Outdoor Sports and Games

by Claude Harris Miller

The first lesson in handling a gun is to understand perfectly how it works. If it is a hammerless gun, remember that it is always cocked. When you open the barrels you cock the gun automatically. For this reason there is some kind of a safety device provided, which should always be left at “safe” except at the actual instant of firing. It is just as easy to learn to push the safety off when you fire as it is to learn to pull the trigger, if one starts right.

Never carry your gun with your finger on the trigger. Wait until you put the gun up as you are ready to shoot. Don’t forget the safety. A great many shots are missed because the hunter forgets whether he has left it on or off and in his anxiety to hit the game will tug and pull on the trigger until, just as the game disappears out of range, he will remember that he did not release it. This shows the importance of acquiring the proper habit at first.

It is harder to correct bad habits in handling a gun than to teach the beginner the proper way at first. On your first lesson in the field, walk on the left side of your teacher so that your gun will be pointing away from him. If you come across any game, try to take your time before you fire. Nearly every one shoots too quickly. As most shot-gun shooting is what is called snap shooting, there isn’t much time at best, but a good shot will be sure that he has covered his game before he fires, while a beginner will trust to luck. This will be the hardest fault to correct. Consequently a beginner should if possible hunt alone for a while, as the presence of another gun alongside of him makes him too anxious to get in the first shot, and gets him into bad habits.

If your teacher also has a gun, he must assure you that he does not intend to shoot and then you will try harder to get the game and run less chance of missing. Always unload a gun before going into a house, under or over a fence, or in or out of a boat or carriage. If you leave your gun, even for a minute, unload it. Never rest a loaded gun against a tree or building. Never pull a gun loaded or empty toward you by the muzzle. In unloading always point it toward the ground. A jar will sometimes discharge a gun and very often a discharge will take place when closing the breech on a tight shell.

Always be ready for game. In hunting, we never can tell at what instant it will rise up in front of us. “Be ready” does not mean having the muscles and nerves constantly on a tension. It is simply to carry your gun in such a position that you can quickly bring it to the shoulder at any time. It is a good plan to practise aiming at various objects as you go along until you gradually overcome your awkwardness.

It is difficult to say what makes a good shot with a gun. There is no question but that practice will make any one a better shot than he would be without it, but some people are better shots with very little practice than others with a great deal. One very important thing is to do your practising under conditions similar to the actual hunting. If the cover is thick where you hunt, a swamp or brush lot for example, you will not derive much benefit from practising entirely in the open. A pigeon trap is an inexpensive way to learn to shoot. Some experienced hunters will say that practice at clay pigeons does not help in the field, but at the same time a good brush shot is almost always a good trap shot and if you can become skilful enough to break an average of eighteen to twenty clay pigeons out of twenty-five at sixteen yards rise, you may be sure that you will get your share of game under actual hunting conditions.

The most difficult part of bird hunting is to learn to give the game a start. The average shot-gun will kill quail at sixty yards and duck at forty. The farther the game is away from us, provided it is within range, the more the shot will spread. I once saw a half-dozen hunters fire at a covey of quail that rose in an open field before they had gone thirty yards and every hunter scored a clean miss. Any one of these men could bring down his bird under the same conditions nine times out of ten if he had taken his time. On this occasion when their guns were empty another hunter who had withheld his fire said, “Are you all done, boys?” and shot a bird with each barrel at a measured fifty-eight yards. To kill a bird that another man has shot at is called “wiping his eye,” and it is the chief joy of an old hunter to do this with a beginner. If you do not want to let the old hunter wipe your eye, take your time.

Learn to shoot with your head well up and with both eyes open. When the game rises, keep your eye on it and at the instant that you see it on the end of your gun barrel, fire. The greatest joy of hunting is to see the game appear to tumble off the end of your gun barrel when it is hit. If there is a doubt as to whose bird it is, and this happens constantly as two people often shoot at the same time at the same bird, do not rush in and claim it. Remember you are a gentleman, but if you are sure that you hit it, at least stand for your rights.

So much of the pleasure of hunting depends on our companions that we must be considerate of the feelings of others as well as our own. Always hunt if possible with experienced hunters. You will not only have more fun, but you will run much less risk. In rabbit hunting, one is especially at the mercy of the beginner who fires wildly without any thought as to whose life he may be endangering, so long as he gets the rabbit. If you hunt with some one who owns the dogs, be very careful not to interfere with them by giving commands. As a rule the owner of a well-trained dog prefers to handle him without any help, and, while he may not tell you, you may be sure that he will resent it if you try to make the dog do your bidding when his master is around.

The pattern of a gun, as it is called, is the number of shot it will put within a circle at a given distance. As a rule the factory test pattern will be found on a tag attached to the gun. If not, you can easily get the pattern yourself. The usual distance for targeting a new gun is thirty yards, and the standard circle is thirty inches. Make a circle on the barn door with a piece of chalk and string fifteen inches long. First drive a nail into the wood and fasten the string to it with the chalk on the loose end. Then describe and measure ninety feet from the target. Fire as nearly as you can at the centre of the circle and count the shot that are inside the chalk mark. In order not to count the same shot twice mark them off with a pencil. Perhaps a surer way would be to fire at the door first and in the centre of the load of shot drive the nail and describe a circle afterward. The chief advantage of studying the pattern of your gun is to know just how much it scatters and how far it may be depended upon to shoot and kill.