or the prairie, it is very difficult to kill them. It is, on the whole, better to let them go as not at- tainable. Men cannot shoot well in tall corn; dogs can do but little in it, even the best of dogs, at that season, and young ones are utterly 62 FIELD SHOOTING. useless, as they can neither see you nor you them, and no instructions can be given-to them. ~The early season is the time for young beginners, as the broods are then numerous and easily found. If the shooting was not allowed before September, it would answer the purpose of teaching the no- vices quite as well; for though the birds would be somewhat stronger on the wing, they would lie just as close, and would be larger. After the broods have been shot at two or three weeks, they are thinned out considerably, and have ~ be- come much wilder. They are then of fine size, the weather has become cooler, and the birds can be kept. At least half of the young grouse killed in the month of August become spoiled and are never used. Some may doubt this, but I state what I know to be facts. In August the weather is very often close and sultry; for though there is commonly some air on the wide. prairies, the breezes do not then prevail. At the beginning of the shooting season the grouse will be found at early morning in the stub- bles. They have gone out of their roosting-places to feed in the stubbles of the wheat and oat fields, which have then been pretty well overgrown with rag-weed, and afford thick cover. Where flax is PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING, 63 cultivated, you may look for them -in the- flax stubbles, as they are some of their most favorite resorts. Another » good place .to beat, whenever you see one, is a bean-patch. The navy bean is a good deal cultivated in Illinois and_lowa, and the grouse resort to the patches, About nine or ten o'clock, when: the sun has got high and the morning hot, the grouse leave the stubbles and bean-patches, and walk into the Jong prairie-grass or into the corn. On-such days, in clear weather, at that season of the year, it is best to give over shooting about ten o’clock, and Jie by until late in the afternoon, when you may pursue your sport again with prospects of success, and fill wp your bag. -To continue after the grouse in the middle of the day is merely to distress your dogs and to fatigue yourself for nothing. There is no scent, and the grouse will not lie in the open prairie. But on damp, cloudy days the case is altogether different. The birds then remain in the stubbles all day, unless flushed and driven into the corn; the dogs can work and scent better; and under these overcast skies are the best and most glo- rious days of the grouse-shooter in the early part of the season. Later in the fall and at- the be- ginning of winter the habit of the grouse is \ o4 FIELD SHOOTING. different, as will be specially noticed further on. A cloudy day, cool air, the dogs feeling and working well, plenty of grouse in the stubbles, and the sportsman out of the glaring sunshine and able to shoot deliberately and well, make great enjoyment and a good bag. On the clear days, when the grouse have left the stubbles for the prairie-grass and corn, instead of shooting all the time until you are tired, as you will be before night, until you have been seasoned and got into hard condition of muscle and wind, lay off in some house, or your camp, or in your wagon in the shade, if you can find it, until about four or half- past four o’clock in the afternoon. Then it will be time to begin to beat the stubbles again. The grouse will have come, or will be coming, on to them again from the resorts in which they spent the hot hours of the day; and you and your dogs, being refreshed and rested, will be in good fettle for the sport. The sun will get low, and finally go down over the distant swells of land to the westward ; the dew will begin, insensibly to you, to fall; the dogs will find the birds easily, they will lie well, and you may shoot as long as you can see in the twilight. In some parts of Illinois, Lowa, and other PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 65 Western States there are very extensive ranges of pasture-land, on which great herds of cattle, many from Texas, are fattened. These lands have not been broken up by the plough at any time, but. being regularly depastured, have lost much of the prairie character. They remain, however, good resorts for grouse, and the shooting over them is some of the best to be had. The grouse bred on them probably never see a stubble-field, at least until after late in the fall of their first year. Their habits are the same as those of the birds which are found near the arable corn, wheat, and oat lands. In the morning they will be found on the ridges and knolls where the grass is short. In the heat of the day they retire into the long grass which abounds in low, moist places. In the evening they return to the knolls and ridges again. These pastures are sometimes of the extent of two thousand acres or more, and the shooting on them is second to none in those States. Yet they are comparatively little shot over, especially in the early part of the season. As a rule, it is believed the grouse are more abundant where the land is varied and stubbles, pieces of prairie, corn-fields, and patches of beans are found in the immediate neighborhood 66 FIELD SHOOTING. of each other. For this reason most of che sportsmen, especially those of the towns near at hand, or from the more distant cities, who shoot mostly in the early part of the season, go to them, and do not attempt the wide pastures. But give me the sport on the latter, and let me be- gin about the middle of September, when most of the grouse bred on them are full-grown, strong birds, coming down with a thump seem- ingly hard enough to make a hole in the ground when killed clean and well. The grouse in these places commonly lie first-rate to- the dog, and get up by twos and threes, so that a good shot has a chance to bring to bag many of the covey, and those he cannot shoot at the first rise may be easily marked down. In 1872 Miles Johnson of New Jersey was shooting with me in McLean County, Illinois. We camped near Bell- flower, and had a man for camp-keeper while Miles and I shot. We were out ten days, and in that time bagged six hundred grouse, shooting only mornings and evenings. As I have said be- fore, and wish to impress particularly upon my readers for their information and advantage, it is of no use to try for grouse in the middle of the day, when the weather is clear, in the early part PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 67 of the fall. The best day Miles Johnson and | had that time was in one of the great pastures } have alluded to above. It contained from five to ten thousand acres. We went into it early in the morning, and came out about eleven o'clock in the forenoon with eighty full-grown grouse. That was a capital morning’s sport, no doubt, but I have often had as good. While we were at the camp near Bellflower we were visited by Johnson’s friend, Mr. Eldridge of New Jersey. With him came Dr. Goodbreak of Clinton, Illinois. The doctor is an army surgeon and an ardent and excellent sportsman. They shot with us two days, using muzzle-loaders; but when Dr. Goodbreak had seen the execution I did with my breech-loader, sometimes getting two or three nice shots while one was loading, and often killing a long way off, he was satisfied as to which was the best style of gun, and sent an order for a breech-loader to cost three hundred and fifty dollars. After being there ten days Miles Johnson left for home. I remained at the camp, and in a while A. Leslie and H. Robinson of Elkhart came up and shot with me. It was then getting late in the fall, and “we had excellent success. The grouse were wild and very fast on the wing. They were 68 FIELD SHOOTING. strong, and it took good shooting and hard _ hit. ting to bring them to the bag. I killed from ten brace to ‘twenty brace a day, and averaged about fifteen brace. My companions together did not secure as many. In shooting grouse on the pas- tures, and indeed anywhere, you should beware of shooting too soon. Many more birds are missed at short than at long shots, in my _ opin- ion. The sudden, loud whirr made by the rising of the grouse when it gets up startles young sportsmen, and some nervous, excitable old ones’ too. The shot is hastily delivered, while the bird is so near that the charge has not distance enough to diverge and spread in, and the game is often missed. If the shooter had waited for steady sight of the ‘bird along the rib, which is not to be a slow, pottering aim, it would have been often brought down. In McLean County, Ford County, and the others of the tier on that line, there is as good grouse-shooting as any | know of anywhere in Illinois. They are in the section of country lying southwest of Chicago, and a line drawn from that city to St. Louis in Missouri would pass through them. As good places as any to get off the railroad at are Bellflower in McLean County, and Gibson in Ford County: PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 69 Twelve miles from Gibson is the great farm of Mr. Michael Sullivant, formerly of Columbus, Ohio. He has a tract of land containing forty- five thousand acres. It is a splendid place to shoot, and real sportsmen are made welcome by the owner. I[ was there last spring after brant and ducks, and made heavy bags. I saw at that time large munbers of grouse—a powerfui breed- ing-stock. In shooting over the great pastures | have men tioned particular’ care must be taken not to go near the herds of cattle. They are pretty wind, and the coming near them of dogs makes them excited. In the first place, the farmers do not like to have dogs taken near their cattle, and every good sportsman should carefully avoid do- ing anything which may annoy the owners of the land on which he may be. I can always get along pleasantly with the owners of the land, and so may any one else who will use them well and refrain from damage. In the second place, if shooting parties go near the great herds of cat- tle with their dogs, the bullocks will come for the latter at a rum in a big drove, the fright- ened dogs will run to their masters, and before the men can get out of the way of the furious A 70 FIELD SHOOTING. rush they may be knocked down, trampled over by scores of hoofs, and very likely killed. When shooting in these vast pastures, I take care to give the herds a wide berth, and keep well away from them. Even then they will sometimes begin to move towards the dogs, in which case I put the setters or pointers, as the case may be, into the buggy as soon as possible, and drive off out of the sight of the herd. In shooting grouse in Illinois, Towa, and- the other prairie States, the sportsman should take water in his buggy or wagon for himself and his dogs. The prairies are very spacious, the water-courses wide apart, the droughts sometimes long and severe. If he thinks to find water in natural places for him- self and his dogs, which need it oftener and more than he, they will be very thirsty before he reaches any. If he comes to a house at such times, he will find that water is the most scaree and precious thing about the place. The weil is all but dry. The farmer’s horses are on _ short allowance. His milch cows are stinted, and stand lowing round the empty trough at the well half the night long. The people sometimes, in very dry seasons, have to haul water from a distance, as their own wells become dry, and their cattle PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 4! and horses must be provided for. In this state of affairs it cannot be expected that the people will furnish half a bucket of water for a stranger or two and the dogs. Therefore when you start. out from house or camp, take in your buggy or wagon a five-gallon jug of water as a thing of prime necessity. CHAPTER IV. LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. fy ihe preceding chapter I have described the places and times to seek the pinnated grouse ih the earlier part of the shooting season, and pointed out the methods of hunting for them by means of which satisfactory Success is most likely to be ob- tained. We now come to the latter part of the season, the months of October and -November, with that of December; for the resolute and hardy sportsmen who care nothing for cold and wet may sometimes prefer a bag of winter grouse to one of duck or brant. In the month of October the prairies have become brown, and later on the corn will have been wilted by the early frosts, if it has not been already. Some of the best shooting of the year, to my mind the very best, is now before the sportsman; but it needs work, and young beginners will not find the grouse so easy to kill as they were in August and Septem- ber. In the early part of the season the best shooting hours were early and late in the day. 72 4 LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 73 Now it is the reverse; the middle of the day is the proper time. When I first came to Illinois, the grouse in October and later were mostly found in the prairie-grass. There has now been a change in their habits, and they seem to like best to lie in corn. I suppose the redson was that as prairies were much broken up, and the quantity of land in corn rapidly increased, the grouse found out that the lying in the corn was excellent, and the habit was soon formed. In the corn there is a great plenty of various kinds of food. The ground is mellow and affords excellent dusting places. In the West wheat is often sowed while: the corn is still standing, being put in with a cultivator-plough. These wheat-fields in the corn are favorite places with the grouse, and | have many a time killed eighteen or twenty in one such field. Also, when wheat is sowed out upon the prairie, grouse will go to those fields at early morning. When the sun gets high, they will go into the prairie-grass, round the edges of the young wheat, and lie there all the middle of the day. Then there is nice shooting. At four or five o'clock, towards evening, the birds will go out upon the young wheat-fields again. This is in clear weather, On cloudy days the grouse stay 74 FIELD SHOOTING. on the wheat, the bare places of the prairie, and on ploughed land all day, and it is of no use to go after them. You may just as well stay in your tent or house as go after grouse, for you cannot get near them. If there are quail in the neighborhood, you may have sport with them. In only one way can grouse be shot late in the fall in cloudy, overcast weather, and it is hardly worth while to employ that. You may drive up in a buggy, as we do in plover-shooting, and so get near enough, but it is more trouble than the game you will kill is worth, and I never do it. I may say here that those who go out shoot- ing in the prairie States need to have a wagon or buggy with them. It may be done without, but the work is very severe. The prairies are very wide, and it is a good way from one favorable point to another. When I first went to. Illinois, now many years ago, I used to start out in the morning, on foot, and shoot all day. I used no dog at all then, and had but a poor, light gun, which did but little execution, though I shot middling well. When I had got about seven or eight grouse, | used ‘to hide them and mark the place, to be taken up on my way back. With this gun I speak of and common pow- LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 75 der I have often shot away a pound of the latter to get twenty-five or thirty birds. [| fol- lowed, in those days, the example of other people, and used shot several sizes larger than was necessary or proper. At that date we used No. 1 or No. 2 in October and November, and I believe I was one of the first to discover that with No. 6, from a good gun, with a strong charge of powder, the biggest cock-grouse that ever flew could be brought to the bag. At the end of my day’s shooting at that period I used to have to carry twenty-five or thirty grouse as well as the gun for four or five miles, sometimes further. This was no small matter. The October shooting of grouse, good as that is, may be excelled, according to my notions, by that in November. They generally lie in the corn among the tumble-weed, so called from its growing up and rolling over so as to form snug cover; and they are especially fond of lying in the sod-corn, which is that grown upon the land the first crop after the prairie is broken up. This sod-corn does not grow up tall, as the corn on older-tilled land does. In November the blades of the corn are hanging down, wilted by the frost. The stalks are shrunk. The dogs can “ep i6 FIELD SHOOTING. work in it, and you can see to shoot in it. But it takes good shooting to make good bags. The birds are now at full growth and strength. They have in all probability flown the gauntlet. of many guns, and the weaker ones have been thinned out of the packs. But on clear -days they lie well to the dogs, and, being swift and strong on the wing, when they rise the sport afforded is capital. One of the best days I ever had was in November, near Farmer City, Cham- pagne County, Illinois. 1 was accompanied by Mr. Nathan Doxie, of Geneseo, a keen sports- man and good shot. At that time he shot with a muzzle-loader, while I used a breech-loader. It was a clear, bright day, warm for the time of year. We beat the sod-corn, of which there was a great deal in the neighborhood, and, when the birds flew out into the adjoining prairie, we could mark them down. Our bag was a very heavy one. I killed fifty-seven grouse and Mr. Doxie knocked over eighteen, making seventy- five fine fat birds in all. Mr. Doxie said it was the first time he had ever been beaten in the field. There was another person shooting near us all day, but he did next to nothing, killing ‘but five grouse, as [ remember. | have shot LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. Td with many men in the month of November, and good shots too, but never one that I did not beat. Three times in the course of my experience in field-shooting [ have killed ten grouse with two barrels. Once in Menard County, near Salt Creek, late in November, I came upon a_ plank fence in a light snow-storm. It happened that there was a grapevine growing thickly over part of the fence, and, getting this between me and _ the birds, I secured a pretty close shot. They were scattered along the fence for a distance of about ten yards. With the first barrel | killed nine, and with the other one. Another time I got a shot at a lot near a fence, and killed ten with two barrels. And once in Logan County I got within shot of about twenty birds which were in short grass, and killed ten with both barrels. Such shots as these are very seldom to be - got. A man may shoot half a lifetime and never meet with one. I have often, in the early part of the season, killed a grouse with each barrel out of a pack which rose near me, and_ then slipped in another cartridge, and killed a_ third. But this is only to be done when they are lazy and fly slowly, and it cannot be done then unless 78 FIELD SHOOTING. the shooter is very quick. Some men say that I am slow because I will not shoot until I have sighted the bird; but I think these sort of field- shots and my time-matches at pigeons are suff- cient to prove the contrary. I believe I am as quick as anybody I ever met, but I will not fire at random, and I[ advise the reader never ta do so. Late in the fall, when grouse get up a little wild, and fly swiftly, it takes good shooting and hard hitting to kill them. Sometimes in No- vember, on a clear day and rather warm, they lie close, and get up one after the other after the first of the pack have gone. There are always some lying scattered from the body of the pack, and as one falls down, fluttering its wings, another will rise, sometimes two. Qn such occasions the immense superiority of the breech- loader over the old sort of gun becomes mani- fest. I have been at such a time shooting with a man who used a_ muzzle-loader, and have actually stood in my tracks and shot six grouse while he was loading his gun. The grouse will sometimes lie so close on a clear day in Novem- ber that they will remain hidden until you are within ten yards of them, and then get up with a tremendous whirr of wings. It is things of LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 79 this sort that sportsmen will be glad to know and what I state is drawn from experience solely At the same season of the year, if the weather is cloudy and damp, the birds are so wild that you cannot get near them; and to try is to lose your time and labor for nothing. The Indian Summer is a good time for shooting grouse, and very pleasant for the sportsman. The sun has not the scorching power which you feel in August and the early part of September; but it is warm, the air soft and still, and not very hazy—rather like thin, white smoke scattered from a_ great distance. The birds feel comfortable in the dead grass of the prairie or among the sod-corn. They are fat and lazy, and hate to get up until compelled to do so. Any clear, warm day late in October or in November is just as good as an Indian Summer day. At this season it is useless to go out before the dew is off the grass; whereas in the earlier part of the shooting the more you get into the thick of it at early morv- ing, the better for you. The prairies are hand- some in the fall of the year, but not so beautiful as in the spring, when the grass is about six inches high and full of wild flowers. The wea- ther is fine, the air pleasant and fragrant. The 80 FIELD SHOOTING. cock-grouse which have flown out of the bottoms at early day are heard booing on the knolls and ridges. Hawks of various kinds, large and small, are wheeling about overhead, and far away, high up in the distance, you may see the great eagle cir- cling and sailing round about with motionless wings. But of all the sights [ have seen on the prairies, the finest, the most striking and glorious, have been on bright, frosty mornings in December, or later on in the winter sometimes. On such a morning, while the frost still hangs on the grass, the prairie looks like a wide sea covered with sprays of diamonds. The most beautiful sight I ever saw in my life was on a prairie at Oliver’s Grove, near Chatsworth, Jroquois County, Illinois. We went in the night to Chatsworth, where there was no house then, intending to hunt turkeys at Oliver’s Grove at early morning. As _ there was no house at Chatsworth Station, we stayed in the car till daylight. It was a bright, clear morning in December, and the sun, just risen, lit up all the prairie with its horizontal, glancing rays. Every blade of grass on the prairie, every tree in distant grove, glistened and sparkled like diamonds in strong light. Away in the distance, five hun- dred yards out upon the prairie, there stood two LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. S] deer, motionless and beautiful, we might almost -have thought lifeless, they looked so strange in that wonderful scene; only we could see the breath streaming from their nostrils into the cold, frosty air. For dazzling radiance and strange beauty, | never before saw such a_ prospect, and may per- haps never see quite the like again. After a while the deer walked leisurely off into the long grass and brush near the slough to lie down in cover. The game we came for were not to be found, and when we discovered this we turned to leave. | said to my partner, “ We have been disappointed in our hunt, but in coming on it we got a glori- ous and beautiful sight—one not to be forgotten as long as we may live.” . He was a very practical sort of man, and replied, “I had a good deal sooner have got a dozen fat turkeys.” Ow our way back to Onarga across country we had to walk fourteen miles. There were many buckwheat-stubble patches along the prairie in our way, and we took them on our road to walk up the grouse. We did not diverge to the right or left to follow those which went away, but, keeping right ahead, got about twenty brace by the time we reached Onarga. Although there were no 82 FIELD SHOOTING. turkeys about Oliver’s Grove just then, it was a good place for them, and from what I saw there must have been lots of deer in the neighborhood. In regard to grouse-shooting late in the fall of the year, there is one thing which should be par- ticularly observed. It is the necessity of silence. There should be very little or no talk indulged in between those who are on the beat. In the earlier part of the season it does not much matter what talk there is, though I am one of those who can stand a good deal of silence, when hunting, at any time; but late in the fall talking makes the grouse get up out of distance. They will rise at the sound of the human voice at that season of the year sooner than they will at the crack of the gun. If two men go along talking and gabbling, as | have seen and heard them do, the grouse will nearly all rise out of shot, while they would have lain long enough to have afforded many fair shots if silence had been preserved. In order not to be obliged to talk and call to my dogs at such times, | have them broken to hunt to the whistle - and the motion of the hand. I have had some dogs that would hunt all day and never make it necessary to speak to them. I have been out with men who would talk in spite of remonstrances LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 83 against it. Either they did not believe it would scare up the birds, or it was not in their power to keep silent for half an hour at a time. There are, indeed, some people who never seem to be silent except when asleep, and very likely not then if dreams come over them. On these talk- ing occasions late in the fall I have always noticed that we got very few grouse. Sometimes when I have believed a pack of grouse to be all up, | have spoken a word or two to one of the dogs, when two or three more birds have risen right away. Another thing to be noted is this: when you are shooting grouse late in the fall, and the dog brings in a wounded one which flutters his wings, all the others within hearing will get up. That sound sets them on the wing as a man’s voice does, when they lie close at the loud report of the gun. I am not able to explain why this is, but: so it is. There are many facts in nature in regard to the habits of game which the sportsman must accept, though he cannot arrive at the reason of them. 3 At one time in Illinois there was a difference as to the period at which grouse-shooting should cease. It was left to the counties. In Logan County and some others it was fixed for the first 84 FIELD SHOOTING. of January. In other counties where the grouse abounded to the degree that the farmers thought they consumed too much of the crop, there was no close-time in January, February, and March. I do not think grouse ever do any appreciable damage to the crops. What grain they eat would be otherwise wasted. They may, however, do some little harm by consuming seed-wheat just after the sowing. They bite off and eat the blades of young wheat, but that often does more good than harm, and farmers sometimes turn calves into young wheat-fields to feed it off. The biting off done by grouse in the earlier stages has a tendency to make it stool well, I think. It is cer- tain that the pinnated grouse does the farmer good by consuming grasshoppers and other insects which are troublesome and destructive. The law of IIli- nois in regard to shooting grouse is now uniform all over the State. The shooting ceases on the fifteenth day of January. Thus the shooting lasts five months. I am in favor of lopping off fifteen days at the commencement, making it September 1 instead of August 15, and another fifteen days at the end, making it cease on the first of January. It would then last four months.* But the duration of the shooting-time is not of so * The season is now, 1890, Sept, 15 to Noy. 1. LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. S5 much importance as many people think. More are taken by trapping late in the season. To see the huge loads of grouse sent by railway to Chicago and on for the Eastern market, one would be at first inclined to suppose that the species must soon be extirpated ; but this is an error. With good breed- ing-places and a fine spring the number of grouse produced is incalculable. No amount of fair shooting makes much impression on game in a good game country. In places where the game is sparse, as it appears to me to be in the Atlantic and Eastern States, save water-fowl on the sea-board, many guns may shoot so close that the proper head for a_breeding-stock will not be left. It is altogether different with us. I went once to Christian County, Illinois, and shot round about the little town of Assumption from February 1 to May 20, the latter part of the time being on snipe. The game of all sorts was amazingly abundant. ‘There was a great plenty of grouse and quail, and the number of ducks and geese was almost past belief. It is a varied sort of coun- try with a good deal of low, wet ground, much prairie and much corn-land, and a great deal of hazel-brush along the creeks *and on the edges of the groves of timber. It is a splendid country for ‘ 4 2 86 FIELD SHOOTING. game. I killed six thousand head of all sorts whiie there—the most part, of course, being duck, snipe, and golden plover. The grouse were extremely abundant in the spring about there. At early morning the cock-grouse could be heard booming all over, like the constant lowing of an immense herd of cattle distributed in a great pasture. It is hardly necessary to say that the booming of the grouse is not like the lowing of bullocks; what 1 mean is that the booming on every side pervaded the space all around. Christian County is about thirty miles southeast of Springfield, and is on the TIlinois Cen. tral Railroad. At this time I hold the best place for sport of all sorts in the field to be in the tier of counties which includes Ford, Piatt, McLean, and Champagne Counties, as well as Christian County. Late in the fall, however, good grouse- shooting is to be met with all over the State, un- less it be down southwest in Egypt, where there is but little prairie-land. As I have stated, great numbers of grouse are bred in the wide prai- ries which are still unbroken, and late in the fall these grouse pack and distribute themselves over the other parts of the State in vast numbers, feeding in corn-fields and wheat, oat, and buckwheat stubbles. Where | live the grouse are nearly as : A . LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 8° abundant in the latter part of the fall now as they were seventeen years ago. Perhaps I might say quite as abundant: but there is not anything like as many young grouse to be found in that neighborhood in August and September as there used to be. As long as the breeding-places_ re- main it is safe to conclude that there will never be a scarcity of grouse in Illinois and the other prairie States. But though they are nearly as numerous, they are more difficult to kill than for- merly. The young birds find the great corn-fields a place of safe refuge; and when the packs come in from the great prairies late in the fall, they are wild and swift. To get good sport the observa. tions | have made as to weather, the best hours of the day at the different seasons, and so on, should be carefully heeded. The burning of pieces of prairie late in the spring should be avoided, and it can easily be done. Let the grass be burnt the preceding fall, or, which is perhaps still more desira- bie, early in the spring. In the latter case the grass would have sprung up in places high enough to hold the nests before the hen-birds wanted to form them, besides which there are always many places untouched by the fire, and these spots would be hosen by the grouse to make their nests in. By 88 FIELD SHOOTING. leaving the grass unburnt through the winter the birds would be afforded a protection in that season against their enemies—the various sorts of hawks, which are very numerous in the prairie States. The great source of mischief is the burning of the grass after the nests are made. I hope the farm- ers will follow my suggestions on this point. They are commonly ready to oblige sportsmen, and the latter should avoid anything which may cause an- noyance while in pursuit of game. CHAPTER. V. QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. Tue beautiful little game-bird of which | am now about to write is weil known in almost all parts of the country. It is a welcome visitor about the homesteads of the farmer in the win- ter season, and makes pleasant the fields and brakes in spring and summer. Quail are now very abundant in the Western States, much more so, | believe, than in those of the Atlantic sea- board, although they are found in considerable numbers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. They are much more nu- merous now in Illinois and the other prairie States than théy were formerly. [ think the cul- tivation of the land and_ the growth of Osage orange hedges have brought about the increase. The hedges furnish excellent nesting-places, and are also of great use to the quail as places of refuge and security when pursued by hawks. The latter are very hard on quail. Quail like the neighborhood of cultivated Jand, and where they Re 90 FIELD SHOOTING. are not much shot at they will get so tame as to come right up to the house and barn. They used to have a very hard time of it in Illinois in severe winters. There was no protection from hawks, by which they were constantly harried and destroyed; and there being next to no cover, they used to be frozen to death in bevies. When the snow melted, the skeletons and feathers would be found in groups of eight or ten. The hedges now afford very great protection in severe wea- ther, and preserve the lives of thousands which would otherwise certainly perish of cold and starvation in their absence. They break the force of the wind, and furnish snug-lying places for the birds in hard weather. In soft snow guail com- monly manage to do very well im the open. When pursued by hawks at such times, they dart under the snow, and lie safely hid from their voracious enemies. I have seen them do _ this hundreds of times, and have rejoiced at their escape from the talons of the swift and perse- vering foe. In two or three instances | have walked up and caught the quail which had thus dashed into the yielding snow by hand. The quail is a very interesting bird about breeding- time, and the soft, whistling note of the cock is QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WES7. 9) one of the pleasantest things that strike the ear in the fields in spring-time. They pair with us about the first of May. I have seen them together in bevies as late as, or later than, the middle of April. They build their nests along the hedges and near old fences overgrown with brush and_ brambles. They. resort but little to the groves of timber for breeding purposes, avoiding them, I think, on account of egg-sucking vermin, such as skunks and crows. Crows are bold, cunning, and _ persistent robbers of the nests of other birds. Minks catch the old hens on the nest, and raccoons do the same. But the most destructive and inveterate enemy the quail has is the little hawk, called with us the quail-hawk. This little bird of prey is but a trifle larger than a quail himself, but it is very fierce and strong, swift on the wing, and darts upon its prey with electric speed. The nest of the quail is round, nicely constructed of small twigs, and lined with dead grass. I have seen statements to the effect that they are covered over on the top. I have found hundreds of them, and never saw one that was. The hen lays from twelve to fifteen eggs, but two hens sometimes lay in one nest, and | have seen one in which there were no less than thirty eggs. The hen 92. FIELD SHOOTING. quail does not seem to be very particular at times about having a nest of her own. I have known them to lay in the nests of pinnated grouse, and in those of barn-door fowl which had made their nests in hedges or bunches in weeds in fence-corners. It is always easy to learn when quail are breeding in the neighborhood, for at such times as the hen is laying or sitting the cock perches on a fence, a stump, or an old corn-stock, and whistles for joy. The note seems to express great satisfaction and de- light. The young quail are no sooner hatched than they are. active and ready to follow their mother. The latter is very watchful, attentive, and devoted, ready to risk her own life to afford a chance of safety to her offspring. If a man or a dog approaches the whereabouts of her young brood, the mother simulates lameness, and flutters about as if in a crippled condition, to lead the intruder another way. The early broods come off about the middle of June, when, the spring being for- ward, the birds have paired early. I saw young quail and- young grouse this year myself in the middle of June. It is my impression that when the season is early and other circumstances favor- able, the hen-quail raises two broods. I have often seen early broods under the care of the QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 93 cock, and I think the hen was then sitting again. Furthermore, later in the year bevies of quail will be found in which there are manifestly birds of two sizes besides the old ones. These bevies must be made up of young quail of different ages. I am not certain as to the hen bringing forth a second brood while the first is under the care of the cock, but | state the facts I have seen for what they are worth. There is nothing improba- ble, to my mind,, in the raising of two broods a year. The hen-quail is very prolific of eggs; food is abundant and stimulating at the breed- ing season; the weather is commonly steadily fine when the first brood is brought off, and the cock-bird is abundantly able to take care of it. In the State of Illinois quail-shooting begins on the first of October. I think the law ought to -be changed so that it should not commence before the fifteenth of October. On the first of October some birds are full grown, but it is otherwise with the great majority of the young dirds. Quail are a little slower in growth. than pinnated grouse, and it is not before the fif- teenth of October that most of the birds are _large, strong, and swift of wing. In Ohio, Indi- ana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other 94 FIELD SHOOTING. wheat-growing States, there is very fine quail- shooting sooner in the season than there is in Illinois. With us the best shooting cannot be enjoyed until late in the fall. Before that time the immense corn-fields enable the quail to get the best of the sportsman. As soon as a_ bevy is flushed away it goes for the corn, which is thick, broad in the blade, and very high. I! stand six feet in height, and I have seen stalks of Illinois corn so tall that I could but just reach the lowest ears upon them. »There is no making headway and filling the bag in such fields as these; and the moment the quail are flushed on the wheat and oat stubbles away they go for the corn. You may give them up as soon as they reach this tall, thick, and dense cover. If you make an attempt at them in it, they will not rise above the tops, so that you cannot see to shoot; besides which, the thickest spread of the broad blades is just about as high as your head, and above it. It is not until good, sharp frosts have well wilted the blades and caused them te hang down lifeless along the stalk that there is a good chance at the quail in such places. As long as the leaves wave crisp in the autumn wind the quail may defy the shooter. Therefore QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 95 the best of the shooting is in November and De- cember. You must be up by dawn of day, ané scatter the hoar frost or the sparkling dew as you go to your chosen grounds. In a country where there are many stubbles, many corn-fields, and much hazel-brush the quail delight, and there, on such a morning, as soon as the sun has risen over the swells of the prairies to the eastward, they will be found in abundance. They roost along the margins of sloughs in long grass, in stubbles where the rag-weed is thick and strong, in patches of brush, and along hedge-rows. Where there are corn-fields along the margin of sloughs, the quail are fond of roosting in the edges of the corn. As soon as the sun touches the frost on the corn and grass and the weeds of the overgrown stubbles, the quail begin to run from their roost- ing-places. At the early hours, when they are first on the move, is the best time for the dogs to find them, as the scent is then very good. When they are really plentiful, they may be easily found in any weather, but most easily on a fine, clear day, early im the crisp, cool air of the bright, frosty morning. When a bevy is flushed in such weather as this, they scatter at once, and when they pitch down they lie there hid under the first bunch of 96 FIELD SHOOTING. grass or weed or any other bit of cover they can find for the purpose of concealment. With good dogs you can then take them one after the other. When a bevy has been flushed, and the birds have scattered about and pitched down in this way, I have often killed from six to ten before picking any up. I was once shooting in Mason County, Illinois, late in the fall, and flushed a very large bevy of quail from a wheat-stubble. They scat- tered and flew over into a piece of prairie-grass, where they pitched down. J knew they would lie very close, and so they did. They got up one and two at a time, and out of the bevy I accounted there and then for seven brace and a half. Quail pack late in the fall, and in Mason County at that time there were bevies of thirty or forty in num- ber. In damp or wet weather quail act in a dif ferent manner when flushed and scattered. At such times, instead of lying where they pitch down, they run a long distance. And then when the dog has winded them, and is about to point, or has pointed, they start and run on again. Under such circumstances it is difficult to make a good bag. It was mainly in such weather that the net- ting of quail was carried on. This bad practice is now unlawful. [ saw great numbers caught with QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. OF nets in Missouri: Whole bevies were taken at one fell swoop, the quail being driven into the wings of the net by men on horseback. It is a very good thing that this destructive practice has been prohibited by law, and is now wholly done away with. As long as it was lawful the farmers on whose land it was practised did not like to interfere; but now they do interfere, and netting in Illinois and Missouri has practically ceased and come to an end. When it was lawful, two netters were harder on the quail than about two hundred shooters, although at that time some of the latter who were apt to miss a bird on the wing would fire at bevies of quail on the ground. = This. is not a practice to be followed. I have taken two -or three raking shots at grouse sitting on fences in my time, but the opportunity was so rare and the temptation so great that it was just then irresistible. The best quail-shooting I ever had was in the Sangamon River country, about where Salt Creek falls into it. There is upon Salt Creek and the Sangamon a great deal of bottom-land with much hazel-brush and considerable timber. There are also plenty of corn-fields. The shooting there is much varied. There are vast numbers of quail, a 98 FIELD SHOOTING. great many grouse, and at the right times snipe and duck are to be found in amazing numbers. When I used to go out in that neighborhood for the purpose of shooting, quail especially, I used to get from twenty to thirty brace a day for many days in succession. Varied shooting, however, is more satisfactory sport to me, and | used to make very heavy bags of grouse, quail, and some duck —mallards and teal. It is a great place for mal- lards; some of them stop all summer and_ breed there, and some stop all winter, for there are parts of the river which hardly ever freeze over. Quail are more abundant about there now than they were at the time I speak of, and there are quite as many grouse; but they are both more difficult to kill than they used to be in the earlier part of the season. The corn-fields have increased so that they are now many and vast, and this serves as a defence for the birds. There are more quail in that country this year than there ever were before. There are now, however, plenty of quail all over Illinois, lowa, and Missouri. In the southwest of Illinois, the region called Egypt, there is a great deal of brush interspersed with prairie, farm-lands, and groves of timber, and there quail may be found in great abundance. But QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 99 grouse are not as plentiful there as in the interior ‘counties of the State. | Some people think the quail a hard bird to shoot, but it is not. It flies swift but straight, and is commonly missed by reason of the shooter being too much in a hurry where it is not brought to bag. Because the flight of the bird when flushed is rapid, men think it necessary to shoot very quick, and pull the trigger without sighting the mark truly. This is an error to which three out of four misses are owing. Let the bird be well sighted along the rib before the trigger is pulled, and, no matter how fast he goes, the shot will overtake and stop him. Quail will not carry off a great many shot. There is no necessity for hurry in shooting, and this will be made manifest to sportsmen if they will sometimes step the ground from where they fired to the dead _ bird. They will find that in nine cases out of ten it was not as far off as they believed it to be when they fired at it. Many of those thought to be as much as forty yards off when the trigger was pulled will be found dead at thirty yards, and some at five-and-twenty. This shows that there is commonly plenty of time to get well on the bird before shooting, instead of blazing away on the 100 FIELD SHOOTING. ‘instant at random. I have shot thousands on thou. sands myself, and know that my misses were com- monly caused. by being in too much of a hurry to fire. When | have missed with the first and killed with the second barrel, I have considered it a plain proof that I ought to have let another second elapse before firing the first barrel; for if a bird, flying in the open straight away, or quartering, is well sighted with a good gun _pro- perly charged, it is next kin to a miracle for it to escape. After good experience | resolved to take more time in quail-shooting, and I have found the practice answer. I can now kill nearly every quail | shoot at within fair distance. Quail generally lie close to the dog when they will lie at all well, and do not get up until the shooter is near them. The experience of sportsmen will confirm this, and it will show that there is no reason Whatever for shooting in a hurried man- ner, but very strong reasons for guarding against it. By taking time you not only get the bird well sighted, but the extra distance it has gone gives the shot so much more chance to spread, and thus increases the chance to kill. A few years ago, after the close of the war, 1 went, in the middle of January, on a shooting QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 101 excursion to Lynn County, Missouri. | hunted on Shoal Creek. in the neighborhood of Cameron, a place about fifty miles east of St. Joseph, on the Missouri River. It was a good place tor game. * There were quail, pinnated grouse, some ruffed grouse, turkeys and deer in large numbers. 1 killed many turkeys and a few deer; but of these [ shall give some account further on, under the proper heads. The country, is wild and broken, with much brush and timber, and abounds in gullies, deep hollows, and steep ravines. The bevies, when flushed, would frequently fly for the thickets and gullies, and then it was difficult. shooting. Sometimes, however, they would scat- ter and drop in the grass of the pieces of prairie, and then [I had beautiful sport, killing from twenty to thirty brace a day. The pinnated grouse were not numerous about there, but the ruffed grouse were in fair numbers for them. Iowa is a good State for quail. There are more groves of timber and more brush there than in Illinois, but the latter is much the best State for pinnated grouse, and the growing up of the Osage orange hedges has supplied in many parts the ~ want of brush, and thus increased the head of quail, When flushed in the open, the birds very 102 FIELD SHOOTING. often go for the hedges, and then a great deal may be done with a gun on each side of the hedge while the dogs are beating it. One man cannot do much with the quail when they take this refuge. Some of these hedges are eight or ten feet high; others have been so trimmed as to be four feet through and thick of growth. With a man on each side of the hedge there is very pretty shooting. If you are out without a companion, and the quail take to the hedges, you may trust one side to an old, well-trained dog, and take the other yourself. Always send the dog to the lee side. If you have a companion, and he leaves to you the choice of sides, as most men will do, not knowing that it makes any differ- ence, always take the windward side. By so doing you will get three or four shots to your com panion’s one when the wind is blowing athwart, cr nearly athwart, the hedge. The reason is very simple, though seldom thought of. The dog to lee- ward winds the quail in the hedge, and, as a mat- ter of course, puts them out on the windward side ; while the scent is blown away from the dog on your side. [I have been out with men who did not understand this, and they would say, ‘“ Cap- tain, what the d—l makes almost all the quail fly QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 103 out on your side of the hedge?” Half the suc- cess of sporting, outside of being a good shot, depends upon the knowledge of such things as this. There is another matter to be mentioned here. The best dogs in the world are sometimes unable to find and put up all the birds in a bevy of quail. I have often been out with men who had first-rate dogs, and have, to their amazement, given them absolute and irrefragable proof of this fact. They have been not a little annoyed at first when they saw me put up quail which their dogs had been unable to find after the bevy was gone. But it was no fault of the dogs, nor were they unable to detect the quail because the latter withheld their scent, as some have argued they have power to do. J do not believe they possess any such power. It is not a question of no scent, but of too much. The bevy have been lying there and running all over the ground, so that it is covered and tainted with scent to such a degree that the noses of the dogs become full of it, and that is why they cannot find and put up one or two birds which lie close in- their hiding-places and decline to move. | will now relate a notable instance of this sort of thing which occurred last fall. It was near Selma, 104 FIELD SHOOTING. Alabama, in the neighborhood of which city [ was shooting with a gentleman named Ellis and Mr. Jacobs, a gunsmith. On the day in question Mr. Jacobs did not take the field, and Mr. Ellis and I were alone. He had a brace of splendid set- ters, a black and a red. For one of the dogs he had paid two hundred and fifty dollars, and he would not have taken five hundred for the brace. They had fine noses and were splendid workers. In the course of our sport we found a bevy of quail in old grass at the edge of a bit of prairie which had once been ploughed up, and was now an old garden all overgrown with weeds and briers. The quail ran in the grass, but finally got up together. Mr. Ellis killed two and I killed two. A few went away, and were marked, down at some distance. Mr. Ellis believed they were all gone. The dogs beat the ground tho- roughly, and could find no more. I said that | believed there might be more, upon which Mr. Ellis made his dogs try it again, and then con- fidently pronounced that there could not be an- other quail there. I said, “I still think there may be quail here and I will show you how to make them rise if there are any.” With that I imitated the kind of whistling noise made by the old quail QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST’. 105 when she has young ones. Up got one, and Mr. Ellis killed it; away went another, and I stopped it. Mr. Ellis was greatly astonished, and did not know what to make of it. I[ explained the matter, telling him that if the dogs had been taken off to another part of the field, and kept there long enough for the old scent to have exhaled from the ground and passed away, they would have found the two quail readily enough when brought back to the place. The ground was so saturated with scent that the dogs could not distinguish that of the remaining birds, and could not put them up with- out stumbling right on them. I have often seen the same thing happen with a close-lying lot of pinnated grouse in long prairie-grass. | do not ‘believe in the theory advanced by some that quail or any other game-bird can withhold their scent so as to prevent a good dog from winding them when he comes near. I had fair sport in the South last fall, principally at quail, round the cotton-fields, but there seemed to be a scarcity of game. There was not one quail to a hundred which would have been found in good situations in Illinois. I was in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and nowhere was game in what we should call fair plenty in the West. At Paris, Tennessee, they 106 FIELD SHOOTING, held the erroneous opinion that a pigeon-shooter could not be a good field shot. They said they had a man who could beat any pigeon-shooter in the field. 1 told them to send for him, as’ I was willing to shoot against him for a hundred dollars, fifty shots each, to be taken alternately. They would not make the match. In Mississippi | shot with Mr. Galbraith. The birds were scarce and wild. There were more about Selma than any other place I was at. So far as my experience went, the shoot- ing was nothing to that which may be had in Ohio, Indiana, Ulinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Min- nesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, etc. There were as fine a lot of gentlemen in the South as I have ever met, and they were good shots and keen sportsmen. CHAPTER VI. RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. Hirurrto we have been concerned with the sport to be had in pursuit of game-birds, pinnated grouse, and quail, which are found in the neighborhood of cultivated farms, and, as regards the latter, often in the immediate vicinity of the habitations of man. We now come to one whose favorite haunts are wild, solitary places not frequently intruded upon, and almost always lying remote from thickly- settled sections of country. The ruffed grouse is a very handsome bird, and in situations where it is seldom shot at it seems to take a sort of pride in exhibiting its beauty in a stately and graceful manner. It weighs about a pound and a half; is plump on the breast; and its flesh, white, juicy, and delicate, is delicious eating. It is usually half spoiled in city restaurants by splitting and broiling. It ought to be roasted and served with bread-sauce. The ruffed grouse is extensively distributed from east’ to west, but is nowhere found in any great OF 108 FIELD SHOOTING. abundance. Its habits are not nearly so gregarious as those of the pinnated grouse, and no such multitudes are to be found anywhere of ruffed grouse as may often be met with of the former species in the great prairie States. The ruffed grouse is but seldom found in coveys, though sometimes a brood of full-grown birds are found still together in some lonely nook among the woodlands, or in a solitary, sheltered spot in severe winter weather. It is generally found singly or in pairs, and loves sylvan solitudes, steep hillsides, wooded dells, and the neighborhood of gullies and ravines. The rougher and more broken the country, the better the ruffed grouse like it, provided it is well timbered with the trees and well covered with the shrubs upon whose buds the — birds mainly feed. It is, however, often met with in the deep, heavily-timbered bottom-lands of — the northwest part of Michigan. The buds of birch, beech, and laurel (so-called) are the favorite food of this bird in winter and spring. In summer it no doubt feeds largely on berries and_ insects. [ do not think it ever visits the stubble-lands— to pick up wheat and buckwheat, though there are some such bits of stubble in the very heart of the woods in which it is constantly but thinly t RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 108% found. In the New England States it is met with, and is sparsely distributed in New York and New Jersey. In some of the wild, half- mountainous tracts of New Jersey, where the undergrowth consists largely of laurel, it is more abundant. It is also frequently met with in West Virginia. In Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Ili. nois, Missouri, and lowa the ruffed grouse is also found; but so far as my knowledge and experience go, it is most abundant of all in some parts of Wisconsin and the northwest part ot the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is said that the buds of the laurel and some of the berries upon which the ruffed grouse feed have a tendency to make the flesh poisonous. | ean- not confirm the theory, though I have eaten many a grouse whose crop was full of the buds in question when drawn. In general appearance it has some resemblance to the pinnated grouse, but is a smaller bird, with a long, square tail, very full feathered, which it carries over the fallen leaves and mossy sward among the timber with a conscious pride and a swelling, strutting gait in places where it is little disturbed. It is, in fact, a beautiful ornament to the romantic soli- tudes and deep, heavy woods which it inhabits. 110 FIELD SHOOTING. In places where it is seldom shot at, the bird, at the approach of man, instead of taking wing, often spreads its tail, ruffles up the feathers of the neck, and struts off with the proud air of the true cock of the woods. In the spring of the year, at the approach of breeding-time, and at other seasons just before stormy, rainy weather, the male bird drums at dawn of day. It may sometimes, too, be heard performing this singu- lar feat in the night, and on a sultry afternoon when a thunder-storm is brewing. The drumming is usually made on an old log, and each male bird seems to have his favorite place for the joyous performance. He begins by lowering his wings as he walks to and fro on the log, then making some hard strokes at intervals, and finally so increasing the swiftness of the movement that the sound is like the rapid roll of a snare-drum muffled by a position in the depths of the woods. The sound is very deceptive as to the place of the bird. He may be comparatively near, while his drumming really seems like muttered thunder a long way off. On the other hand, the hearer sometimes supposes the hidden drummer to be close at hand when he is at a very considerable distance. In wild situations, near lonely preci- RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 111 pices, the beating of the ruffed grouse upon his log may remind one of Macdonald’s phantom drummer, whose story was beautifully and forcibly told in verse by General William H. Lytle, who fell, covered with glory and _ renown, at Chickamauga : ‘‘ And still belated peasants tell How, near that Alpine height, They hear a drum roll loud and clear On many a storm-vexed night. This story of the olden time With sad eyes they repeat, And whisper by whose ghostly hands The spirit-drum is beat.” 1 have often seen the tops of old logs divested of their mosses and worn smooth by the constant drumming of the cock ruffed grouse, and have stood within thirty yards and seen the bird per- form the operation. Just before rain the grouse drum frequently, and the repetition of this sound from various quarters in the daytime is a pretty certain indication of the near approach of wet weather. The female builds in the Western States about the first of May. The nest is formed of leaves and dead grass, and is built in 112 FIELD SHOOTING. a secluded place at the root of a tree or stump, or by the side of an old, mossy log over- grown with blackberry briers. The hen lays from twelve to fifteen eggs, and when first hatched the chicks are the most beautiful, cunning, ‘and alert little things that can be seen any- where. The editor of this work had an excellent opportunity for observing them and their watchful, devoted mothers on one well-remembered ocea- sion. Nearly thirty years ago he was upon an exploring expedition in the northwest part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. The country was then very thinly settled about there. have never met a man who had seen, or pretended to have seen, a snipe alight on a tree or fence at this. or any other time. Snipe begin to arrive with us in the fall, about the middle of October, but they do not come down from the north in large numbers so early as that date. At the last of October they are commonly plentiful, but are not found in the places where they were so abundant in the spring. In the fall there are not one-fourth as many in the bottoms of Salt Creek and the Sangamon as there are in April. Neither are they so well distribut- ed over the country along the sloughs. In go- ing south they keep more to the lines of the big THE SNIPE AND SNIPE-SHOOTING. 147 rivers, and perhaps many of them keep more to the eastward in their southern migration than they do in coming north. [ am inclined to think that this last must be the case, for the birds are not anything like as numerous in the fall, when the broods come, as they were in the spring, when the snipe went north to breed. The best fall snipe-shooting with us is along the bottoms of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and about the marshes of the great Winnebago Swamp. Here the sportsman may have good shooting until late in the fall—l may say, in some seasons, until the beginning of winter, for the snipe do not leave altogether until the ground is frozen. When that happens, they go southwards. In Illinois there is some marshy ground which the snipe do not like. Most of the land in that State, being rich loam or vegetable alluvial, suits them well; but in some places there is sand or gravel as well as much moisture, and neither of these does the snipe seem to like. I suppose the favorite food in these soils is scarce, and in all probability the birds do not like to bore in gritty ground. A few may be found scattered in wet places on such soils, but at the same time they lie in thousands along the loamy bottoms and in the marshes. In these 148 FIELD SHOOTING. latter the soil is usually vegetable mould, the rich, black deposit: commonly called swamp-muck. — In this the snipe delights above all. Snipe afford a vast amount of sport, but the sport itself de- mands for its proper pursuit very considerable endurance and hardihood. The snipe-shooter must expect to be wet and to be fatigued, but he may also count upon making a good bag. It is one of the most delicious birds that flies, certainly second to none but the upland-plover and one or two sorts of duck. Many think it second ‘to: none whatever, and | doubt if it is when in prime order and properly cooked and served. In places where snipe are not plentiful it is no doubt advisable to use a dog to beat the meadows and marshes, and point them; but such is not the case where I have been accustomed to shoot. CHAPTER IX. GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. In the West we have in the spring and _ fall great numbers of the golden plover—a_ beautiful bird, testing the skill and patience of the sports- man, and one that is very delicate and rich eating on the table. It is stated, in some books | have looked into, that the golden plover is essentially a shore bird. This is a great error, if the same species is meant, for it visits Illinois and lowa, and I doubt not the country further west, in prodigious numbers. It is called the golden plover from being speckled with yellow on the back of the head and neck. Its principal colors are not at all like gold; and when the birds are seen in flocks on the grass-lands they love to frequent, the golden spots cannot be distinguished. It is a handsome bird, graceful in shape, and quite plump. The golden plover is not quite as large as a quail, but almost, when fat. The male is dark in color, with white spots on the breast, and narrow white streaks on the cheeks. The 149 150)- FIELD SHOOTING. female is gray, and a little smaller than the male. This bird winters in the south, principally upon the great grassy ranges of Texas and Northern Mexico. It arrives in the prairie States about ten days after the snipe, commonly about the tenth of April; but much depends on the forwardness or backwardness of the spring. With us there is a _ variation of some three weeks between a very forward spring and one that is very late. The golden plover forms one of the most numerous bodies of the great mi- gratory hordes which come north at the end of the winter. They come in flocks, some of the latter, on their arrival, being as many as three or four hundred in number. At their first coming they are to be found on the burnt prairies, and soon after they will be seen in ploughed fields and on bare pastures. They also frequent young wheat which is then fairly started, and in those spots where the plant has been drowned out or killed by the frost these birds are sure to be found. They like the bare earth and_ the close-eaten pastures, especially those in certain localities. From high knolls, where the grass has been eaten off short, they can sometimes be hardly driven away. In sheep pastures the plover GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 151 are usually found at the proper season; for the sheep is a close feeder, and likes to range on knolls and hills. Along with ‘the golden plover, and apparently intimately associated with them and forming part of the flocks, comes the cur- lew, another handsome and delicious bird. It is a little larger than the golden plover, stouter in build, and gray in color. In size and shape the curlew resembles a well-grown woodcock, but with longer wings and a thinner head. It has a bill about two inches long, curved in shape, and is not so high on the leg as its companion, the golden plover. They may be easily distinguished from each other when the flock is on the ground, and also when in flight. The curlew affords as good sport to the shooter as the plover, and the epi- cure, who really knows how good it is, esteems it as a dish dainty and delicate as the golden plover itself, though, perhaps, not quite so delicious as the gray or upland plover, of which I shall treat further on. In the curlew there is no apparent difference between the male and female. In some flocks it will be found to be nearly as numerous as the plover, while in others the latter are in a large majority. When in the spring ploughing the rich soil_ of our prairie States is turned up, a vast 152 FIELD SHOOTING. number of fat worms are thrown. to the surface. To pick up and feed upon these, the golden plover and. curlew will be seen following the ploughman along the furrow. Sometimes they fly a little ahead of the plough and team, some- times abreast of them, and all the time some are Wheeling and curling round and dropping in the ~ furrow which has just been made. At such times these. birds occasionally become so bold and tame that they come quite close to the horses, and | have known some to be knocked down and killed by the driving-boys with their whips. As a matter of course, this is rather uncommon; but their boldness and tameness, when ploughing is going on, is in strong contrast to their timidity and wariness on other occasions. They seem to be sagacious enough to know that where the men and teams are ploughing there can be no shooting, and they take advantage of that fact. The best places for shooting golden plover and_ curlew in the earlier part of their stay with us are the burnt ground of the prairies, where the grass is beginning to quicken, and those close- eaten and bare spots in the pastures of which I have made mention. I[t will be best, when going for these birds, to take a dog to bring in wounded GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 153 ones. At their first arrival the flocks of plover and curlew are rather wild and difficult to get at. In their sojourn on, and long flights from, the plains of Texas across Arkansas, and along the Mississippi River to Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas, they have not been accustomed to the neighborhood of men, and at first they are shy. But if not shot at and frequently disturbed, they soon get tame, and may be approached. But some knowledge of their habits and some craft are always requisite in order to get good chances at ‘these shifty and cunning birds. On some days the flocks will be much on the wing, flying from one field to another, and all going in one direction, as wild pigeons do. At such times the shooter may take a stand in the line of flight, and get fair shooting all day as the flocks go over. It is not necessary to hide altogether; in fact, in these localities—the burnt prairies and great pas- tures—there is seldom the means to do so; but it is often desirable to lie down. Here again it must be observed that it is of no use to le down in clothes strongly in contrast as to color with the ground or grass. The golden plover and curlew are low-flying birds, and, when lying down in about the line of flight, the shooter may 154 FIELD SHOOTING. sometimes get a side shot at a large, close flock, and kill eight or ten with his two barrels. Some- times the birds skim on not above four or five feet from the ground. At other times they fly pretty high, but within fair shot; and when one barrel of the gun is discharged, the whole flock will come swooping down towards the earth, as if the shot had killed them all. In that case it is very difficult to put in the second barrel with good effect. When they fly low and present side shots is the most favorable time to pepper them. At the shooting on the pastures where — the birds have made their temporary home it will sometimes be found that the golden plover and curlew are not flying in flocks in one direction in such a manner that you can select a place in the line of flight. It is then best to go with a horse and buggy. The horse should be a steady one, so as to stand fire, and should also be capable of the elements of success in driving for plover. good rate, as speed is one of DoD going at a The birds will be seen flying about in various directions over the wide pasture, and settled in bunches on it. When put on the wing at such times, they always settle in a cluster nearly close together, and put up their head as though taking GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER, 155 a survey of the ground. When they do this at a proper distance, the horse must be put to a swift trot in such a direction as you would take if going past the plover on your own sharp business. Judge the ground and = estimate the distance, so that when you are abreast of the flock it will be within shot. The birds, in such a case, will not rise until the horse stops, and sometimes, if the shooter is quick and prompt, he may get a crack at them with one barrel just as they are upon the point of leaving the ground, and before they are actually on the wing. When a shot can be got while they are thus huddled together, many may be killed. There is no scruple about shooting at these birds in this manner among sportsmen, but few have the art and promptness to manage it. The horse must be fast. He must trot up at a swift pace. You must judge the ‘distance nicely, for you cannot swerve out .of the line and in upon the birds with- out causing them to take wing. Finally, the horse must be one that will obey a light touch of the rein, and stop rather suddenly without a jerk. When shooting plover on foot at such times as they are acting. after the habit described above, the sportsman must follow the same plan in 156 FIELD SHOOTING. principle. Instead of driving up, as if going by, he must run fast, as if intending to pass, and must not incline his course in towards the flock. These birds seem to act as if they reasoned and arrived at certain conclusions. These conclusions would be correct enough if the craft of the man were not exerted to deceive them by false appear- ances. When the shooter is abreast of the flock, he must come to a stop, and, making a quarter- whirl, fire quickly. He must be quick, for the moment he stops in his forward course up gets the flock. I never knew a man who would not thus circumvent and shoot among a flock of golden plover and curlew in this manner, if he had the skill to achieve an opportunity to do so. 7 have heard men say they never killed any plover except on the wing. I can readily. believe it; and will add, very few in any way. All 1 can.say is that | should not like to be the plover when these parties had a chance to put in a barrel under such circumstances as those above described. The horse and buggy is the easiest way to go to work, and that itself is somewhat difficult. The man who undertakes to run up must be swift of foot, good in the wind, and so steady of nerve that he will not be flustered and his hand will not shake GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 157 when he stops suddenly and whirls to shoot. When, by a shot at the flock on the wing, two or three of the plover or curlew are crippled, the others will circle round them, and often offer chances for eapital shots. The breech-loading gun is in- valuable in such circumstances as these. On one such occasion [ remember having killed forty-two golden plover and curlew, all shot on the~ wing, before [ picked up one of them. Many a time | have killed as many as fourteen or fifteen without lifting a bird, there being opportunities to load and fire again and again while the. plover swept and circled over the dead and wounded of their own flock. Sometimes the flocks of golden plover and curlew are so numerous in a neighborhood, so large in extent, and fly in such a way, that a great number may be killed in a short time. J remem- ber one such time well. It is now twelve years ago, and at that period there was a great deal of unbroken prairie in the neighborhood of Elkhart. [ started out after dinner from that place, and drove two miles into the prairie. It had just been burned over, and large flocks of plover and curlew were coming in one after the other. That after- noon I killed two hundred and sixty-four plover and curlew, and got back to Elkhart at sundown. 158 FIELD SHOOTING. I got a few sitting shots on that occasion, but the vast majority of the birds were killed on the wing, while circling round their wounded com- panions. This was done with a muzzle-loader. With a good breech-loader and plenty of cart- ridges I believe I could have killed five hundred birds that afternoon. Much of the prairie about there, which was then unbroken, has been broken up, and is now wheat, corn, and oat land. The golden plover and curlew are not as numerous in that neighborhood now as they were then. Still, there are plenty of them in the right season of the year. Of late years I have generally killed from fifty to two hundred plover and curlew a day when out after them especially. This means golden plover, as I never shoot the gray or grass plover in the spring, for a reason I shall presently advance. My bag has seldom been less than fifty, and not often as high as two hundred, and I have commonly shot right along during the season, pre- ferring to do so rather than to go after snipe to the Sangamon and Salt Creek bottoms. The golden plover and curlew are highly esteemed by the high-livers of the cities. There is a constant demand for them at Chicago, and good prices are obtained when they first come in. GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 159 Golden plover and curlew may be found almost anywhere in the prairie States in April. As | stated briefly in the chapters on pinnated grouse, I once went on a three months’ shooting-excursion to Christian County, I[linois, starting about the first of February. My shooting companion was a hunter named Joe Phillips, and we had for camp-keeper a lively, jovial fellow named Ben Powell. The latter has acted as camp-keeper for me many years. We _ pitched our tent about a couple of miles from the town of Assumption, and the report was soon spread in that primitive Western village that we were a band of gipsies. 9 girls ar- mo 5 One evening a bevy of brown, blushin rived at the camp and demanded information as to where the gipsy women were. They wanted to have their fortunes told, and could hardly be persuaded that we were simply hunters and of the same race of people as themselves. After- wards some of the men of the village came, and, in conversation with Powell during the absence of Phillips and myself, boasted of a great shot they had among them. The people of the region were almost all agriculturists and herdsmen, and as for shooting game on the wing, they hardly knew what it was. The man, who had _ settled 160 FIELD SHOOTING. among them from a distance, professed himself a great pigeon-shot. Powell listened to the wonders this man could perform, and then enquired whether they would like to back him to shoot pigeons against one of the field-shooters of our party. They said they would, and the preliminaries of a match were arranged, in which Powell was to put up our team of ponies and wagon against a hundred dollars. cash on the other side. But the match was not confirmed; for while the discussion was still going on Phillips and [ returned to camp from our hunt, and this broke it off. One of the Assumption men had seen me before somewhere, and had heard my shooting well spoken of. Tle caused. his townsmen to draw back. [I have no idea that the man they spoke of was much of a shot. He very likely could not kill sixty birds in a hundred at eighteen yards rise. During the time we shot in Christian County Phillips and 1 kept separate accounts of the game we killed. In the three months I killed with my own gun over six thousand head of game-birds. They included pinnated grouse, brant, geese, ducks, cranes, golden plover and curlew, snipe, and a few sand-snipe. The largest number were golden plo- ver and curlew. and the next on the list was snipe. GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. I61 On that occasion, in one afternoon, | killed sev- enty-nine ducks, brant, and Canada geese; and Phillips made a good bag the same day. It sometimes falls out so that waterfowl or other birds of pursuit are so numerous and act in such a way that a very large number may be killed. These occasions do not happen, however, very _ often. After the golden plover and curlew have re- mained with us some time in the spring, they are no longer seen in large flocks, but are found scattered and distributed over the country in small companies numbering from three or four to twelve. Early in the morning these companies are found on the bare pastures. By eight or nine in the morning they will have gone to the arable land, and are following the plough in the furrow. After they have partially dispersed in this manner they fly very fast, and then they are exceedingly good practice for the skilful shooter. The man who can make nearly certain of his single plover, flying swift, as they do, after the large flocks have broken up and scattered, is a good man at any kind of shooting. I prefer it to any other kind of practice. Before shooting against Abraham Kleinman for the championship 162 FIELD SHOOTING. badge of the United States, at one hundred pigeons each, | took two weeks’ practice at plo- ver. They were then scattered, and I shot at none but single birds. The practice was of much ser- vice, as the plover flew very swift and did not present a large mark. From what I could do with them in the field I] was satisfied I should win the match, and it so turned out. I killed the whole of the hundred pigeons in the match ; ninety-three of them were scored to me, and the other seven fell dead out of bounds. From the time the great flocks of plover scatter, which is sometimes as early as the twentieth of April, practice at single, fast-flying birds, such as I have mentioned, may be had until they go north to their breeding-grounds in the higher latitudes. We now come to the upland or highland, grass, gray, or whistling plover, which, according to scientific naturalists, is no plover at all, strictly speaking, but a bird of similar habits and ap- pearance, called Bartram’s tatler. As it is known among sportsmen as a plover only, I shall call it one. This bird is a little larger than the golden plover, and a little longer in the leg; it is also more upright and has a longer neck than the other. Its color is gray. It is a very GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 165 handsome bird, and neither the woods, the fields, nor the waters of the American continent supply a more delicious repast than is afforded by a dish of these rich and delicate birds. They winter upon the great plains of Mexico and Texas, upon both banks of the Rio Grande, and are in large numbers, though not so numerous as the golden plover and curlew. ‘The upland plover is the last of the spring migrants from the south, and when it is seen with us we may safely predict that there will be no more cold weather. Its arrival in the prairie States is generally ten days later than that of the first of the united flocks of golden plover and cur- lew. While it lingers longer in the south than they, there is a corresponding difference in the limits of its visits to the north. - They go on to higher latitudes to breed, after having stayed about a month with us. The upland plover breeds with us, though many, no doubt, go far north of Illinois to do so. Indeed, it is found in the summer in Minnesota, and Manitoba, in the British Territory. The upland plover makes a soft, whistling noise when put up, reminding one of Burns’s ‘Pull-toned plover gray, Wild whistling o’er the hill.” 164 FIELD SHOOTING, It is a dodging, cunning bird, but, when it first arrives in the latter part of April, it is very tame and very easily shot. I[ never shoot it at that season, and no one ought to do so; for the birds are ready to pair as soon as they reach their breeding-grounds on our prairies. It builds in the grass of the prairie pastures, on the ground, its nest being made of dead grass, and commonly under a tussock. The eggs are a pale, bluish green, freckled with brown, and I do not think the hen usually lays more than three. | have a sort of remembrance that I have seen nests with four eggs in them, but | made no notes of them at the time, and am not quite certain. The young birds grow fast, and get fat on abun- dance of grasshoppers and other insects which swarm in the hot months with us. About the first of September the upland plover, young and old, are fine, plump birds, and are-far more diffi- cult to shoot than the breeding-birds were when they reached the Western States in the spring. In the fall they are wild and wary, full of craft and cunning, and hardly to be approached by a man on foot, especially if he has a _ gun. Almost the only way to get near enough to them to shoot is by means of a horse and_ buggy. GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 165 They are to be found in scattered groups, we may say thin fiocks, on pastures and meadows that have been mowed. The uplaud plover in its flight’ takes much more open order than the golden plover and curlew, though still keeping a sort of companionship, and it does not settle in clusters, as is the habit of those birds. They run, scattering about over the pastures and mea- dows, catching grasshoppers and such like insects, and, when put up, they fly off swift, in open or- der, well spread out. The sportsman who is after them with the horse and buggy must pursue the same tactics as those mentioned in reference to shooting golden plover and curlew in the spring. The horse must go fast, and the man must shoot the moment he stops. 1 never try to step to the ground, but shoot from the buggy. It is best to have a companion when after these wild and wary birds. While one men lies down in a selected spot, the other drives round to the far side of the birds, and gets his shot if he can. Whether he does or not, the plover will be apt to fly over the man lying down. This is the only system which promises any success for men who are after upland plover on foot in the fall of the year. It is of no use chasing after them 166 FIELD SHOOTING. over the meadows and pastures, in hopes to get near enough for a shot. Sand-snipe and grass snipe (so-called in the West) are not snipe, but some sorts of tatlers or sand-pipers. They resemble the plover, but are smaller, being only about the size of a true snipe. The sand-snipe has a whitish breast; the grass-snipe is a gray bird. They come. about the same time as golden plover and curlew, and in pretty large flocks. In dry seasons these flocks appear to unite, two or three making but one, and then they are in very large numbers together. They are nice, plump birds, as good to eat as plover, and easy to get at. However, good as they are, few people shoot them, and it Is easy enough to get within range of a flock of them. They frequent marshy ground, such as the true snipe likes. Unlike the latter,. however, they fly in flocks, and settle down, clustered together, on the muddy edges of sloughs. and little water-holes, which they see while crossing the prairie on the wing. Once, when | was out shooting golden plo- ver and curlew, 1 saw.a great flock of these smaller birds in a marshy spot near a little pond. 1 thought they were plover, but as | neared them ihe flock rose, and then I saw it was a vast col- GOLDEN PLOVER, CURLEW, GRAY PLOVER. 167 lection of sand-snipe. It was a dry season, and, as is then their wont, they had gathered into great flocks. They flew around, and finely settled again. I do not usually trouble myself with this bjed, for nobody seems to care about it, although it is as good eating as the snipe itself, for all the long bill of the latter; but as [ had come dowa_ to them, | concluded to take a crack at the flock. It was certainly as much as five hundred in num- ber. So I let fly with one barrel charged with No. 10, and, making a raking shot over the ground, killed fifty-four. If game were scarce with us, as it is in some parts, sand-snipe and grass-snipe would be held in esteem, CHAPTER X. WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. THe best of the ducks which are found in the Western States are Canvas-backs, Redheads, Mal- lards, Pintails, Blue-bells, Blue and Green winged Teal, Widgeon, and Black Ducks. There are also W ood-ducks, which, though most beautiful in plu- mage, are not very fine on the table. Some are, however, shot for the sake of their feathers, which are. exported to England, where the brilliant hues of part of their plumage are used in the manu- facture of artificial flies for salmon and trout fish- ing. And besides the species mentioned above, there are two or three ducks of other sorts, which, being scarce and comparatively worthless, are of no account to the sportsman, and need not be further alluded to in this work. The wood-duch breeds in Illinois and the other Western States along the rivers and creeks, and always in or on the edge of timber. It is rather numerous along the Sangamon and the shores of Salt Creek. They make their nests in hollows of trees, and are the 168 WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 169 only kind of ducks which, to my knowledge, ever alight in trees. It is very beautiful, having gor- geous plumage, with a topknot on the head. The female hatches from eight to twelve young in a brood, and carries them off one by one to the water. The wood-duck is short, small, and stout, weighing about a pound and a half, and is not much prized for the table. It is very swift in flight, and can go through timber like a wild pigeon or a ruffed grouse. Of the ducks to be found with us, the most numerous, and perhaps the best, is the mallard. I consider it quite equal to the canvas-back in juiciness and flavor, and also to the redhead or pochard. Jt is true that so much has been writ- ten and said about the unrivalled excellence of the canvas-back that it may seem heretical to main- tain that the mallard is as good. Such, however, is my own conviction; and though some say that the canvas-backs of the West have not the pecu- liar flavor of those procured on the sea-coast in shallow waters, others, whose experience of them in both localities is large, say this is an error, arising from prejudice and imagination. The edi- tor of this work states some facts which go to fortify me in my opinion, He Says that when 170 FIELD SHOOTING. Senator Pugh was in Washington, representing the State of Ohio, this question of the superiority of the canvas-backs of the East over those which had fed and got fat on the wild rice and wild celery of the West was mooted at a supper in which canvas-backs were the chief dish. All those practically unacquainted with the Western ducks laughed at. the notion that they could compare in excellence with those of Maryland. Mr. Pugh was rather deaf, as he always has been, but he seems to have heard the observations in question, though he did not contradict them then. He wrote, however, to a friend of his, then collector at San- dusky, on the shallow bay of that name in Lake Erie, a noted resort for Western wild fowl, re- questing him to send to Washington a few couple of fat canvas-backs. In due time they arrived, and the gentlemen of the party who had met before were invited by the senator to supper. He had procured some fme canvas-backs from Baltimore, and he took good care his guests should know it. But before the ducks were cooked those from Ohio were substituted for those of the Patapsco. They were served up, eaten with great relish, and the usual pans of praise, and not a man at the table except Senator Pugh WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. I7] knew that they had feasted on Western ducks until told so the next day. Even then they were hardly convinced. Another matter in this connec- tion is that the very able and_ well-informed author, Dr. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, stated that he could never distinguish much difference in flavor between canvas-backs and redheads, - and that many of the latter were sold as canvas-backs and eaten as such by those who professed to know all about the divine flavor. The editor of this work has often received canvas-back ducks from Mr. Saliagnaec, of Philadelphia, who rents shootings on the coast. The. canvas-backs sent to him by that gentleman were in truth very excellent, but neither he nor any one else who partook of them thought them superior to some mallards which had been killed in a wheat-stubble in lowa, and were sent on as a present by Mr. James Bruce, of Keokuk, now of St. Louis, Missouri. Moreover, Mr. Saliagnac himself, great sportsman and_ en- thusiastic admirer of canvas-backs as he is, told the editor that his breed of tame ducks, the large, white upland Muscovy, were just about. as fine eating as: canvas-backs when fattened and killed at the right time, and cooked in the same way. Of course all this will be hooted at by those 2 FIELD SHOOTING, who have made the wonderful, exquisite, unparal. leled excellence of the canvas-back a matter of superstition. It is indeed as excellent as any duck, and for luscious richness the ducks at least equal any other description of bird. The canvas- back is a great deal better in proportion to the praises heaped upon it than the brook-trout is; for whatever sport they may give to the angler, the “speckled beauties” are nothing like as good to eat as many other fish not thought much of. Fashion, however, goes a great way in these mat- ters, and few are as candid as the Irishman, who, having gone some distance in a sedan-chair with- out a seat, replied, in answer to the question how he liked it: “Faith, but for the name of the thing I might as well have walked!” The mallards winter in the south for the most part, though a few remain on the Sangamon all the cold season, unless the weather is very in- tense and the frost so long continued and rigid as to freeze up all the springy pools of that river. When they come north in the spring, a few remain with us and make their nests in the Winnebago Swamp and the bottoms of the San- gamon River and Salt Creek. But the vast ma- WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 173 jority, after remaining with us some time, go still further north to breed and rear their young. Their northern limit is in a very high latitude. The mallard is the most beautiful of all ducks, except the wood-duck, and naturalists are agreed that the common breeds of domesticated ducks have sprung from the former. It crosses readily enough with tame ducks, to my knowledge, and the produce of the cross are prolific, though wild and apt to go away with the wild mallards in the fall. The mallards with us make their nests about the middle of April in an average season. When out snipe-shooting about the Ist of May, I have found mallards’ nests already containing seven or eight eggs. The nests are built near the water in some secluded marsh or lonely swamp, on tussocks of grass near the edges of sloughs, and in wet river-bottoms. And some- times I have found the nest of the mallard on the margin of a pond in the prairie or the pasture fields. The nest is nicely made of dry grass and sedge, and by the time the female is ready to sit it is lined with soft, loose feathers, just as the nest of the tame duck is. The eggs are from twelve to sixteen in number, in color of ‘a greenish blue cast, and very much like those 174 FIELD SHOOTING. of the tame ducks which lay greenish blue eggs. The eggs of some sorts of tame ducks are a shining white, as if glazed. The broods of young mallards, the flappers, are first seen about the 10th of June. There are commonly from eight to twelve in a brood. The little things are active and cunning from the first. If they are pursued, they dart swiftly under water, and, swimming beneath to the bank, just put their bills above the surface and lie quiet. When they are some- what bigger, they go out upon the margins of the streams and ponds, and hide in the grass. About the middle of October the young mal- lards are full grown and well feathered so as to be able to fly fast and fars The drake is a little larger than the duck, and a large one will weigh nearly three pounds. Widgeon and_ the two kinds of teal also breed with us to some extent, but their nests are seldom found. In the Winnebago Swamp there are a few nests of the broadbill or spoonbill. The pintail does not breed with us, and | believe not on this side of the arctic regions. If the winter is broken, the ducks begin te arrive from the south by the middle of Feb. ruary, and in an early spring they are found in WILD DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-sHOoOTING. 175 thousands by the 1st of March. When they first come to the prairie States in the spring, they are in poor condition, but after feeding about the corn-fields a short time they become plump and fat. Ducks, wild and tame alike, are great feed- ers, and will be found eating in the evening long after other birds have gone to roost. The mallards and_ pintails fly from their roosting- places on the water to the fields at early morn- ing, and on wet, cloudy days remain in _ the eorn-fields all day. They are so numerous that the fields appear at such times to have ducks seattered all over them. On clear days they do not remain in the fields on the feed all day, but return to their haunts on the water about nine or ten o’clock. In the afternoon they fly to the corn-fields again about three or four o’clock, when they first come from the south; but after being with us some time their evening flight to the fields is not made till sundown, and some- times not till it is nearly dark. The mallards are then paired off, but not so the pintails. When not in the corn-fields, both kinds are about rivers and ponds. The blue-winged teal and the green-winged, with the widgeon, use more about sloughs and T 70 FIELD SHOOTING, streams. They do not come into the corn-fields much, and are shot along rivers and_ creeks. ! have, however, seen these small ducks flying to the corn-fields when it was nearly dark. At times, when ponds in corn-fields are enlarged by rains, and the low places in the fields are overflowed, many teal resort to them. From such places, at break of day, I have often put up hundreds of teal and hundreds of other kinds of ducks. thick. Now to come back to the ducks. On the large streams, such as the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, it is commonly necessary. -for the duck-shooter to use a boat, and it is hardly practicable to use any but decoys of wood, painted to represent the sort of ducks expected. Upon these rivers | have killed canvas-backs, red-heads, mallards, and some few black or dusky ducks. DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 195 [ have not been out much on these large rivers, however, but have shot more in the corn-fields, on the sloughs and ponds about the prairies, in and about the Great Winnebago Swamp, and on the Sangamon and Salt Creek. Sometimes when a man is out after other sorts of shooting, espe- cially snipe, he will find that the ducks are in such numbers, and flying in such a way, that he may abandon his intended pursuit, and turn his attention to them. His shot will be smaller, on such occasions than he would have chosen for ducks; but with plenty of powder to drive them at high velocities, he will get penetration, and bring the wild fowl down. Once upon Salt Creek, near where it falls into the Sangamon, | was out after snipe, and noticed that the mallards were flying in such a way as to afford a fine chance. | had nothing but No. 9 shot, but de- termined to try what could be done. This’ was in 1868. The edge of the creek was well timbered, and, choosing my post, | seated myself on a log among the trees and brush. There was a light snow on the ‘bottoms some three. inches deep, and the snipe’ had to get near the margins of the streams’ to feed. I could have killed a good bag of them, but the ducks offered a chance- 196 FIELD SHOOTING. much too tempting to be neglected. I could not forego the opportunity, and sitting upon that log, and shooting as they flew until all my ammuni- tion was expended, I killed and secured ninety- five mallards. Some few, which fell on the other side of the creek, I did not get. With plenty of cartridges and a_ breech-loader | believe 1 could have killed two hundred ducks. They were all mallards. The date was April 7. Most of the mallards flew in pairs, and_ their route was towards the north. | have no doubt they were beginning their migratory flight from our neighborhood to the high latitudes. In hard, severe weather, when the wind is strong and keen-cutting, it is to be noted that ducks and other water-fowl are apt to seek the protection of the timber. At such times they will be found in creeks whose banks are well wooded, and about ponds m the timber. In these places the shooter need not go to the trouble of build. ing a blind. There are in such situations so many old logs, stumps, etc., that if he sits down in clothes of the proper color, the ducks will not make him out in time to change the di- rection of their course in flight. Thus on the great day at Skunk’s Island, in the Winnebago * DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 197 Swamp, and on that of Salt Creek, | had no blind, and did not hide myself in any particular manner. In the first case I sat on a muskrat house all the time; in the second | was seated on an old log while all the shooting was done. It is, however, necessary that the shooter should keep still; for the ducks will see any movement a long way off, and they know that stumps of trees and the like do not move. In cold weather, when the ducks seek the timber for shelter, they fly very fast; he who can _ kill three out of every four shots he makes is a good marksman, and will have all the ducks he will want to carry far on his back. CHAPTER XII. WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. Amone the wild geese to be found in the spring and fall in the States of the great Mississippi Valley, there are at least two varieties which are common in the same seasons on the seaboard of the Atlantic States. These are the Canada goose, the common wild goose, known almost every- where, and the brant goose. But besides these, we have in the Western States vast numbers of small geese of other varieties, which we commonly call Mexican geese. As many as three of these differ in their plumage, and, though found in the same flocks apparently, are no doubt the following : Hutchinson’s Goose, the White-Fronted Goose, and the Snow Goose. As mentioned above, they are only known by Western sportsmen as “Mexican geese. We have, then, five or six varieties of wild geese in Illinois, Iowa, ete. Of these the Canada goose is the largest and finest, and it used to be much the most numerous. It is a 198 WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 199 handsome bird, weighing when fat from ten to fourteen pounds. It winters in the south, and on its passage towards the north does not stay with us a great while, though a few remain all the summer, and I have seen the nest of this goose in the Winnebago Swamp. Their great breeding- grounds are far to the north of any of the habi- tations of white men, or even of Indians. They have been seen above the latitude of eighty north, and were even then flying on towards the pole. In those solitary regions, during the brief arctic summer, the severai kinds of wild geese rear their young in vast numbers, and, when in the fall they set out upon their southerly migration, they fly in innumerable flocks. They usualiy fly high, and, though their flight seems to be labored, it is very swift for so heavy a bird. In foggy weather their flight is low, and they appear to be confused, as if uncertain of the proper route. They intermix freely with tame geese, and the cross is much esteemed for its size and excellence on the table. Canada geese are rather easily domesticated, but even then the instinct of migration northward in spring is so strong that they get uneasy. Some- times when not pinioned they rise into the air and join flocks going over, and sometimes they 200 FIELD SHOOTING. wander off and are shot as wild geese. hh a ey Coe a Oe = ee a en ed ee eS ee rr or Ore ee ee ee se Ey feng yea APPENDIX. aT 900.2 cee. He a en A ee Fae 1 a Rs A a a ae a 1 et TS De ig a ger a UR Fs Ua ed Ml oe Pelt told are eee on oP te dt tote bet 1 YE ie od teen Behe tk oO tt ae 1 1 11 1—Time, 6m. 45s. 1.000% 3s Rei eri it opt es aS 1 a ee 7 PUT Bea abe Boa i Mec Ss wd he Me ie ei wet aes Ke A ees Re Ka Sse ieee Sed oh aot ol hated aise ah a hdd, SO Rieti hii Whole eo ath AE 1i—Time, 6m. 15s. E10 S87% bt An vd (OEM fr ge ak (Sg (Pn Daa The is a Hee eg SE Bat sg Pero rekstO bats AP ete td tid fo Pa je ME GRE MS Ug Se in Fg a aa He § a as el DS Sea fet dee ted died AP Pee Ee 1—Time, 6m. 40s. ieee te Ort tok te ed th Os ict tek fh et fee Ate Polo det Ot ek Lt ett oe «Rs Ser ed fet ed Ute Oe ge Ser es Asa est a a MO i Peedi bd te teta te tet et do lek, Ded 1 11 1—Time, 6m. 50s. S00 ss 2.3 tet tbh bk Re eth a tet ets 1 Dek Pei ak Ooh an Lotte tit bab am: ie at Fa ee eS ele Dae A eK nn Up Gt | te es ted be oP, ia hd BY AbD Ped 1—Time, ‘7m. 10s. £3007 2... be hripiieee te Pt ct Ort ete Ee to Ee hot Et i el ee te oe oe te te OL crew ee hdd et a Sd tie tL ad Piet eee ie dk ied (reeess one . minute) tity es f41—Time, 7m, Po) | bo APPENDIX. BOO ery. 4 dd ds dd hd aa ee ea bod geo 2 est a a a el ah ae ede oe ea a 1 1 1—Time, 6m. 50s. 4 1600 >< 5 Wi ns (aa Wed oak el es tt Ae ee. ee a Tie Des es ne Ud Dy es CT a es Ua cs Hs Mis Ba as Ui Ss Rats WA te tg He ea | 111 1—Time, 7m. 46s. TOO Gee ot ye ei Te Lge ER IS GS er Ws i Da oe We Wa LW: FU d OeN age Sr is et we Ss as Lake Wet Ea 1 Bul A i Pe Wal 6 se 6 Jaks Ws WT 1—Time, 6m. 49s. 10 RES Ss gs ces aft [es Da fas 0 Tea Os We Mt Hr tt Sa Wd oe Wag a Hat Wi ie (os GPR Rae Ags PS i Le Di Ee Fg Pa a ha 1 1 1—Time, 7m. 35s. L900 4. a: LA aa aa aS al pis ee ip a ae a i a a agg He Ot a aL ad 1 1 1 —_ ore © = 1 1 1 1 1 Le SE ee eS — SS ee i 1 Pee 110 ie Ba i ae dae dA ed ok a eet Oi ‘1 1—Time, 7m. 20s. al aed oc Se nes ee ee SS SH aol soot oe Set Se ee he KH Oe ee ee Ce a Fe oe Re et So SS ee eS ee | ail ae ee 9 lol — het a ae ll ee eo pee pet pf ek a a ce oh eel on ee = ae - © Ll ee 8 a cee oe 9 et ho ee le a APPENDIX. Ps Sh ty Tes dels ete tek, Ip te Ee ty dy t pl 4 To hie tt Diy Pet td q Pe We Bt ls ge Wr (Se os so CO fA bth Oct yk pri kat te brik 1 1—Time, 7m. 30s. 2,100. 2... hein Aye PEG ke hit tii 1 11 1 (recess of 48m. lds.) 1 1 111 5! O58 be tl bel tal eb al PEEP Lat ts 20 ft tae Mo tLLt11111:11 «1—Time, dm. 25s. Bye. & 5 2 Lett Teh ie beds Ede’ of 4 Poveda tak atl feed Tod: Al ol te teat ot a tae ED" GS a a Fae Sea Ae Sa" a 1—Time, 6m. 45s. Sets eel ad Dd ad, A oh Pte ea oe tee ies a WP a AR ve We RS Dit 2 eae eh ab Al —Time, 6m. 20s. 2,400..... tara 1. ded tea Ua ge Oi eg ee rT er sg a Ps td tt One A A EVAR ttt 1 bh £1 2 4 1 1 1—Time, 6m. 45s. fd 1 1 ee 1 1 it it ta ia i le 14 £4 a ee re ee eS ee el on al oe =_ eS eS ee eet Sl oe pen Pen Tere pare ee ear ea ee e ee eh et a rt ay fe pe et ne a oo ee oe’ Re Re RH rt - OO et pk nn ee me pe i ee ee a en aS het CS ere a et et Se Re ee eh a Se ee eS 374 APPENDIX. BOOS ccs 1 a A a 2111 tS ta Sa aa a si Was i Ml) FR ak Ms ak es vs Ay Wi WM Bae 2 i Ui? WR a es —Time, 6m. 15s. 2,600. 3.5 & fd. Ed Oh SE St js Aes ec Hae i Ae Shr es a Ra Ue Hn a ! a ed ee ea Pe ae ie ae a RRS Se UR Kai SH: Ps FS Ha | —Time, 7m. 20s. a | ane 6 sa Fai Os er Us | AN ea AR cae ace es A Se Le es es U ea ae A a ae ee At) a AP a to ee 1 1—Time, 7m. 15s. 2, 80025. 5. LO kW a ee es fRS0 see) B® Sk al Fe Ma Mr Tip: SA WS 6 AY lca pet Cel wl as Loe GaP Ya Fag Ke 1 ag a ig LD de Pele aa ead a Ped 1 1—Time, 6m. 50s. > a i os ee ee i De Te | Ped OT ose SSE Sige en Pulte Toit On ie eet x Rs Aa aT ge ee ay gd ed S| 1—Time, 6m. 50s. eh ita’d 1 ge iy Ms Nope ae Ne eS aa El ie i ida! Mae bias | os Mi i i ae | i We Pa db Abe peg Sel Na Hees Hs te To | ee Oi tel 1101 Vs a | ee ae a Te ig. ee eS eel a cree | seal) i ae | i! ome! Lt ie i | | a ee ee i ae ye 1a se | sae | 11 it kg ae | fe epee ee ee oe pak pek e p el ee ee ee ee ee a or om ear a eC a a el eS poke pk pk cent se cee eed et ee a APPENDIX. 3,000..... SEL HPLLEDAEEELALE 144111 te ir 1) 1; 1, 12 1; Hise 115-1; fe fh 4 13.1. 1: 1: 1 1 Gy De 1) 1) 1; Hy 1h HE G1 15 1,0: 10.1: 1 1-141 Ai ty 1) te da Peet ties oti gial 1.4 .1,1,1 1i—Time, 7m. 20s. S100 a. x. EEELEEPERLEEEGL YL 1,11 11141 1 (recess of 20m. 45s.) 1111111 opis dol ttt i tiet beth tt 151.0 CEE EL ELLE eats. thi 1111011311111 1—Time, 6m. 20s. 3,200..... WEERASLOALETLILLDES Lee ecg oe ber Ses San ey ye eae es eo | oe ee ee Dee | (Uae peg Me ies Oe ee We len a ee Oy i Soe | HERCULES ET 1 i—Time, 8m. 45s. aoe eee Pe rete tit et erat tts Al at si Ort tO. ate i gS BPs Re Wy is Oe Sy es Me Os 0 1—Time, 8m. AGO: Ss 2% SRGLLELEEES Piet fright yh bet Tet. ‘ee 29 ce PN OR og og Ped ae oe oe oe Oe Fh Ea ee A oh oT Od 1 11 1—Time, 7m. 40s. 3,500..... LPR DOEL TTA {fog ta Oe oe Seta ters oe Pp er ae ae es Sai ft Uber okt t A th PETE 86s 8 tk thd stot 1 1—Time, 8m. 35s, ee a ee ae a ae a a re’ 1 1 1 feed Tjek SY bk ee oe ee ee ee a a ore a pa ree jt a rr oe 1 1 1 1 1 1 a a a a eo ee a -~_ — OS et ee oe re por oe = a eo oe lanl oes Ee Oe ae a oe e Oo = ee ee a a oe a or hhh ee ee Gs oe ne oe ae a , dl APPENDIX. ai es ae Saat Gs ee ns Ns Wh Lik Be be 000 al de SE Pe a Le? Wd Me aaa PL i A et OA Mk His Ss i td A I: is Us| 1—Time, 8m. 25s. 3, 10052 10 tT: a ke: Ft Wn i ae Pe i ea Bers! Goat eet Ba ke a Sa Sa A ae ed a ner sg eat gs Be Mit Ba Ras Me Be | 1 1—Time, 9m. 45s. 3,800... i | a iNew Aiea if dds tial ee a FO 1 ed AL a 1 et Bes Rae Ss a Base ee eS 1 1—Time, 7m. 45s. 3,900... 11 at a aT i 00 Ye a go Pe UD dM Ba le | Yi Wt Mi! We A ad RS | yA . ; This cup must be won three times consecutively to become the property of the winner. The mini- mum number of shooters is three, and the entry £10 each, but the Committee have the option of { ‘ APPENDIX. 459 making the stakes £25 each when they consider it desirable. Distance thirty yards. RULES OF THE TUESDAY HANDICAP CUP, VALUE £50. This cup must be won twice consecutively, or four times in the season, to become the property of the winner. Ten per cent. is deducted every competition for the accumulative fund, until it be Won. RULES OF THE MEMBERS £50 WINTER CHALLENGE CUP. This cup must be won three times during the season, to become the property of a member, III.—AMERICAN SHOOTING ASSOCIATION RULES. (Revised January 7th, 1890.) RULES FOR INANIMATE TARGET SHOOTING. Rule 1.—Jvupcrs anp Rererer. Sec. 7. Two Judges and a Referee, or a Referee alone, shall be selected to judge. Sve. 2. If the Judges cannot agree, the Referee shall decide, and his decision shall be final in all tournament or sweepstake shoot- ing. Ser, 3. In individual matches a_ Referee, Scorer and Puller may be agreed upon and named by the contestants. 460 APPENDIX. Rule 2.—Aprpsars. ec. 7. In all matches other than tournament or sweepstake, appeals from the Referee’s decision will be decided by the Associa- tion’s Court of Appeals. Sec. 2. Any contestant making an appeal shall notify the Referee of his intention immediately, and shall hand such appeal to the Referee in writing within twenty-four hours, and shall send a copy of the same to the Associa- tion’s office, in New York City, within ten days. The Referee shall forward his copy also, with a statement of the time of its receipt, together with any explanation he may care to make, within ten days. Rule 3. Referee shall see that the traps are properly set at SpeciaL Duties oF REFEREE. The the beginning of a match, and are kept in order to the finish. He shall endeavor to make the targets conform to the flight and direction indicated in Rule 13. He shall test any trap upon application of a shooter at any time, by throwing a trial bird therefrom. He may at any time select one or more cartridges from those of a shooter at the score, and must do so when the shooter is challenged by a contestant, and he shall publicly test the same for proper loading; if a cartridge is found to be im- properly loaded, the shooter shall suffer the penalty as provided for in Rule 17. APPENDIX. 461 Rule 4.—Barx. If any contestant is balked or interfered with, or there is other similar reason why it should be done, the Referee may allow another bird. Rule 5.—Suooter at THE Score. In all con- tests the shooter must be at the score within three minutes after his name is called to shoot, or he forfeits his rights in the match. Rule 6.—Scorer. A Scorer shall be appointed by the management, whose score shall be the official one. All scoring shall be done with ink or indeli- ble pencil. The scoring of a lost bird shall be indicated by a 0, and of a dead bird by a 1. Rule 7.—Keepine tHE Score. Sec. 7. The call for a broken bird shall be ‘Dead bird,” and the call for a missed bird shall be “ Lost bird.” See. 2. When two Judges and a Referee are serving, one of the Judges shall announce the result of each shot distinctly, and it shall be called back by the Scorer. If the second Judge disagree with the de- cision of the Judge calling, he shall announce it at once before another bird is thrown, and the Referee shall decide it. In the event of another bird being thrown before the Referee’s decision, the bird so thrown shall be “No bird.” [It is suggested, when feasible, the Judge shall call the shooters name 462 APPENDIX. or number when announcing the result of the shot. ] Rule 8.— Broken Birps. A bird to be scored “Dead bird” must have a perceptible piece broken from it while in the air; a “dusted” bird is not a broken bird. No bird shall be retrieved for shot marks. If a bird be broken by the trap, the shooter may claim another bird, as provided for in Rule 20; but if he shoots, the result must be scored. Rule 9.—Annovuncine THE Score. At the close of each shooter’s score the result must be an- nounced ; if claimed to be wrong, the error, if any, must be corrected at once. Rule 10.—Screexs. Either pits or screens, or both, may be used, but the sereens must not be higher than is actually necessary to fully protect the trapper. Rule 11.— Distances. All distances mentioned in these rules must be accurate measurement. Rule 12.—ARRANGEMENT OF Traps. All matches shall be shot from three or five traps, set level, five yards apart, in the segment of a circle (see Dia- grams A and C), or, in a straight line (see Diagrams Band D). When in a segment of a circle, the radius of the circle shall be eighteen yards. In all APPENDIX. 463 ] | 1 1 i] 1 i ] | ] 4 s | 7 * 1 ,. e r P . Y ‘ a *< 1 e x ‘ wa “a a eo « ¢ ® be ‘ “ x ‘ o nF a ? a t rd me {2 ¢ 4 <1 3 v, - a x . ° . 4 PT ad F Shooters score Diagram A. (See Rules 12 and 13.) Note.—To get angles for birds thrown from traps 1 and 3, measure . six yards from trap No. 2 on line to shooter’s score, to point marked “A”: lines drawn from this point across traps 1 and 3 will give proper direction of flight. cases, the shooter’s score shall not be less from each trap than the rises provided for in Rule 15. The traps shall be numbered from No. | on the left to 464 APPENDIX. 7 a = —— 2 ame aan Ga a am a ae am, N Shooters SCOTE. Diagram B. (See Rules 12 and 13.) Note.—To get angles for birds thrown from traps 1 and 3, measure six yards from trap No. 2 on line to shooter’s score, to point marked “A”; lines drawn from this point across traps 1 and 3 will give proper direction of flight. —-—_—— APPENDIX. 465 » ‘ ms \ Z2OlYds » \ im / \ ‘ 7) ba bs Vaid \ \ 7) a7 A \ r2 \ an | ry Pa = ieee lee 7, * Pa 10 1Yas ¥ ¢ ry ~~ ? a , ! ‘ Pi ‘ é t ir 7 a ¢ r) a) e . ’ ‘ ‘ / .: , ' A - ~< Pe | \ / s 7) ( \ 3 aro e ‘ C4 Nd : x Py *% . > ! 3 r-3 rj cS _ Z ¥< : g CY 1 . : \s ee : ‘A Shooters score Diagram C. (See Rules 12 and 13.) Note.—To get angles for birds thrown from traps 2 and 4, measure six yards from trap No. 3 on line to shooter’s score, to point marked ‘‘A”; lines drawn from this point across traps 2 and 4 will give the proper direction of flight. The birds from traps 1 and 5 should cross the line of flight of the straightaway bird not more than twenty nor ~ Jess than ten yards from trap No, 3, 466 APPENDIX. Shooters scores Diagram D. (See Rules 12 and 13.) NotEe.—To get angles for birds thrown from traps 2 and 4, measure six yards from trap No. 3 on line to shooter’s score, to point marked “A”; lines drawn from this point across traps 2 and 4 will give the proper direction of flight. The birds from traps 1 and 5 should cross the line of flight of the straightaway bird not more than tweuty nor less than ten yards from trap No, 3. — APPENDIX. 467 No. 3 or No. 5 on the right, consecutively, accord- ing to the number used, as shown in the diagram. Rule 13.—Absustine Traps. Sec. 7. All traps must throw the birds a distance not less than 40 yards nor more than 60 yards, and each trap must be tested for this standard distance before the shooting begins. If any trap be found. too weak to throw the required distance, a new trap or spring, that will, must be substituted. Sec. 2. The lever or projecting arm of the trap shall be so adjusted that the elevation of the bird in its flight at a dis- tance of 10 yards from the trap, shall not be more than 12 feet nor less than 6 feet, and the angles of flight shall be as follows: If three traps are used (see Diagrams A and B), No. 1 trap shall be set to throw a left-quartering bird. No. 2 trap shall be set to throw a straightaway bird. No. 3 trap shall be set to throw a right-quartering bird. If five traps are. used (see Diagrams C and J), No. 1 trap shall be set to throw a right-quartering bird. No. 2 trap shall be set to throw a left- quartering bird. No. 3 trap shall be set to throw a straightaway bird. No. 4 trap shall be set to throw a right-quartering bird. No. 5 trap shall be set to throw a left-quartering ‘bird. Traps Nos. 1 aud 5 shall be set to throw their birds so that 468 APPENDIX. their line of flight shall cross that of the straight. away bird at a point not less than 10 yards nor more than 20 yards from trap No. 3. Sec. 3, After the traps are set for these angles, if the bird ‘for any reason shall take a different course, it shall be considered a fair bird, provided the trap has not been changed. Rule 14. — Punuine THE Traps. Sec. 7. The puller shall be placed at least six feet behind the shooter, and when the shooter calls ‘ Pull,” the trap, or traps, shall be instantly sprung. In single bird shooting, he shall pull the traps as decided by a trap pulling indicator, if one is used. Sec. 2. Traps may be pulled in regular order from Nos. 1 to 3, or 1 to 5, or vice versa, if so decided by the management. Sec. 3. If the shooting is from traps to be pulled in regular order, the shooter may re- fuse a bird from a trap not so pulled; but if he shoots the result shall be scored. Sec. 4. If the trap is sprung before, or at any noticeable interval after the shooter calls ‘ Pull,” he can accept or re- fuse the bird; but if he shoots the result shall be scored. Sec. 5. Should any puller not pull in ac- cordance with the indicator, he shall be removed, and another puller substituted. Rule 15.—Tue Rise. In single bird shooting APPENDIX. 469 > the rise shall be 18 yards for 10-bore guns. 16 yards for 12-bore guns. 14 yards for 14 and 16- bore guns. 13 yards for 20-bore guns. In double bird shooting the rise shall be 16 yards for 10-bore guns. 14 yards for 12-bore guns. 12 yards for 14 and 16-bore guns. 11 yards for 20-bore guns. Rule 16.— Cawuiser anp Weicut or Guy. No gun of larger caliber than a 10-bore shall be used, and the weight of all guns shall be unlimited. Rule 17.—Loaps. Charge of powder unlimited. Charge of shot for 10-bore guns, 14 ounces. For 12-bore guns, 14 ounces. For 14 and 16-bore guns, | ounce. For 20-bore guns, ¢ of an ounce. American Shooting Association shot measure struck off. Any shooter using a larger quantity of shot shall forfeit his entrance money and rights in the match. If in the opinion of the management, with the unani- mous consent. of the contestants, a shooter has not wilfully violated this rule, his entrance money shall be returned to him. Rule 18.— Loapine Guns. In _ single bird shooting, only one barrel shall be loaded at a time, and the cartridge shall not be placed in the barrel until after the shooter has taken his position § at the score. In double bird. shooting, both barrels shall be loaded at the score. Cartridges must 470 APPENDIX. be removed from the gun before leaving the score. Rule 19.— Position or Gun. Any the shooter may adopt. Rule 20.—Atnowine AnorHer Birp (Known or Unknown Angles). Sve. 7. The shooter shall be allowed another bird for the following reasons: A —For a bird broken by a trap. B— For any defect in the gun or the load, causing a miss-fire. Sec. 2. When the shooting is at known angles he shall have another bird from the same trap, but if the shooting is at unknown angles he shall have another bird from an unknown trap, to be decided by the indicator, except in case it be the last trap, when the shooter has a right to know which trap is to be sprung; in this case he shall have another bird from same trap. Rule 21.—Sivere Brirp SHoorme. Each con- testant shall shoot at three or more birds _ before leaving the score, when the traps are set in the segment of a circle. If two birds are sprung at. the same time it shall be declared “ No bird.” Rule 22.—Dovusie Brrp SHoorine. Both traps must be pulled simultaneously, and each contestant shall shoot at three pairs consecutively, thrown as follows: If three traps are used, the first pair shall APPENDIX. 47] be thrown from traps 1 and 2; the second pair from 2 and 3, and the third pair from 1 and 3. If five traps are used, the first pair shall be thrown from traps 2 and 3, the second pair from 3 and 4, and the third pair from 2 and 4. If only one bird is thrown it shall be declared “No birds.” If a bird is lost for reasons stated in Rule 20, it shall be declared “No birds.” If one be a fair and the other an imperfect bird it shall be declared “No birds.” If both birds are broken by one barrel it shall be declared “No birds.” If a shooter fire both barrels at one bird intentionally, it shall be scored “Tost birds ”; but if the second barrel be dis- charged accidentally it shall be “No birds.” Sum- mary.—A contestant must shoot. at two whole birds while both are in the air, and break or miss one with each barrel to have his score count, and the Referee shall be as prompt as possible in calling ‘No birds,” and prevent unnecessary shooting when a bird is broken by the trap. Rule 23.—Rarip Firinc System. When the traps are set in a straight line and the rapid firing system is to be used, there shall be a screen before each trap on which shall appear the number of the trap, from No. 1 on the left, and each shooter shall stand at score opposite the trap from which the 472 APPENDIX. bird is to be thrown for him to shoot at; after he has shot at his first bird he shall pass to next score to the right, and so continue until he reaches the end of score, when he shall return to the score opposite No. 1, and continue as before until his score is finished. If shooters are annoyed or there is delay in shooting by the smoke of previous shots, the traps may be pulled in reverse order, commencing with the trap on the right. Rule 24.—Ctiosine ,or Enrries To Marcuss. No entry shall be accepted after the fifth man from the last, inclusive, fires his first shot, except by the unanimous consent of the contestants. Rule 25.—Tis Suoorte. Sec. 7. All ties shall be shot off at the original distance, and as soon after the match as practicable, at the following number of birds: Ties on single birds—In single bird matches of 25 birds or less, on 3 traps 3 birds; 5 traps 5 birds. In matches of 26 birds to 50 inclusive, on 3 traps 6 birds; 5 traps 10 birds. In matches of over 50, on 3 traps 15 birds; 5 traps 25 birds. Ties on double birds—In double bird matches of 10 pairs or less on 3 traps, 3 pairs; in matches of more than 10 pairs, 5 pairs, thrown from traps 1 and 2. If 5 traps are used, the same number shall be thrown, in each case, from traps 2 and 3. APPENDIX. 473 Sec. 2. Ties, if not shot off at the close of any day, will be continued the next morning at a specified hour. Any contestant not present when called to the score after the hour named, or within three minutes thereafter, shall forfeit his rights in the match. Sec. 3. If in a series of matches the re- sult prove a tie, such tie shall be shot off at the original number of birds. Rule 26,—Cuauiences. Sec. 7. No challenge shall be considered unless the party challenging is a contestant, and the challenge must be made be- fore the next shooter goes to the score. See. 2. In tie shooting no one shall be considered a contestant except those in their respective ties, Rule 27.—Forzippen SuHootine. No shooting will be permitted within the inclosure other than at the score, and in case there is no inclosure, no shooting within 200 yards of the score except by those at the score, without consent of the Manage- ment. Rule 28.—C.ass Suoottne. All shooting shall be class shooting, unless otherwise stated. Rule 29.—Connvucr. No person whose conduct is ungentlemanly upon the grounds, or who shall per- sistently violate any rule, after his attention has been called to the fact, shall be permitted to par- 474 APPENDIX. ticipate in a contest; and the Referee shall so de- cide. The Management giving a tournament under the rules of the American Shooting Association, may suspend the offender and report the suspension to the Association for final action; and the Associ- ation shall have the power to suspend the offender for such period of time as the gravity of the offense may warrant, and during the period of such suspen- sion the individual suspended shall not be allowed to participate in any contest held under the man- agement of this Association. | CuassiFicaTion. Sec. 7. Any shooter to become eligible to the tournaments given under the rules and management of the American Shooting Associa- tion must qualify by sending to the headquarters of the Association a certificate from the president or secretary of a regularly organized gun club, of which he is a member, giving to the best of his knowledge and belief, what he considers the -shooter’s average on inanimate targets. These certificates will be used in making up a proper classification of the contestants. Blank forms will be sent to any one on application. If the scores made by any shooter give sufficient grounds for changing a shooter’s clas- sification, the Association reserves the right to make the change. Sec. 2. The classification of shooters : APPENDIX. 475 will be as follows: Class A, to consist of all those whose average is 86 and over. Class 8B, to consist of all those whose average is from 70 to 85, inclu- sive. Class C, to consist of all those whose average is under 70. RULES FOR LIVE BIRD SHOOTING. SINGLE BIRDS. Rule 1.—Rererez. ‘Sec. 1. A Referee shall be appointed, whose decision shall be final in all tour- nament or sweepstake shooting. Sec. 2. In indi vidual matches a Referee, Scorer, and Pullers may be agreed upon and named by the contestants. Rule 2.—Apprats. Sec. I. In all matches, other than tournament or sweepstake, appeals from the Referee’s decision will be decided by the Associa- tion’s Court of Appeals. Sec. 2. Any contestant making an appeal shall notify the Referee of his intention immediately, and shall hand such appeal - to the Referee in writing, within twenty-four hours, and shall send a copy of the same to the Associa- tion’s office in New York city, within ten days. The Referee shall forward his copy also, with a statement of the time of its receipt, together with any explanation he may care to make, within ten days. 476 APPENDIX. Rule 3.—Speciat Duties or Rereree. The Referee shall see that the traps are properly set at the beginning of a match and are kept in order to the finish, and that they are kept properly filled. He may at any time select one or more cartridges from those of a shooter at the score, and must do so when challenged by a contestant, and he shall publicly test the same for proper loading; if a cartridge is found to be improperly loaded the shooter shall suffer penalty as provided for in Rule 14. Rule 4.—Bauk. If any contestant is balked or interfered with, or there is other similar reason why it should be done, the Referee may allow an- other bird. Rule 5.—Suoorer at tHE Score. In all con- tests the shooter must be at the score within three minutes after his name is called to shoot, or he for- feits his rights in the match. Rule 6.—Scorsr. A Scorer shall be appointed by the Management, whose score shall be the official one. All scoring shall be done with ink or indeli- ble pencil. The scoring of a lost bird shall be in- dicated by a 0, and of a dead bird bya 1. Rule 7.—Announcine THE Score. At the close of each shooter’s score the result must be an- APPENDIX. 477 nounced ; if claimed to be wrong, the error, if any, must be corrected at once. Rule 8.— Distances. All distances mentioned in these rules must be accurate measurement. Rule 9.—ARRANGEMENT oF Traps. All matches shall be shot from 5 ground traps, placed 5 yards apart, in the segment of a circle; the radius of the circle shall be 30 yards from the _ shooter’s score. The traps shall be numbered from No. 1 on the left to No. 5 on the right, consecutively. [A ground trap is one that lies flat with the sur- face of the ground when open, and gives the bird its natural flight in starting. | Rule 10.—Bounpary. The boundary for both single and double bird shooting shall be the segment of a 50 yards circle, and a dead line. The circle shall be drawn from a point 10 yards beyond the centre trap on a line from the shooter’s score, and it shall terminate where it joins the dead line, which shall be drawn at a distance of 30 yards from the centre trap, and at right angles with a line drawn from the shoot- er’s score to the centre trap. (See Diagram E.) Rule 11.—Tue Rise. The rise shall be 30 yards for 10-bore guns. 28 yards for 12-bore guns. 26 yards for 14 and 16-bore guns. 25 yards for 20-bore guns. 478 APPENDIX. Rule 12.—Putine tHe Traps. Sec. 7. The puller shall be placed at least six feet behind the shooter, and a trap-pulling indicator must be used to desig- nate which trap shall be pulled. The traps shall be pulled evenly and fairly for each contestant, and in- stantly after the shooter calls “ Pull.” All traps must be full before the shooter calls “Pull.” See. 2. Should the puller not pull in accordance with the indicator, he shall be removed and another puller substituted. Sec. 3. If more than one bird is liber- ated the shooter may call ‘ No bird”; but if he shoots the result must be scored. Rule 13.—Cauiper anp Weieut oF Gun. No oun of larger caliber than a 10-bore shall be used, and the weight of all guns shall be unlimited. Rule 14.—Loaps. Charge of powder unlimited. Charge of shot for 10-bore guns, 1} ounces. For 12-bore guns, 14 ounces. For 14 and 16-bore guns, 1 ounce. For 20-bore guns, 7 of an ounce. American Shooting Association shot measure struck off Any shooter using a larger quantity of shot shall forfeit his entrance money and rights in the match. Rule 15.—Loapine Guns. No guns shall be loaded except at the score. Cartridges must be re- moved from the gun before leaving the score. APPENDIX. 479 d : \ ' 8 § & ' ‘ ! t ' ‘ ' Yds. 10% ‘ eS SHOOTERS SCORE. Diagram E. See Rules 9 and 10—Live Bird Shooting. (NotE.—This should give from centre to boundary, to straight-away bird, 60 yards; to right quarterer, 58 yards; to bird at right angles, 48 " yards ; to junction of circle and dead line, 42 yards.) Rule 16.—Position or Guy. Any the shooter may adopt. | Rule 17.—Famine to Loap. If a shooter fails to load his gun, another bird shall be allowed, from an unknown trap. 480 APPENDIX. Rule 18.—Gun Nort Cockep. If a gun is not cocked, or the safety not properly adjusted, and the bird escapes, it shall be scored a “ Lost bird.” Rule 19.—Miss-rFirE with THE First Barret. ‘If the shooter’s gun miss fire with the first barrel, and he uses the second barrel and misses, the bird must be scored ‘Lost bird”; but if killed with the second barrel, on the wing, it shall be scored “Dead bird.” Rule 20.—Miss-FirE with THE Seconp Barret. If a miss-fire occur with second barrel, the shooter shall have another bird, using a full charge of pow- der only in the first barrel. He must, however, put the gun to his shoulder and discharge the blank cartridge in the direction of the bird, and the bird must be on the wing when the first barrel is discharged. Rule 21.—Birps Kitiep on tHE Grounp. See. 7. A bird killed on the ground with the first barrel is “ No bird” ; but it may be killed on the ground with the second barrel, if the first is fired while it is on the wing. Sec. 2. If a bird is shot at on the ; ground with the first barrel, and the shooter. fails to kill with the second barrel, it is a “‘ Lost bird”; if killed, ‘‘ No bird.” Rule 22.—Birps Rerusine to Fry. When a APPENDIX. 481 bird refuses to fly, such artificial means as have been provided by the management may be used to start it, by direction of the Referee. A_ bird hit with a missile shall be declared “ No bird.” The shooter may declare a bird refusing to fly when the trap is pulled, “‘ No bird.” Rule 23.—Leavine tHe Score. A shooter hav- ing fired his first barrel and left the score, cannot return to fire his second barrel. Rule 24.—Garuertne Birps. See. /. A bird to be scored must be gathered in bounds, before an- other bird is shot at, by a dog or shooter, or the shooter may appoint a person for that purpose. Three minutes’ time will be allowed to gather, but no extraneous means shall be used, and no other person shall be allowed to assist in gathering. Sec. 2. If the gatherer cannot locate the bird, he may appeal to the Referee to locate it for him. Sec. 3. All birds challenged must show flesh shot marks, to be scored “ Dead birds.” Rule 25.—Ovrt or Bounps. A bird once out of bounds must be scored a “ Lost bird.” Rule 26.—Birps SuHor at py ANOTHER Person. If a bird be shot at by another person than the shooter at the score, the Referee shall decide whether it shall be scored, or another bird allowed. 482 APPENDIX. Rule 27.—Enpancerinc Person or Property, If any bird shall fly so that to shoot at it would endanger any person or property, it shall not be shot at, and the Referee shall allow another bird. Rule 28.—Tiss. Sec. 7. All ties shall be shot off at the original distance, and as soon after the match as practicable, at the following number. of birds: In matches of 10 birds or less, at 3 birds. In matches of 11 to 25 birds, inclusive, at 5 birds. In matches of 26 to 50 birds, inclusive, at 10 birds. In matches of 51 to 100 birds, inclusive, at 25 birds. The shooting shall continue until each tie is decided; provided, that the shooting shall cease at sunset, unless the contestants otherwise agree. Sec. 2. Ties if not shot off at the close of any day will be con- tinued the next morning, at a specified hour, Any contestant not present when called to the score, after the hour named, or within three minutes there- after, shall forfeit his rights in the match. See. 3. If in a series of matches the result. prove a tie, such tie shall be shot off at the original number of birds. . . Rule 29.—Cuaiences. ‘Sec. 1. No one but a contestant, or his representative, can challenge, and the challenge must be made before the next shooter goes to the score. Sec. 2. In the shooting, no one APPENDIX. 483 shall be considered a contestant except those in their respective ties. Rule 30.—ForsippeN SHoorinc. No shooting shall be permitted within the enclosure other than at the score, and in case there is no enclosure, no shooting within 200 yards of the score, except by those at the score, without consent of the Manage- ment. Rule 31.—Mutizatine Birvs. If it is proved to the Referee that any contestant has wilfully muti- lated a bird, or is a party thereto, the Referee shall declare all his rights in the match forfeited. Rule 32.—C ass SHootrmc. All shooting shall be class shooting, unless otherwise stated. Rule 33.—Conpucr. No person whose conduct | is ungentlemanly upon the grounds, or who shall persistently violate any rule after his attention has been called to the fact, shall be permitted to partici- pate in a contest; and the Referee shall so decide. The Management giving a tournament under the rules of the American Shooting Association may suspend the offender and report the suspension to the Association for final action; and the Associa- tion shall have the power to suspend the offender for such period of time as the gravity of the offense may warrant, and during the period of such suspension 484 | APPENDIX. the individual suspended shall not be allowed to participate in any contest held under the manage- ment of this Association. DOUBLE BIRDS. Rule 1.—The rules for single bird shooting shall govern double bird contests, when not conflicting with the following : Rule 2.—Dovste Rises. The double rises shall be from two traps of any kind, 10 yards apart, pulled simultaneously. The rise shall be 26 yards for 10-bore guns. 24 yards for 12-bore guns. 22 yards for 14 and 16-bore guns. 21 yards for 20- bore guns. Rule 3.—A.iowine ANoTHER Pair. Both birds should be on the wing when shot at. Should only one bird fly, the shooter shall have another pair of birds if he does not shoot, or, if he does shoot and kills the bird on the wing; but if he shoots and misses, the bird shall be scored lost, and in such event he shall shoot at another pair of birds, with a full charge of powder only in one barrel. The Referee shall load the gun, not allowing the shooter to know which barrel contains the full charge, and which contains the powder charge only. Rule 4.— Miss-FrirE witH THE First Barre. APPENDIX. 485 If the shooter’s gun miss fire with the first barrel, he will be entitled to another pair of birds if he does not shoot his second barrel ; but if he fires the second barrel, the result must be scored, and the shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds, with a full charge of powder only, in one barrel, as pro- vided for in Rule 3. Rule 5.—Miss-FiRE WITH THE Second BaRREL. If the shooter’s gun miss fire with the second bar- rel, the result of the first barrel must be scored, and the shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds with a full charge of powder only in one barrel, as provided for in Rule 3. Rule 6.—Losr Bmp. If a shooter fire both barrels at one bird intentionally, it shall be scored “Tost birds”; but if the second barrel be dis- charged accidentally; it shall be “ No birds.” Rule 7.—No Birv. If both birds are killed with one barrel, it shall be declared “ No birds,” and the shooter shall shoot at another pair of birds. Rule 8.—Tiss. All ties must be decided in shoot- ing off as follows: In. matches of 5 pairs or less, at 2 pairs. In matches of 6 to 10 pairs, inclusive, at 3 pairs. In matches of 11 to 20 pairs, inclusive, at 6 pairs. In matches of 21 to 50 pairs, inclusive, at 10 pairs. 486 APPENDIX, IV.—KEYSTONE RULES. Rule A.—Amateur Rute. Three or more traps may be used, and each shooter knows the trap to be sprung and the angle of flight. The angle shall be as follows: In using three traps No. 1 shall be set to throw a left quartering bird; No. 2 shall be set to throw a straightaway bird; No. 3. shall be set to throw a right quartering bird. In using SCREEN 2 3 4 5 i 4 3 4 5 five traps, No. 1 shall be set to throw a right quar- tering bird; No. 2 shall be set to throw a left quarternmge bird; No. 3 shall be set to throw a straightaway bird; No. 4 shall be set to throw a | right quartering bird; No. 5 shall be set to throw a left quartering bird. Rule B.—Semi-Proresstonan Rute. Known traps—unknown angles. In our semi-professional rules three or five traps may be used. Each shooter knows the trap to be sprung, but does not know APPENDIX. 487 the angle of flight. The trappers are compelled to _change the angle every time their trap is sprung. Each shooter is to get a right quartering bird, left quartering bird, or a straightaway. Rule C.—Expert or Proresstonan Ruts. Un- known traps—unknown angles. Six traps must be used, and seven men constitute a squad. The traps must be pulled according to indicator. No. 1 must SCREEN ea a ih Eee S Ca: ater Tie ae throw a right quartering bird; No. 2 a left quarter- ing bird; No. 3 a straightaway; No. 4 a right quartering bird; No. 5 a left quartering bird; No. 6 a straightaway. Shooters’ positions are the same as in rules “A” and “B,” and they must rotate the same. One, two or three are to get either Nos. 1, 2 or 3 traps; four, five and six are to get either Nos. 4, 5 or 6 traps. Rule 1.—A Referee shall be appointed to judge all matches, and his decisions shall be final. 488 APPENDIX. Rule 2.—Speciat Duties or tHE Rereree. The Referee shall see that the traps are properly set to throw the proper angles at the beginning of a match, and that they are kept in order to the finish. - Rule 3.—The Referee shall announce the score in a loud voice. | . Rule 4.—Keerine tue Scorse. There shall be appointed a Scorer, and the score kept by him shall be offidiak. The scoring’ of a dead bird by a “ 1.” The scoring. of a lost bird byxan “0.” Rule 5.—The traps must be well screened ; there must be a number put on the screen opposite each trap, and the shooter must stand opposite the num- ber. | Rule 6.— Traps. All matches shall be shot from either three or more traps. Shooting from three traps, four shooters shall step to the score, one facing each trap, the fourth man to step to No. 1 trap after the first man shoots; the first man to step to. No. 2 trap after the second man has shot, etc., until all have shot, when the last goes to No. 1 trap and the rotation continues. Starting at No. 1, shooting shall continue in rotation down the line. In five trap shooting, six shooters shall step to the score, one facing each trap, the sixth APPENDIX. o= £89 shooter to stand behind No. 1 until No. 1 shoots, then step in and pass down the line, the same as in three trap shooting. In our professional rule, six traps must be used. Six shooters face the traps, the seventh shooter stands behind No. 1, the same as in three and five trap shooting, and rotate the same. ‘Shooters shall load their guns while walking from trap to trap, so that the shooting shall be continuous. A shooter shall never shoot until the shooter to the left has shot. Any one shooting out of turn must shoot at another bird. Rule 7.—Apsustine THE Traps. The traps shall be so adjusted that the elevation of the bird in its flight at a distance of ten yards from the trap shall not be more than ten feet or less than six feet. Rule 8.—Putiune Traps. The trap puller shall be at least six feet behind the shooter, and when the shooter calls pull, the trap or traps shall be instantly sprung. He should pull regularly for all shooters. If the bird is sprung before or at any noticeable interval after the shooter calls pull, the shooter can accept the bird or not, but if he shoots the result shall be scored. 3 Rule g.—Guy. No gun of larger calibre than 490 APPENDIX. 10-bore shall be used, and the charge of shot shall not exceed 14 ounces. Rule 10. — Loapinc Guns. In single bird shooting only one barrel shall be loaded at a time, and the cartridge shall not be placed in the barrel until after the shooter has taken his position at the score. In double bird shooting, both barrels to be loaded at the score. Rule 11.—Posrtion or Gun. The gun may be sighted, but *when ready to shoot the butt of the gun must be held away from the shoulder until the shooter calls ‘“ Pull.” Rule 12.—Broxen Birps. “ c+ a 9,0 Ole, r/ ae ome F AN» ta , rogats a. * ae i ero 4 . rh 2 S re | im | i * ee athe ae ee is ean 2 ’ - ; a x iy ‘st irae oe € g: ; , Fela Poth y ae . + " » ,