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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
THE
SPORTSMAN'S
iAND BOOK
CONTAINING
RULES, TABLES OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES,
CONCISE INSTRUCTIONS ON
Selecting, Caring for and Handling Guns and Fishing Tackle ;
Dog Breaking ; Shooting on the Wing ; Hunting Large
Game; Camping Out and Catnp Cooking; Miscella-
neous Recipes ; How to Skin and Prepare Bird
and Animal Skins for Specimens ; and Many
OtJier Hints and Instructions Use-
ful to Beginners.
COL. HORACE PARK.
CINCINNATI :
ROBERT CLARKE & Co.
_18SG.
COPYRIGHTED:
COL. HORACE PARK,
L88&
Better to hunt in fields for health imhou^ht,
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught,
The wise for cure on exercise depend ;
God never made his work for man to mend.
Dry dm.
This, on the face of it, is a "hook of reference and
suggestions for the beginner. It is written for the young
sportsman, not the old and experienced. Its object is not
to advance new theories by excursions to debatable grounds,
but to present the results of actual experiments, as well as
facts established by more than thirty years' experience,
together with admitted truths, all in a plain form. Details
may appear somewhat dull, but clearness can not be
accomplished by any other method.
The typographical arrangement of the book may
appear somewhat fragmentary and broken. I have drawn
from scientific reports, and have quoted the results of the
experiments of reliable men and authors, for which due
credit has been given.
The tables of weights and measures, etc., will certainly
be appreciated for reference. I believe the careful reader
will find the subject throughout, brought up to the latest
clearly ascertained results, while in some directions a
positive advance has been made.
I lo RACK PARK.
CONTENTS.
Animals, How to Skin and Preserve no
Army Rations 74
Baggage 68
Birds, How to Skin 101
Bird Skins, How to Preserve 104
Birds, Speed of Flight 36
Bore of Shotguns 41
Brass and Paper Shot Shell 22
Camp Chest 77
Camp Cooking 77
Camp Fire 72
Camping Out 67
Camp Outfit 68
Camping Parties 69
Choke Bore 40
Choice of Hunting Rifle 44
Colic, How to Cure 97
Distemper Cure" 94
Dogs, Care of, 117
Choice of 1 16
Training 118
Fire Arms 14
Fish, How to Preserve 91
Fish Lines and Leaders, How to Color 93.
Fishing with Hook and Line 90
Guns, Best for all Purposes 40
Choke-boring 40
Care of and Cleaning 59
Name of Parts 30
Standard of Bore 41
M313028
Gun Barrels, Boring 19
How Made 16
Rust Spots 62
Gun Implements 22
Gunpowder Composition 10
Hunting Large Game 51
Lakes, Size of 98
Landmarks 52
Lost in the Woods 54
Medical Department 89
Miscellaneous Recipes 93
Missfire, Cause and Cure 42
Mosquito and Gnat Bites 93
Pack Animals : 88
Pack Mules 83
Pack Saddle 83
Percussion Caps 1 1
Powder, Number of Shell one pound will load 10
Primers, List of. 12
Riding Animals 88
Saddle, Choice of 89
Shot, Number of Shell one pound will load 10
Shot, Number of Pellets to the ounce n
Snell, Snood, Gimp 96
Strychnine Antidote 94
Varnish for Joint Rods 93
Varnish for Gun Stock 93
Velocity of Shot 36
Millimeter. .
Centimeter.
Decimeter. .
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8 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
For measuring surfaces the square Dekameter is used
under the term ARC; the Hectare or 100 ares is equal to
about 2 acres.
The unit of capacity is the cubic decimeter or LITER,
and the series of measures is formed in the same way as in
the case of the table of lengths.
The cubic meter is the unit of measure for solid bodies,
and is termed STERE.
The unit of weight is the GRAMME, which is the weight
of one cubic centimeter of pure water weighed in a vacuum
at the temperature of 4 Centigrade or 39. 2 Fahrenheit,
which is about the temperature of maximum density.
In practice, the term cubic centimeter abbreviated C.
C., is used instead of milliliter, and cubic meter instead of
kilolitre.
MEASURES AND WEIGHTS.
WBICHTT.
The standard avoirdupois pound is the weight of
27.7015 cubic inches of distilled water weighed in air at
39.83, the barometer at 30 inches.
A cubic inch of water weighs 252.6937 grains.
AVOIRDUPOIS.
16 drachms I ounce.
16 ounces 1 pound.
112 pounds 1 cwt.
20 cwt I ton.
Drachms. Ounces. Pounds.
256
28672 1792
573440 35840 2240
1 pound=14 oz. 11 pwts. 16 grs. troy, or 7000 grains.
1 ounce=18 dwts, 5.5 grains troy or 437.5 grains.
TROY.
24 grains 1 dwt. Grains. Dwt.
20 dwt 1 ounce. 480
12 ounces 1 pound. 5760 240
7000 troy grains 1 Ib. avoirdupois.
437.5 troy grains 1 oz. " .
175 troy pounds, 144 Ibs "
175 troy ounces , 192 oz. "
1 troy pound ,822857 Ib.
1 avoirdupois pound 1.21578 Ibs. troy.
APOTHECARIES.
20 grains 1 scruple.
3 scruples 1 drachm.
8 drachms 1 ounce.
12 ounces 1 pound.
45 drops 1 teaspoonful or a fluid drachm.
2 tablespoonfuls 1 ounce.
The pounds ounce and grain are the same as in troy
weight.
10
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
Gunpowder. The following table shows the composi-
tion of the different gunpowders:
Mills.
Niter.
Charcoal.
Saltpeter.
Royal Waltham Aboy..
France National Mills . .
French Sporting
7500
7500
7800
1500
1250
1200
1000
1250
1000
French Mining
(3500
1500
2000
USA . ...
7500
1250
1250
Prussia ,
7500
1350
1150
7300
1350
1263
Austria (musket)
72QO
1700
1600
7647
1078
1275
Sweden . . .
7600
1500
900
Switzerland
7600
1400
1000
7500
1440
990
Theoretical Powder .
7500
1323
1177
Gunpowder is distinguished as musket, mortar, cannon,
mammoth and sporting.
. Number of cartridges one pound of powder will load:
with 5 drachms 1 pound will load 51 shell
4
" 3
>< 2
th 1 ounce
" 1;M$ "
" l# "
2
64
73
85
M 102
128
SHOT.
1 pound will load 16
it I4 x
12 x
11 x
10 x
9 x
9
g
shell
MEASURES AND WEIGHTS.
Number of shot pellets each size in one ounce:
11
Leroy's.
Tatham's.
Chicago.
English.
N<3. 10
822
848
850
1700
" 9
560
563
596
1000
" 8
375 399
434
605
" 7 ' -278 291
323
350
" 6 209 218
216 270
" 5
149 168
172
220
" 4
121
132
146 .
180
" 3
98
106
118
130
" 2
82
86
92 110
" 1
60
71
75 80
Percussion caps are numbered from 5 to 14. The sizes
run with the numbers from 5 small to 14 large. Larger than
14 are musket. There is no standard size to the grain of
powder. Each mill make their own sized grains. When
numbered they usually run from I fine to 6 coarse. When
Bettered, from extra fine, Fg, IFfif to IIFg coarse.
For shotguns No. 3 or FFg gives the highest velocity
and best penetration, with the same amount. The recoil is
slightly greater than coarser.
Restoring Unserviceable Powder. When powder has
been damaged by being stored in damp places, it loses its
strength and requires to be worked over. If the .quantity
of water absorbed does not exceed 7 per cent, it is sufficient,
if it is dried, to restore it to service. This is done by
exposing it to the sun.
When powder has absorbed more than 7 per cent, of
water it is worthless, unless worked over at some powder
mill.
12 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
SHELL PRIMERS.
From the fact that there is quite a number of different
sizes and kinds of primers, it is well to remember the num-
ber or name on the box to avoid confusion when purchas-
ing. A great many men go to a gun-store and inquire for
Primers for No. 12 shell, or No. 10 shell. The size of the
shell has nothing to do with the size or kind of primer. All
, that is necessary is to remember the name of the primers on
the box you have used.
LIST OF THE DIFFERENT PRIMERS.
No. PRIMERS COPPER.
for S. & W., and Colt's S. A. & D. A. 32, 38, 41, and
other small caliber pistols, using central fire ammunition.
No. 1 PRIMERS COPPER.
For 44 M. & H., 44 Webley, 44 Bulldog, 45 S. & W.,
and 45 Webley pistol cartridges; 32, 38, and 44 Winchester,
Ballard, Wesson's and Colt's rifle cartridges.
No. \Yi PRIMERS BRASS,
Are the same size as No. I, but less sensitive; will fit same
shell as No. I, and are better for guns with very strong
mainsprings, as they are harder and the plunger will not
cut through.
No. 2 PRIMERS COPPFR.
For paper and metallic shot shells, 44 Russian, 44 and 45
Colt's pistols, and other shells using No. 2 primers.
No. 2j PRIMERS BRASS.
Diameter and depth same as No. 2, but less sensitive;
used usually in military cartridges, but will fit same as No.
2. Better for guns with very strong mainsprings.
SHELL PRIMERS. 13
The following primers are known by name as well as
number. All others, whether by the same maker or not,
the same numbers are the same size:
Berdan No. I, military cartridges.
Berdan No. i l /2 same size of No. I but more sensitive
for brass shot shell.
Berdan No. 2 for brass shot shell.
Orcutt for old style paper shot shell.
Breech-loading shell caps, or percussion primers, are
for Sturtevant brass shot shell.
NOTE Berdan primers can be used only on shell especially
made for them.
14 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
FIRE -ARMS.
It is now a little over four hundred years since fire-
arms were first invented, and from the period of their first in-
ception to the present time money has been expended to
almost an unlimited degree, and the brains of many, many '
men, have been racked in perfecting the crude results of first
experiments and in bringing before the public at the pres-
ent time the high degree of attainment wrought in their per-
fection as found in the hammerless breech-loading shot-guns
of to-day.
About the first gun that we have any account of was
called the "Bombard," which dates back to about the year
1450. This gun was an unwieldy, uncouth mass of iron,
weighing eighty pounds or over, and was fired by using a
lighted stick. The first shoulder gun, or a gun with a
stock, called an "Arquebus," was brought into notice about
the year 1468. This was a very awkward arm, and could
not be introduced in nor used by the armies of that period,
as they were exceedingly heavy, requiring several men to
handle them, and were of little practical use- they were
able to fire it but about eight times in twenty-four hours by
hard work the soldiers at that time much preferring their
bows and arrows or cross-bows, and their cumbersome stone-
throwing catapult. The next step forward was the inven-
tion and attempted introduction of an improvement by the
addition of a contrivance called a v/heel lock, at Nurem-
berg, in 1630, answering the purposes of ignition, for which
it was intended, very poorly. This gave way to the flint
lock, which, in its perfected form, was used by our fore-
fathers who "fit in the Revolution."
The greatest stride of progress towards making a fire-
arm practical (with due respect to our ancient flint lock)'
was the invention of the percussion cap, in 1818.
FIRE-ARMS. 15
Few realize the wonderful progress made in the last few
years in fire-arms. For a moment look back but a short
time at the arms used by the BOYS in the field, and compare
them with the present. Think of the roll of paper filled
with powder and ball, and the necessity of biting off the
end of the paper before turning the powder in the muzzle
of the barrel, then ramming down the ball, and finally put-
ting on a cap, and compare it with the quick movement of
simply inserting a shell, all ready to be discharged, in the
breech of the gun, as at present, and you will then realize
the degree of improvement that has been brought forward.
The most recent invention is a gun without visible
hammers. The appearance is very handsome, though some-
what peculiar looking, owing to the absence of hammers
where we are accustomed to see them, but familiarity will
soon overcome whatever little objection this may raise in
the mind of anyone. The hammers proper are arranged
in a very substantial and at the same time simple manner,
on the inside of the stock, corresponding to the location of
the locks on guns in general use. They are so constructed that
throwing up the barrels for trTe- purpose of introducing a
shell, cocks both barrels, at the same time shifts an auto-
matic safety, catch into a position firmly locking the trig-
gers, rendering the gun safe from an accidental discharge.
The safety catch is situated on the grip near the position of
the thumb. Before the gun can be discharged the safety
catch must be shoved a little forward, which is easily done
by a slight motion of the thumb; then the gun is discharged
like other guns, by simply pulling the triggers. The ham-
merless gun is fast gaining favor with many sportsmen, but
at present they range at too high prices to come within the
means of the masses.
Although it is difficult to see where there can be more
room fot improvement in fire-arms, or breech-loading shot-
guns in particular, still time will tell, and the rapid strides
that have been made in the last few years leads to the be-
lief that "the end is not yet."
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
There is no part of a gun, except the barrel, but what
can be made by hand by any really first-class gunsmith.
Gun barrels are made at regular factories by mechanics
called barrel-makers. A very clear idea can be had from
the following paper published in the Scientific American
May II, 1872. It is copied in full and will be found quite
interesting, as so little is known by the masses concerning
the manner, or the material used in their manufacture:
BIRMINGHAM GUN MAKERS' AND INVENTORS' CLUB.
At a recent meeting of the above club, according to
the Mechanics* Magazine, Mr. Samuel Smith, of Weaman
street, Birmingham, gun barrel maker, read a paper on the
manufacture of gun barrels, of which the following is an
abstract:
The material used for gun barrels was mostly charcoal
iron. For plain and figured barrels, at the date of which I
am speaking namely, 1793 the iron used was stub, stub
twist, wire twist, and Damascus. Stub twist was first made
as plain stub, but, instead of being hammered into a
"skelp" or flat plate, it was drawn into a strip, coiled
around a mandrel, and welded in the usual way. Stub twist
is now made of old horseshoe nails and steel cuttings, about
two inches long, one-quarter inch in breadth, and the same
in thickness. The two are mixed up together and " balled "
in a furnace, and the bloom drawn out under the forge
hammer. It is then rolled into a strip, coiled round a man-
drel, and welded as before. If the balls are very large, or
the stubs or steel of inferior quality, the iron will not be
good. Plain stub barrels were made of the same iron,
forged into a skelp, and welded longitudinally.
GUN BARRELS. 17
Damascus and wire twist are now made by " piling "
plates of iron and steel alternately. The plates are about
three inches broad and a quarter of an inch thick. From
sixteen to twenty are piled on top of each other; they are
then placed in a furnace and raised to a welding heat,
drawn down under a forge hammer, and rolled into square
rods, 3-8, 7-16, 1-2 and 9-i6-inch, according to the size of
the barrels required. The wire twist is rolled so as to show
the edges of the different plates on the flat of the strip, so
that when it is welded together it looks like a coil of wire
from one end of the barrel to the other. The Damascus is
rolled into square rods; these are cut into suitable lengths,
heated white hot, and twisted until they become round like
a screw. Two or three of these are welded together, and
then rolled down to rods of the size required. These are
then coiled round a mandrel and welded in the usual way.
There is another iron, called silver steel. It was first
made about forty years ago, I believe, by Mr. Whitehouse,
of Wednesbury, by laminating Swedish iron and steel, like
Damascus, but not with so many layers. It is very good.
The figure is not much better than the iron that is
now called single iron Damascus, but it was a very
strong iron. The silver steel that is now made is rolled into
a square of 7-16 inch, and worked like Damascus. Two
rods are welded together and rolled down to the size re-
quired, and welded in the same way as other twisted bar-
rels. This iron is now made both at Adams' and J. Clive's.
There is not so much used as formerly.
About forty-five years ago J. Clive began to make iron
for gun barrels, and the best iron is now made by Mr. G.
Adams and J. Clive, who may be said to be indeed the
only makers of "best twist " gun iron. The iron now in
use is of six qualities 1st, skelp twist, price 2d. per Ib. ;
2d, iron twist, 3d. per Ib. ; 3d, fourpenny stub, 4d. per Ib. ;
18 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
4th, fivepenny stub, 5<i. per lb.; 5th, silver steel, yd. per
ft). ; 6th, Damascus, yd. per ft). No. 2 is twisted into a
screw, like Damascus, and is called iron Damascus. This
is worked in single rod and double rod that is, two rods
put together and rolled into a strip. The same is done with
fourpenny and fivepenny stub, and the result is called stub
Damascus, but the cheap guns are chiefly made of the iron
Damascus. This is the cheapest figured iron. It contains
no steel, being generally made of waste screws mixed with
other scrap. It requires experience to distinguish it from
the true steel Damascus.
Welding: Best barrels are welded by coiling the strip
round a mandrel, and then heating it to a welding heat in a
smith's fire; it is then taken out and jumped up on an iron
plate on the floor, then put in a swage with a " stamp " or
mandrel inside, and hammered down. About three inches
are welded at a time. Here I may observe that there are
very few welders who use the "stamp" except for a few
inches at each end; but best barrels ought to be welded on
a stamp throughout.
History of gun iron: Mr. R. Adams began to make
twist iron about the year 1815. He was before that time a
tilter of barrel skelps or plates for making plain iron barrels.
At that time a great deal of iron was made from swafl or
filings, which were first washed and then mixed with scrap,
made into a ball, and welded in a smith's forge; this was
called " swaff ball drawing." It made very good iron, and
was used by lock forgers, breech forgers, and occasionally
made into barrels for fowling pieces. In the early time of
the barrel trade, there were a number of small forges for
making barrel skelps by tilting > one in particular was at
Wednesbury Bridge, and here Mr. R. Adams, above men-
tioned, worked; and there is no doubt he saw what the
trade required. At the close of the French war he began
(H'N HARRKI.S. 19
to make twist iron as a trade. Before this time it had been
made at various forges, but no one made a specialty of this
kind of iron. Mr. Adams continued working at Wednes-
bury till unfortunately killed by the bursting of a boiler,
after which Mr. G. Adams took up the business and contin-
ues to make twist gun iron at his new works, in Church
Lane, West Bromwich, up to the present day.
Boring: After the barrels are welded, they go to the
mill. They are first rough bored. This is done by fasten-
ing them in a socket or holder; the "bit" is a square steel
"rimer,'' of suitable length, running at about 500 revolu-
tions per minute, which is forced through the barrel. The
fine borer then examines the barrel, "sets" or straightens
it, and then it is "spilled up," a process the same as rough
boring, except that the bit does not cut on all the edges; it
has a "spill," or piece of oak wood, put on one side, which
causes it to cut much more evenly. The workman then
"sets" the barrel and finishes the boring, which is done at
a speed of seventy to eighty revolutions per minute. The
bit only cuts on one edge, which is left sharp, and a deal
spill is used, packed up with strips of paper as the boring
proceeds. The barrel is examined and "set" several times
during the operation. The setting is done by the shade or
reflection, down the inside of the barrel, from the top of
the window.
It is an art that can only be acquired by long practice
and perseverance. Some men have worked at the trade all
their lives, and have never learned to set a barrel correctly.
The same process is used for sporting and military barrels
up to the fine boring. After fine boring, the military bar-
rels are turned, or stripped as it is called, which is done by
a self-acting slide lathe, which takes off the thick side, if
they have any. The grinder then finishes them to the gage.
The history of boring and setting I cannot attempt to state;
20 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
but setting, I think, does not go back much more than one
hundred years. My father began to work as a fine borer in
the year 1793. Setting was known then, but not generally.
He had to pay for the secret. According to my father, a
man named P. Parsons was the first to set barrels that he
had heard of. He worked at Duddeston Mill, being what
was called a "best workman " at sporting barrels. This
Mr. Parsons used at first, for the purpose of setting, a
string or wire which was drawn tight by a bow, or other-
wise, and applied to the inside of the barrel. By this means
he discovered the crooks, and then corrected them with a
hammer. The process of fine boring is the same now as it
was in 1793; that is, it is done with a square bit, but only
two edges cut, and only one at a time. The advantage of
taking off the edges was said to be discovered about 1790,
by Mr. Beesley, and this was kept a secret among good work-
men for a long time. I think we may be sure that boring
and setting had not attained their present perfection until
the beginning of the present century.
In the year 1787 there were twenty-seven gun-makers in
Birmingham, and barrels were made, bored and ground at
water mills all round the town. Such mills still exist,
chiefly in the neighborhood of Hales Owen, where large
numbers of barrels are now made. I have not touched on
the subject of rolled barrels, which are chiefly used for mili-
tary fire-arms and the commoner sort of sporting guns. The
rolling of barrels from short taper skelps, a foot or more in
length, is comparatively a recent process. The barrel is
drawn over an oval headed mandrel, so fixed that its head
is immediately between the grooves of the upper and under
roll. These grooves are of a shape corresponding to the
outline of the barrel. Of late years, steel barrels have come
very much into use for rifles, but to a very small extent for
sporting guns as^well, the want of " figure" operating much
(il'N BARRELS.
21
against them. Steel rifle barrels are sometimes drilled out
of a solid bar, which must be " set" from time to time, as
the drill is certain to run out. As there is usually more to
turn, off one side, they are generally of unequal hardness,
and is a difficult matter to keep them straight. Steel barrels
are now usually rolled from twelve to fifteen-inch drilled
blanks, the hole in which is much larger than the intended
bore. The punching of shorter blanks, which were after-
wards rolled out into a 'barrel by two rollings, constituting
the patent of Deakin and Johnson, appears now to be dis-
continued, though very good barrels were made by the
process."
The reading of Mr. Smith's paper was accompanied by
practical illustrations of the method "shading" barrels,
or detecting internal or external irregularities. Barrels,
straight and bent, were supported at each end, and Mr. Smith
explained the entire process, which has been kept very much
as a secret by the very few who really understand it. So
delicate is this test that the distortion, produced by warming
one side of the barrel with a common candle, was distinctly
perceptible. Independently of its practical utility, the
" shading " of a gun barrel is an exceedingly interesting
optical problem, which has never yet been investigated.
'2'2 SPORTSMAN'S HAND HOOK.
BRASS AND PAPER SHOT SHELL.
The question which gives the best results, brass or
paper shell, is a disputed one; both have firm advocates.
This is especially referred to in another place. Brass shell
as well as paper, using No. 2 primers, are best. No. 2
primers are fitted with a piece of nicked brass, inside the
primer, called the anvil. This anvil receives the blow from
the plunger, thus protecting the shell from being damaged
from repeated blows of the plunger, these being renewed
every time the shells are recapped.
Great care must be used in loading shell to insure uni-
formity. The powder and shot measure should be "struck "
off every time. The best arrangement for loading shell,
paper, or brass, is a tool called the " Barclay loader," which
consists of a brass tube just fitting the outside of the shell.
The loading tube is double at the upper end; the inside tube
is split in four places, making a kind of a spring. When a
shell is inserted for loading the inside tube enters the inside
of the shell, which guide the wads smoothly into the shell.
In reloading shell, be sure to recap before attempting to
reload; don't attempt to uncap 'or recap a loaded shell.
With this loading tube there is a rammer and a loading
block; this block is counter-bored to fit the head of the
shell. There is also a hole entirely through the center of
the block to insure safety from explosions of the primer
while ramming in the wads. One objection to the use of
brass shells is the tendency to expand by use, rendering
them tight in the gun-chamber, and hard to extract. This
can be almost entirely avoided by using light charges of
powder in new shell for three our four times and keeping
the shell well oiled on the outside. The oil acts as a kind
of a cushion, and light charges expands the shell gradually to
fit the chamber of the gun.
BRASS AND PAPER SHOT SHELL. 23
Brass shell, as a rule, can be used in only one gun,
from the fact that guns are not chambered uniformly; even
guns of the same make often vary slightly. After brass
shell have been used three or four times with light charges,
they will stand heavy charges without farther expansion;
but don't neglect to oil them outside every time they are
reloaded, which can be done by simply wiping them with a
rag saturated with oil. The inside of brass shell should
never be cleaned, no matter how dirty they become; burnt
powder will leave a rough surface inside, which will add
materially to holding the wads in place. To clean brass
shell it is best to do it before the exploded primers are re-
moved. Plug the end of the shell with a good fitting cork,
then wash with soap and water to remove the oil. Then
wash in a solution of salt in warm vinegar, rinse off in clear
water, and wipe dry. In this way you can clean only one
shell at a time, unless you have a number of corks for the
end; or, use a preparation called Universal Metal Puts
Pomade. This a red paste, put up in tin boxes. By fitting
a stick in the shell, with enough remaining outside for a
handle, you can, with the pomade and a woolen cloth,
make your shell brighter than when new, and in a very
short time. This Puts pomade is good for cleaning any
kind of metal; good even for the inside of gun barrels,
silverware of all kinds, watches, jewelry, etc. It is very
fine, and there is no danger of scratching.
Paper shells are loaded in the same way as brass shell,
but use wads the same number as the shell;- for brass shell
wads from one to two sizes larger. To render paper
shell secure in handling and carrying in the pocket, the
end must be crimped with a tool called crimper, or turn-
over. After the paper shells are loaded, to crimp success-
fully, not more than one-eighth of an inch of the shell
should project beyond the top wad. When more than this
24 SIMRTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
projects, with a very sharp knife or shell cutter remove the
surplus, then the shell will crimp with a neat, firm bead,
giving the end of the shell rather a pretty appearance. For
12 gauge shell 2. l / z inches, and for 10 gauge shell 2$
inches long will be found to be about right, without cutting
off, unless very small charges are used.
As a rule it don't pay to reload paper shell, except the
best grades; even then, life is too short to be hunting
with pockets filled with empty paper shells, which are too
cheap to be worth saving.
The shell chambers of guns should be oiled occasion-
ally. For this purpose, it is quite convenient to carry a
pocket oiler in the vest pocket, where it would always be
ready for use.
The following letter, written by the author of this
book, was published in the Forest and Stream, in the year
1884, in connection with the long discussion on the perform-
ances of shotguns. It is here reproduced, as it has many
hints directly pertinent to the subject:
THE PERFORMANCE OF SHOTGUNS.
In an editorial note, February 21, you truly say that the
comparison of muzzle-loaders and the breech-loaders is a
dead issue, but a comparison of the shooting qualities of the
two guns will certainly bring about just the discussion you
suggest: " the relation of experiments and tests in loading
to secure pattern and penetration."
My experience in hunting, shooting and experimenting
runs back for thirty-five years. It has been with all kinds
of guns, from the old Continental flint-lock musket to the
best breech-loaders of to-day. I now own three breech-
loaders made by myself for the especial purpose of experi-
menting. One is a single barrel 3-bore, weight 1 1 pounds,
in which I use one-inch Gatling-gun brass shells; no paper
shell large enough are made. One is a single lo-bore, 14
BRASS AND PAPER SHOT SHELL. 25
pounds, and the third a 2O-bore, II pounds. I design con-
ducting a series of experiments some time this spring and
will give you the results. With all my practical experience
I do not claim to be authority, but what I have to say
are my own convictions, based on the results of many prac-
tical tests, and simply give them as such.
The old saying " as straight as a gun barrel " certainly
had no reference to very many of our modern double breech-
loaders, for not one in ten has straight barrels. I refer to
the inside bore. This is especially true as to the cheaper
grades, and I am sorry to say that many of the better grades
have the same fault. In order to get the required strength
for the breech action as well as to stand heavy charges,
breech-loading barrels must be very heavy at the breech
end. This necessitates considerable taper in the barrels, or
the guns would be very heavy. Nearly all the taper is in
the first half of the barrels from the breech end. Very
much of the beauty of a gun depends on the graceful sheer
given to the taper. In joining at the factory, the barrels
are sprung together in the center, in order to have the ribs
fit properly, as well as to give the gun a graceful appear-
ance, hence the bore of the barrels are not straight. How-
ever, twelve to fifteen inches of the muzzle ends are practi-
cally straight, and parallel with the line of sight. It often
occurs in the cheaper grades that the barrels are sprung so
much in the center that the muzzle ends diverge to the right
and left, in such guns the right barrel shoots to the right
and the left one to the left. Guns with the barrels tapered
down very thin at the muzzle, as a general rule, are better
shooters than those with thick ones. A majority of choke-
bored guns are too heavy at the muzzle, which accounts for
their grouping the shot in bunches and leaving many bare
spots in the targets. In very thin guns there is a certain
amount of expansion and elasticity, which has the effect to
26
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
overcome the tendency to group the shot, hence give quite
an even distribution.
It can be put down as an axiom that guns having the
straightest barrels, other things being equal, will give the
best results.
The next consideration that has much to do with the
good and bad shooting is the quality and quantity of the
ammunition. There can be no denying the fact that a good
quality of ammunition is better than a poor quality; but as
to quantity, opinions differ greatly. From some unaccount-
able cause, there . appears to be a general opinion that
breech-loaders require very much more powder than the
old-styled muzzle-loaders, when, as a matter of fact, guns
properly chambered and properly charged require less. In
well-constructed breech-loaders there are absolutely no es-
caping gases unless the plunger cuts through the primer.
In muzzle-loaders it quite often occurs that sufficient gas
escapes at the nipple to throw the hammer back to a full
cock. In guns of ordinary weight, 8 pounds to 8*4 pounds,
I would not advise 5 drams of powder to i*^ ounces shot,
nor would I think of I dram of powder to 13 buckshot.
The proportion of powder to shot that gives the best gen-
eral results will be found to be 3 drams of powder to one
ounce of shot. On page 546 of " Haswell " will be found
proportions of powder to shot for the following numbers of
shot, as determined by experiment:
No.
Shot,
oz.
Po'der
drams.
No.
Shot,
oz.
Po'der
drams.
No.
Shut,
oz.
Po'der
drams.
2
2
1.5
4
1.5
i#:
6
1.25
23/ 8
3
1.75
1.625
5
L375
2#
7
1.125
2ft
NOTE. Two ounces of No. 2 shot with 1.5 drams of powder pro-
duced the greatest effect. The increase of powder for the greater
number of pellets is in consequence of the increased friction of their
projection.
BRASS AND PAPER SHOT SHELL. 27
With American engineers Haswell, is good authority.
How few men from actual knowledge could dispute the re-
sults as he has given them ; I could not do it, for I have never
experimented with 2. ounces of shot to \y z drams of pow-
der. Ogeecher's I dram of powder to 13 buchshot is about
according to Haswel.l. Killing a buck at the distance
of 120 yards with such a charge caps the climax. Put me
down as a little skeptical. Whoever sticks to the propor-
tion of 3 drams of powder to one ounce of shot will be sat-
isfied with the results.
Now, in regard to wads. Nearly all guns, by actual
measurement, are from one to two gauges smaller than they
are called. Many chokebore los will gauge but 12 at the
muzzle. As a general rule, for No. 10 brass shells No. 8
wads are used; for a paper shell, -a wad of the same num-
ber as the shell. There is also a general opinion that brass
shells will give better results than paper shells; but all of
my experiments have proven the contrary. Paper shells,
loaded with wads same number as shell, and not crimped,
will give better results than brass shells loaded with wads
two sizes larger than shell. Firm, elastic felt wads are best.
The advantage of two wads on the powder is so very little
that I have never been able to discover it.
More of the good or bad results of shooting depend on
the manner of loading than most shooters are willing to
admit. The ordinary way of loading is to use for brass
shells wads two or three sizes larger than the gun. The
large wads are with some difficulty forced down on to the
powder with a close-fitting loading plug, that has either a
perfectly flat or a concave end. The inside of brass shells
that have been used are very rough, a kind of sandpaper
surface. The friction of the large wads is so great that the
force of the discharge will bulge the center of the wads
forward, and when the wads reach the smaller or true cali-
her of the gun at the end of the chamber, they will bulge
still more in the center the worst possible condition for
good results. The shot will be projected in a circle, and
the center of the target will have few, if any, shot in it.
The crimping of paper shells has the same effect, but in a
much less degree, inasmuch as the wads are smaller.
To remedy this defect in loading, use a loading plug
with a convex or cone-shaped end, and for a No. 10 brass
shell use a No. 9 or 10 wad on the powder. The wad should
be firmly rammed on the powder and lightly on the shot.
If two wads are used on powder they should be each
rammed separately. The wads will be seated on the pow-
der cuping the best possible shape for good results in shoot-
ing and will be less likely to start from tlie recoil or rough
handling. I once made- a very poor shooting muzzle-loader
a very good one by changing the shape of the butt end of the
ramrod. The fault of the gun was that it distributed the
shot in a ring. The center of the target for a foot in diam-
eter would be almost entirely free from shot. The butt end
of the ramrod was very much concaved, and at that time I
used very large wads. I reversed the shape of the end of
the rod, made it very much convex or cone-shaped. By
using this rod the gun was made an excellent shooter; in
fact, it acquired such a reputation that I sold it for more
than first cost, after using it for six years.
I have one more experimental way of loading, which I
hope all glass-ball shooters, who think two wads are a neces-
sity, will try. Load a few shells without any wad between
the powder and shot. Use a flat-ended loading plug. Ram
the naked powder quite hard; then put in the shot. On the
shot put one good felt wad. Try this on glass balls, from
any kind of a trap at the regular distance. Now don't say
that charges loaded in this way will not break glass balls
until you have tried them. In my experiments I used No.
9 shot.
BRASS AND PAI'KR SHOT SHELL. 29
Overcharges of powder are a detriment to the good
shooting of any gun. Shot discharged from the muzzle of
a gun is very similar to water discharged from a hose
nozzle. A hose nozzle to throw a solid stream to any great
distance must be chokebored, very similar to a chokebored
gun. There is a limit to the distance that water can be pro-
jected by pressure through a nozzle, and an increased press-
ure at that limit will reduce the effective distance. There
is certainly a limit to the effective distance of the best shot-
guns; and overcharges of powder will reduce the effective
distance from the same cause that an over-pressure will re-
duce the distance to which water can be thrown.
Heavy or overcharges cause heavy recoil, which is not
only unpleasant to the shooter, but detrimental to good
shooting. The force of the recoil backward is at the ex-
pense of the force of the discharge forward. This fact is
very easily demonstrated. Take a gun that weighs 8 to 8^
pounds; have the shells loaded with 5 drams of powder and
l^ ounces of shot. Let some small man, who weighs about
140 pounds and who has more pluck than muscle, fire a few
of the shells at a target forty yards. Then have a large,
muscular man, of 210 pounds weight, shoot the same gun
with a similar charge. The results will be found very dif-
ferent. The heavy, muscular man by his weight and muscle
will hold the gun square to the work, and put all the force
of the discharge on the projected shot. The small man, if
quite active, will keep on his feet, but when he examines
his target will find it just as much poorer as the gun kicked
him harder than it did the heavy man. There can be a cer-
tain amount of recoil that is not unpleasant, but rather a
satisfaction; charges just up to that point will be found
very effective. Charges would vary according to the weight
of the gun, as well as the weight and muscle of the shooter.
I hope good may result by a full discussion of this
subject.
30 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
Names of the Parts of the Breech-
goading Grun,
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED.
Action. Used generally, such as "snap action," "side
action."
' Action. Used specifically, being the iron body which
lies between the barrels and the stock.
Back Action. When the locks are bedded into the
stock alone.
Bar Action. When the locks are bedded partly into
the stock and partly into the action, frequently likewise
called " Fore Action."
Bolt. The part which, in a- snap gun, passes into the
lump of the barrel to hold the barrels into the action when
the gun is closed.
Breech. The end of the barrels in which the ignition
of the powder takes place.
Bump. The corner of the stock at the top of the
heel-plate.
Cases. A term used for cartridges when empty.
Chambers. The enlarged spaces made for the cartridges
to be inserted into.
Cartridges. Cases when loaded. Made of paper or
metal. Paper cases are cylindrical. Metal cases for shot-
guns are likewise cylindrical. Metal cases for rifles are
largely made what is termed "bottle-nosed," *. ^., the part
which contains the powder is one or two bores larger than
the actual bore of the weapon, in order that being wider a
shorter case may be used and the proper charge of powder
retained. The I2A metal shell can be used in a gun cham-
bered for the common 12-bore paper shell, but the I2B metal
NAMES OF THE PARTS OF BREECH-LOADING CiUN. ol
case is too small for it. Similarly with lo-bores. A gun
bored for the "B" metal will not, of course, take the
paper case.
Cap. The metal covering placed on the end of the
handle when it is pistol-shaped.
Comb. The top corner of the stock on which the cheek
rests when firing.
Counter-Sink. The recess in the chambers in which the
rim of the cartridge fits.
Cross-Bar. The small bar which, when the barrels are
falling, presses out the extractor.
Direct Fire. That shape of action in which the plungers
lie and strike the ignition horizontally. (See "Oblique
Fire").
Extractor. The part which, when the gun is opened,
partly or altogether ejects the discharged cartridge case.
Fore-end. The wooden piece under the barrel.
Guard. The part which protects the triggers.
Handle. The part of the stock gripped by the hand, ,
and which may be either straight or pistol - shaped:
(See Cap.")
Heel- Plate. The metal base of the stock, and which
may be either solid or " skeleton " *. <?., existing merely at
the edges all round, or "tips" i. e., only at top and
bottom.
Lever. The part by which the gun is opened or closed.
This may be on the top ("Top Lever,") side ("Side
Lever,") or under ("Under Lever.")
Loop. The projection under the barrel to which the
fore-end is fastened.
Lump. The iron piece soldered on to the barrel, and
which descends into the action, where there is a recess pre-
pared for it.
32 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
Oblique Fire. That shape of action in which the
plungers lie and strike the ignition obliquely. (See " Di-
rect Fire.")
Plates. The sides of the locks.
Phmgcrs. The pins which are struck by the hammers,
and which, in consequence, strike the caps of the cartridges.
Ribs. Those parts of the barrel above and below which
connect the two tubes. (See "Tubes.")
Scears. The parts of the locks which, when touched
by the triggers, release the tightened mainsprings.
Strap. The metal " peninsula " which runs from the
action between the hammers down the stock
Toe. The lower and most extreme point of the stock
at the bottom of the heel-plate.
Tubes. The two barrels before they are put together.
Tumblers. That part of the lock with the two 'notches
in it. The notches are by the artisan called bents; " a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet." These notches
catch the scear and constitute "half" and "full" cock.
33
WING SHOOTING.
The following suggestions are designed especially for
the beginner, or young sportsman, although not altogether
inappropriate to many old and experienced ones. As to
the selection of a gun, that has become simply a matter of
taste; very good guns are so cheap there is no excuse for
getting a poor one.
The best for all-round shooting is a twelve bore; select
the straightest stock you can handle with ease. The length
of the stock, from the front trigger to the center of the heel
plate, should be from 13^ to 14^ inches. Short, straight
stocks are really easier to handle, and will prove more suc-
cessful in the field.
The beginner will find it very important to learn to
handle his gun before entering the field. The important
points to observe are ease, grace and precision.
It is almost an invariable rule that the man who handles
his gun gracefully is a good shot. To learn to handle a
gun in this manner will require careful and persistent prac-
tice. An hour each day, spent in your room, practicing the
art of throwing your gun to your shoulder gracefully, and in
the right position, will be of gfeat service in the field; you
will also find it of great benefit as an athletic exercise,
much better than club swinging to develop the muscles
of the arms. The best position in trap shooting, to
resist the recoil of the gun, is to stand firmly on the
right foot, the left well advanced, with knee slightly bent,
and the body well forward. This position, backed with a
little moral resistance, will successfully resist the recoil of
heavy charges without injury to the shoulder.
Now that you have the proper position of feet and
body, grasp the gun with the right hand at the grip, with
your finger lightly on the trigger; with the left hand, grasp
34 SPORTSMAN'S HAND HOOK.
the gun at, or in front of the fore end; hold the gun, with
the arms extended just free from the body, with the
muzzle elevated at about sixty degrees and the right hand
about level with the eye, and the breech-plate below the
elbow; bring the gun deliberately (and at the same time as
quickly as possible) to the shoulder. This is done by simply
dropping the muzzle and raising the breech, or butt, to the
shoulder with the right hand so placed as to require but
little change.
The butt of the gun should rest firmly against the
shoulder, well toward the breast, and not on the arm, keep-
ing the elbow well out from the body and the left arm ex-
tended almost straight, as if pointing at the object you are
shooting at, as it is with this arm you control your aim. In
this way you can easily carry the sight on a moving object.
An hour each day spent in study and practice will soon
make you proficient in handling your gun. as well as a
pleasant muscular exercise.
Inasmuch as human nature is one bundle of habits, it
is quite important that they be correctly formed, for once
formed they are instinctively followed. The old saying
that " it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks," is a true one;
hence the importance of starting aright. While in the pur-
suit of game, carry your gun habitually in one position; this
may seem unimportant, but don't forget it. To become a
successful wing shot, form a habit of instantaneous action,
(when you detect the presence of game) and it must never
be lost sight of.
Carry your gun in a position that you can easily and
promptly throw it to your shoulder with the hammers at full
cock, and never forgetting the direction of your hunting
companion, or dog, and under no circumstances point your
gun toward them; then you will never mourn the accidental
loss of a prized companion, or valuable dog. A very good
WING SHOOTING. .')")
position in which to hold or carry a gun with a pistol grip
is to grasp the gun at the grip with the right hand, with the
elbow close to the body and the barrels of the gun-rest
against the shoulder, with the hammers against or just be-
low the front of the shoulder, the muzzle pointing almost
straight up, or inclining slightly to the rear; this is an easy,
safe position, and the habit of carrying your gun in this
manner is soon acquired. Another mode is: with the left
hand grasp the gun at or directly in front of the fore end,
with the right hand on the grip and the index finger lightly
pressing'the trigger, with the muzzle pointing toward the
ground from two to three feet in front of you; this is a very
good way to carry your gun but more fatiguing, if long
continued. The last position, with the muzzle elevated, is
also good, but not so free from accidents to your companions.
Commence operations by firing at the first and every bird
flushed within range. Don't wait for a better shot, the
first is always best. Be quick; the quicker, the greater will
be your success, but at the same time be calm and as delib-
erate as you can with the quickness of your motions. Re-
member that hurry does not mean flurry. You hear a great
many men excuse their misses by saying they shoot too
quickly. That is not true, they shoot in a flurry.
The true way is: Bring the gun to your shoulder; see
the bird in full view over the sight of the gun, then pull
the trigger. Don't be discouraged if you miss, for all men
are inclined to overshoot at first; but shoot at any rate, as
you will soon establish a sympathy between your eye and
finger; that is, as soon as the eye has found the bird, in the
proper place over the barrels, the finger will instinctively
pull the trigger. Sympathy between the eye and finger is
absolutely requisite in successful shooting. There are many
important points, such as distance, speed, and direction,
judgment in all of these particulars can only be acquired
36
SPORTSMAN'S HAND HOOK.
by long continued practice, The speed with which ducks
fly, range from 60 to 90 miles per hour. When flying at the
rate of 60 miles, a duck will pass you at the rate of n feet
in a tenth of a second; and at a rate of 90 miles, would pass
16 feet in the same time.
The following table gives the result of experiments
made by Alfred M. Mayer, Professor of Physics in the
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J., taken
from a report read before the American Association for the
advancement of science, at Boston, on August 31, 1880, and
published in the Forest and Stream, of October 26, 1880.
The velocity of shot was determined by a very ingeni-
ous contrivance called the " chronoscope." Only a portion
of the table is given here, being quite sufficient to establish
the mean velocity of shot with a given charge of powder
and distance:
10 GAUGE, 4 DRAMS POWDER, 1^ OUNCE SHOT.
Size of Shot.
Velocity 30
yards.
Velocity 40 Velocity 50
yards. yards.
No. 3
989 feet.
911 feet. 872 feet.
" 6
966 "
883 " 806 "
" 8
920 "
874 " 7
76 "
"i
848 "
756 " 669 4<
i
12 GAUGE GUN,
DRAMS POWDER,
OUNCE SHOT.
Size of Shot.
Velocity 30
yards.
Velocity 40
yards.
Velocity 50
yards.
No. 3
" 6
" 8
" 10
844 feet.
825 "
816 "
796 "
754 feet.
739 "
749 "
680 "
696 feet.
600 "
607 "
610 "
WING SHOOTING. 37
\
Each measure of velocity given in these tables is the
mean velocity obtained from several experiments, varying in
number from three to six. The headings, velocities at 30,
40 and 50 yards, have reference to the speed with which
they passed over these points.
The following quotation is from the close of Professor
Mayer's paper. The entire is of much interest and directly
to the point, but too long for insertion :
"The third fact which these experiments show is that
the proper charge of shot in a 12-gauge gun for upland
shooting is i l /% oz. and not i^ oz., as has of late years been
the practice to use; for the tables show that with i l /$ oz. of
shot and 3^ drs. of powder an average velocity is obtained
which requires 4 drs. of 'powder to give i% of shot a
velocity equal to that given by 3^ drs. to i l /& oz. Now,
4 drs. of .powder, if not fired from a gun weighing at least
9 Ifos., and from a good, strong, muscular shoulder, is disa-
greeable. The effect on the body, and especially on the
brain, is neither conducive to pleasant nor to good shoot-
ing. The number of pellets in a charge of i* oz. of No. 8
shot is 499. In a charge of i l /% oz. of the same shot there
are 449, therefore only 50 pellets more in a charge of i^
oz. than in a charge of \y% oz. ; and surely the want of the 50
will not cause a good shot to miss his bird with 449 pellets,
nor will the addition of the 50 give a bad shot any more
chance of bringing his bird to bag with his 499 pellets.
" I wish now to show to the association, and especially to
those members of it who are sportsmen, other applications
of these experiments to the art of shooting on the wing.
"There are two styles of shooting on the wing one is
called 'snap-shooting,' where the shooter, on selecting the
bird which he wishes to bag, quickly brings the gun to his
shoulder and at the instant it is in place, fires. If the bird
is a cross shot, he determines at the moment of fire the dis-
38 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
tance to which he should direct his gun ahead of its flight,
this distance depending on the velocity of the bird's
flight and on his distance from it. This manner of shoot-
ing is practiced the more generally by upland gunners in
shooting quail, grouse and woodcock.
"The other style of shooting may be designated as ' the
swing shot,' in which the gunner swings his gun ahead of
the cross flight of the bird till he attains the proper distance
ahead of it, and then fires; but he keeps his gun moving
with a regular angular velocity till even after its discharge.
This method of shooting is, in my opinion and from my ex-
perience, the proper method whenever it can be practiced,
and is certainly the only one which has been found success-
ful in the shooting of bay fowl, as ducks, brant and wild
geese. Yet there are sportsmen who will contend that they
merely follow the bird with the gun, and discharge it while
it is pointing directly at the bird. I put this opinion to the
test this summer in the following manner: Four willets
came over the decoys flying in line with a good speed.
With my gun I followed the first bird coolly and accurately,
and kept the gun moving regularly after its discharge. In-
stead of killing the first bird, the third from the leader
dropped dead.
" To give a rule applicable to all gunners for the distance
at which a gun should be held ahead of a bird is not pos-
sible. Some sportsmen follow a bird, and then after reach-
ing before it the proper distance suddenly stop the angular
motion of the gun and then fire. Others, after following
the bird a short distance, give a quick, lateral motion to the
gun and then fire. Others, again, bring the gun with a lat-
eral motion ahead of the bird and keep the gun moving till
their experience decides the proper distance ahead of its
flight, and then fire while the gun is keeping its previous
regular angular velocity.
WING SHOOTING. 39
" For the simple illustration of the bearing of these expe-
riments on the art of shooting on the wing I will suppose
that at the moment of fire the gun is stationary; in other
words, that we are firing 'snap-shots.' If the bird has a
velocity across the line of sight of 30 miles an hour (/. <?.,
44 ft. per sec.), and we are using charges in a 12-gauge gun
of 3^ drs. of powder and i^ oz. of shot, we will have to
shoot about 5 feet ahead of the bird if it is flying at a dis-
tance of 30 yards; at 7 feet ahead if at a distance of 40
yards, and 1 1 feet ahead of the bird if at a distance of
50 yards.
"These distances ahead for cross shots at birds flying at
the rate of 30 miles an hour, may appear out of all reason
with the experience of many sportsmen; yet if you will place
a stick 5 feet long at 40 yards and ask the same gunners if
they would hold ahead of a bird by that length if it were
going with a velocity of 30 miles, I venture to say, from my
experiments with them, that they will say, 'Of course;
that is only about 18 inches,' so difficult is it to determine
a length at a distance while sighting along the barrel
of a gun.
" I will conclude with the remark that the study of this
paper will not make a good shot on the wing no more than
a description of how to perform on the violin will make an
accomplished violinist. But the results of these experi-
ments are of value, and cannot but improve the shooting of
an accomplished sportsman, if they are practically applied."
40 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
BORE OF SHOTGUNS.
There are practically three kinds of boring for shot-
guns full choke, modified choke, and cylinder bore. A
choke bore is of two kinds; in one the barrel is a true cylin-
der to within three-quarters of an inch of the muzzle, when
the bore gradually contracts to the end. The other kind is
called jug choke; that is, when the choke is accomplished
by enlarging the bore from three-quarters of an inch of the
muzzle down three or four inches. Full choke does not have
reference to the amount of contraction at the muzzle by the
per cent, of shot it will put in a given circle at a given dis-
tance. Guns that will put from three to four hundred pel-
lets, No. 8 shot, in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards, are full
choke. A good cylinder bore will put from 150 to 180
No. 8 shot in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards.
For wing shooting for any small game a cylinder bore
is much the best. Choke bores are best for ducks and larger
game. Cylinder bored guns shoot buckshot better than
choke bores. It is not advisable to shoot buckshot in a
choke bore, even if they chamber loosely at the muzzle of
the gun.
The best all-purpose gun is a 12-gauge 30 inch cylinder
bored seven pound gun. Would prefer a smaller bore
rather than a larger. All late experiments are favorable to
small bore and very light guns.
Always be cautious, calm, and deliberate, under all
circumstances. Take a day's tramp through the fields or
woods whenever you can. There is a proverb among the
Arabs that the "days spent in the chase are not counted in
the length of life." True field sports not only prolong a
man's life, but makes his life more vigorous, in both mind
and body, thereby giving a clearer and better understand-
BORE OF SHOTGUNS. 41
ing of the true philosophy of life, which should be to love
the world and mankind, and do all the good you can.
The caliber, gauge, or bore of shotguns, is determined
by the number of round lead balls, of the exact size of the
bore, which would weigh one pound. Thus ten balls that
would weigh a pound would be the ball for a 10 gauge, 12
balls to the pound for a 12 gauge, etc. Muzzle-loading
rifles were gauged in the same way, but rifles are now
gauged by the one-hundredths of an inch; thus a 22 caliber
rifle is one in which the bore of the gun is just -$ of an
inch in diameter -a. 45, T % 5 ^ of an inch. When the amount
of powder and lead is given the first figure refers to the
caliber, the second ones to the amount of powder, and the
third to the weight (in grains) of the bullet; thus a 45-70-
420 is a 45 calibered rifle shooting a ball weighing 420
grains and charged with 70 grains of powder.
The theoretical length for gun barrels is not less than
43 times the diameter," or more than 47 times the diameter of
the bore.
42 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
MISSFIRES, CAUSE AND CURE.
The causes of missfires are numerous, prominent among
which are defective ammunition, weak mainsprings, defective
plungers, and defective rebounding locks. Rebounding locks
are made in various ways, yet all on the same principle; and
that is, the force of the blow of the hammer is given by the
mainspring for two-thirds or more of the distance it passes,
when, by various devices, the mainspring is released and
the stroke finished by acquired momentum. When this
momentum has to carry with it much back pressure, as in
common English guns, missfires often occur.
The back pressure is the power that brings the hammer
back to a half-cock, called rebounding. The best rebound-
ing locks are those' that require the least back pressure* to
accomplish the object. This can be easily tested by hold-
ing the trigger back with the finger and observe the press-
ure required with the thumb on the hammer to shove the
hammer forward to the plunger. Plungers that strike ob-
liquely, or at quite an angle, or plungers that are too short,
blunt, or sharp, or don't work free; primers that are imper-
fectly seated in recapping, are among the causes of missfires.
REMEDIES. Weak mainsprings suggest their own rem-
edy. Defective ammunition is, as a rule, rare. Defective
robounding locks can, in most cases, be remedied by a first-
class gunsmith. When the plungers strike at quite an angle
the plunges should be taken out and filed flat on the end, if
they are long enough. A plunger with a flat end being
sharp on the corners, will cut into the primer instead of
sliding down it, and in most cases remedy the defect; also
flattening the ends will remedy inclined plungers that strike
the primer too low down. Plungers that are sharp-pointed
are apt to cut through the primer; in this case the gun will
MISSFIRES, CAUSE AND CURE. 43
throw fire, foul the plungers, and often burn the face of the
shooter. Plunges should occasionally be taken out, cleaned
and oiled. If the gun fouls much at the breech-work, or in
the plungers, by examining a shell after firing it will be
found that the primer has been cut through by the blow of
the plunger sufficiently to permit the escape of gases. In
this case, the plungers are too sharp; flatten them with a
file. In recapping, shell primers will be rendered more sen-
sitive by having the boss, or projection of the recapper that
forces the primer in place flat instead of, as usual, concaved.
However, the concave recapper is best, with properly con-
structed locks and plungers.
44
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
CHOICE OF A HUNTING RIFLE.
How often the question is asked, "Which is the best
hunting rifle?" The question is an unsettled one, and will
never be answered satisfactorily to all inquirers.
Inasmuch as a rifle is not necessary in the pursuit of
small game, it is presumed that the question has reference
strictly to large game, such as is found in the north and
west, but if the rate of shameless butchery and destruction
continues for a few years there will be no occasion for a
hunting rifle of any kind. The choice of a hunting rifle
depends entirely upon the kind of ammunition it uses. This
has no reference to muzzle-loaders, for they are a thing of
the past, so far as hunting is concerned. Any of our mod-
ern, regularly manufactured breech-loaders, are good ones;
the caliber, quantity of powder, and of lead they use, is the
important question. Important as the weight of the bullet
is, by the following table it will be seen that caliber is no
index to the weight of the bullet used. Take a list of dif-
ferent cartridges and compare them.
The first column of figures represent the caliber in
hundredths of an inch, the second column the number of
grains of powder, the third the number of grains of lead:
Express Cartridge . .....
50
95
300
Sharp's Sportin "
50
90
473
50
70
425
Remington
44
90
470
Government
45
70
405
" new model .
45
70
500
Sharp's Special
45
100
500
Ballard
38
55
255
\Vinchester
44
40
200
45
75
350
n
45
60
300
Ballard
40
70
330
U. S. Government..
50
70
450
CHOICE OF A HUNTING RIFLE. 45
This list comprises about all the rifle cartridges. Light
bullets have the best trajectory; heavy ones the greatest
penetration, hence the greatest killing power. The .50-
95-300 Express is pronounced by the experienced hunters of
the West a failure and as no good at all. Sharp's Special
.45-100-500 as the most deadly, hence Sharp's rifles have a
reputation in the western territories as being the best rifle
made. The Springfield, or regular Government service gun
.45-70-405, the next best. On the frontier it is called a
needle gun. It will be seen that the practical, matter-of
fact hunters select as the best rifle the one using the heaviest
bullet.
Quantity of powder and weight of lead is all there is
in choosing a rifle, as any well made rifle, using the Sharp's
Special, would be as effective as Sharp's rifle using the
same ammunition. Select a rifle that will use the most
readily procured ammunition, which would be the Govern-
ment .45-70-405. Whatever rifle you choose, be sure to
choose one that is chambered for the 45 Government,
for the Government ammunition can be had at any trading
or military post in the West, and where special ammunition
could not be found. The 45 Government cartridge has
sufficient penetration to cleanly kill the largest game we
have in the country, and it has no unpleasant recoil. If
any man has lost a large number of " grizzlies," and can
stand a kick equal to a government mule, it would be ad-
visable for him to use a .45-100-500 Sharp's.
The best sights for a man whose vision is perfect and
clear is the plain, open sight of the Rocky Mountain pat-
tern; for one whose vision is imperfect, or failing,
Lyman's hunting sight is the best. The front sight should
be a pin-head or ball, and at least 5-16 of an inch high,
with the ball nearly one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and
the point-blank of your rifle should be at least loo yards.
46 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
Point-blank in rifle practice is the. exact point at which the
bullet crosses the line of sight. There is technically two
point-blanks, or two points where the ball crosses the line
of sight; the first one is not far from the gun in long
range shooting. The point-blank referred to is always the
second point where the bullet crosses the line of sight.
The sights of a hunting rifle should- be so arranged that
the point-blank would be at 100 yards; any intermediate
distance, an allowance should be made for the rise of the
ball while passing this distance, to prevent overshooting
your object. Vernier sights for hunting are of little practi-
cal importance, for in hunting, distance is unknown and is
simply guess work. The eye, over fixed sights, with prac-
tice will soon learn to judge distance and the necessary ele-
vation or depression, and much more quickly than in
any other way. .
The following letter, signed "S," appeared in the
" Forest and Stream " November 24, 1884, and is a sarcastic
and ironical summing up of the many earnest communica-
tions on the same subject which preceded it. It is here
reproduced in full, and no more likely to confuse than many
that were written with the design of being instructive:
LUCUS A NON LUCENDO.
I have read with absorbingly thrilling interest the few
articles on "Choice of Hunting Rifles," which have from
time to time, during the past century, appeared in the
Forest and Stream, and although I have no use for a rifle,
and perhaps never shall have, excepting to shoot rats, still,
like the authors of many of the aforesaid articles, I can
imagine what kind of a rifle I should want in the presence
of a trumpeting elephant, charging grizzly, nimble deer, or
zig-gagging snipe, and so as these articles appear to be
" runnin' to emptins," before the polls close, I should like to
- CHOICE OF A HUNTING RIFLE. 47
show you what kind of a rifle I choose. Modesty and
some ignorance have prevented me from appearing before,
but now I suppress the former, and having the combined
ideas of the said articles aforesaid, I can form some idea of
my own as to what I want.
The perfect hunting rifle has not yet been produced.
We have had attempts on paper and at different armories
and gun works, but good as some of the weapons have
been, there has arisen some objector or other who shows
convincingly that the gun won't do, and so all that labor is
lost. We don't seem to get any nearer perfection, and it
is just possible as long as people differ, we never shall.
Now, it would be supposed that a gun that will kill one
deer will kill any other deer of the same kind, if hit simi-
larly, but we find it is not so. It is a curious and inexpli-
cable fact, as witness the total disagreement of Western
deer hunters as to the perfect deer gun. One wants a
.45-125-360 double-detachable reversible pin-fire repeater,
and the next one must have a .40-226-341 multiplex-
extractor, combined safety bolt and a linch-pin single fire
nothing else will do to kill a deer with. One man never
went out with a repeater and got anything but tired out,
and he has heard time and again how some other hunter in
a critical moment, when an angry grizzly was rushing at
him with open arms and mouth, had the carrier-pin-get-foul
of the breech-hammer, whereby the trajectory caught on the
cannelure and stuck in the collar. Of course the man got
left. Then the other fellow tells how he pumped lead into
buffalo and Utes all day until the gun had to be cooled off
in water, and it worked all along as smooth as a piston rod.
Which of these guns will best kill a deer? Either will
probably, at times, put a ball into leg or paunch instead of
the eye, so that neither can be called a perfect weapon.
Then another hunter comes to the fore with a gun that
48 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK:
might be styled indestructible. He was hunting on the
side of a mountain in winter. Snow-slide hunter caught
in a tree-top gun keeps on found next spring nothing
Jeft but the bore, but it slew that very day three deer and a
grizzly. Next week a man came in from hunting and sat
his repeater up in the corner. Servant came in to dust the
room with feather duster accidentally hit gun chamber
thereof twisted so badly had to be sent to factory. Such
experiences as these naturally cause a man to ask what he
can depend on.
Now, as to accuracy, it makes a vast difference in my
estimation whether the point-blank of a rifle is in inverse
ratio to the drop of stock. A crescent-shaped butt with
bottle-nosed cartridge, 450 to the peck, will make a fearful
hole in an animal if the stock is properly checked. The
checking of the animal depends largely on this latter.
But after all it is the shock that kills. Ask any man who
has had a current from a Brush machine sent through him.
The coming gun is the one having the greatest amount of
shock in it. A sort of paralytic or apoplectic shock. We
all know how this acts on humanity, why should it not act
similarly on animals. True they (the animals) might run
some after being hit, but it would be an erratic, short-
lived flight.
In the center-fire cartridges the bearing surface of the
ball when impinging on the twist naturally suffer an appre-
ciable loss of motion caused by the fulminate being placed
too far back of the magazine, consequently the upset is
reached before the breech-block can escape. Such being
the case, it would seem highly important that the butt-plate
which interferes with the prompt action of the "neck"
should be narrowed to a point where the groove will barely
miss the shoulder. Otherwise derangement of sight will
ensue and the approximate curve of the bullet will be
CHOICE OF A HUNTING RIFLE. 49
sufficiently variable to cause trouble. There is no necessity
of defining this. " Bengal Sepoy's" pessimistic view of the
disproportion existing between the cost of cartridges and
weight of bullet will deceive no one. The fact is, the
striking energy is to the muzzle velocity as the pull is to
the trigger. At 335 yards I have rarely done better than 7
bullets into 6 long by 8 wide by 5 high, 10*^ bullets into
4 wide by 8 long by 9 high, and 9 bullets into 7^ round.
This with elongated swedge, Skimmerhorn tube and loop-
hole, is a beautiful weapon, because harmless in the hands
of the didn't-know-it-was-loaded idiot.
A. J. & W. Folly is hardly so good for chipmunks as
the new U. S. Express, .11-15^-21, which paralyzes with-
out mutilating. The trajectory of this needs to be flattened
a little, however, as this species of game rarely rises over
100 yards. For gray squirrels .32 is much too large, .22 too
small; I should advise, say .23^, bullet irregular rhomboid
with rapidly decreasing circumference. For fox squirrels
.we need a .6-41-26, four turns to the inch, modified drop.
With due deference to "J. T.'s" knowledge and experience
with California rodents, I affirm that Eastern squirrels need
different ordnance. For deer, if I were in Florida, I
should, by all means, use the regular .31-64-154, as deer
are known to be smaller there than in Pennsylvania. In
North Carolina the most effective weapon would be a
.33-69-161, as deer there are considerably larger, having
more to eat. In the Northern States, east of the Rocky
Mountains, the well-known Blunt 8mo. .42-71-209 lightning
express, will 4dll cleaner than any other, if the gun is clean.
A mule deer, as the name implies, requires much heavier
ordnance to fetch him to time. If permitted, he will carry
away a large amount of lead and expletives. The coming
gun for this kind of game, elk and caribou, is the portable
electrical Catling, Siemens' battery, and Brush dynamo.
50 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
This would seem to be the gun par excellence for antelope,
for they can usually be seen a great way, and it is necessary
to shoot as long as they can be seen. We frequently read
of hunters emptying their Westchesters at them and then
following the wounded game all day. This in itself is
enough to condemn the gun. We want a gun, the ball of
which, has an affinity for the particular game it is made for,
and which it will search out and corral without needless
waste of time and muscle. Some one wants to find such a
gun quickly, too, for before many days there will be no use
for rifles, except to show our children as weapons " we used
to shoot deer with before they were extinct."
Such are my ideas on the "Choice of Hunting Rifles."
If they help any one in his dilemma caused by so many con-
flicting views published in Forest and Stream, I shall feel
that they have accomplished wonders. S.
Hunting Large Game, and Woodcraft.
The art of hunting can not be learned from books, but
a few hints upon the most important points will be of some
value to the man who goes into the woods but once a year,
and then only for a few days or weeks. A good hunter is
born to the craft; not even one Indian in ten is a good
hunter, although they are children of the woods. Never
start out on a full day's hunt without taking along a good,
substantial lunch, and plenty of it; and always be provided
with a little package of tea, and one of salt, also a tin-cup;
there maybe an " emergency " when these things would
more than repay the trouble of carrying them along.
It is taken for granted that hunters' camps are always
on the bank of some running stream, or lake, or on some
lumber road, or trail, near a spring or brook, and that each
hunter is provided with (in addition to gun and ammuni-
tion) a compass, a light hatchet, or camp ax, a small
butcher knife, or large pocket knife. With the aid of the
compass you can establish in your mind the course of the
river, road, or trail, or the "lay" of the lake, as the case
may be.
Observe the range of hills, the class of timber, or any
peculiar trees, and other special landmarks in the vicinity of
the camp.
All will be of great importance to the young hunter, as
they will familiarize him with a strange woods and give
him confidence in venturing from camp.
If but a few days, or a week, is to be spent at the camp,
after it has been thoroughly put in order, it is better to
spend the first two days in establishing the landmarks,
whereby camp may be easily found.
The pleasure of hunting, as well as the success, depends
a great deal in the confidence and assurance with which
52 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
you can venture into the woods five or six miles from camp,
which is quite far enough where game is reasonably plen-
tiful,
By taking the following precautions a party of four in
two days can establish such a system of landmarks for a ra-
dius of six or seven miles, that camp can easily be found at
any time. It can be done in this way: Early in the morn-
ing each of the four men in the party take a different cardi-
nal point of the compass and follow the course as directly
as he can, by his compass, and with his hatchet blaze the
route on the prominent trees, no farther apart than they can
easily be seen, from one tree to another; making one blaze
on the side next to camp and two on the side from the camp ;
in this way the two blazes establish the direction of the
camp. By getting an early start, six or seven miles can be
blazed by two o'clock, or a little later; then you can hunt
leisurely back to camp, keeping a close watch for game and
deer sign, such as trails, runways, or crossings. Observe
if the bushes have been freshly scraped by deer rubbing
them with their horns; also notice if the ground in places
has been pawed, or scraped, as hunters call it. Where deer
"use" much, their signs are plain to be seen; go slowly and
carefully at such places, keeping a sharp lookout for deer,
as you are likely to see one; stop often near a tree and scan
the surroundings thoroughly, for stealth and silence, in this
ease, is the price of venison.
The next day each man take an intermediate point of
the compass, performing the same operation of blazing,
then hunting slowly and stealthily back to camp.
Now you have for a radius of six or seven miles from
camp, and entirely around it, eight blazed lines leading
directly to camp, and you can now hunt at will, devoting all
your ingenuity and mind to the pursuit of game, and at no
time will you be very far from some of the blazed routes to
HUNTING LARGE GAME, A\D WOODCRAFT. 53
camp. You will find a supreme pleasure in being able
to venture from camp with confidence, and it will more than
pay for the trouble; also the success of your hunting will be
greater, as you can hunt until quite late in the evening, _
which is the best time to look for deer, when otherwise your
anxiety to find camp would occupy your thoughts and de-
tract from the pursuit of game.
These instructions are not for old woodsmen or hunters,
as they have by long observation and experience learned
how to keep their course, and it seems almost instinctively so ;
however, they are not infallible, for if closely questioned
they will admit having spent many lonely nights in the
woods, through their inability to find camp.
The young hunter will find that it will more than repay
him to take any and every precaution that will give him
confidence, courage, and assurance. All kinds of large
game is constantly on the alert; their hearing is acute, and
their eyesight is very sharp, and their sense of smell is phe-
nomenal. They are at all times on the lookout for an enemy;
therefore, to successfully outgeneral the wary denizens of
the forest, requires a species of craft that is almost innate, or
the result of long, very long, experience. Silence, stealth,
patience, and endurance are the main requirements. By
observation, learn the places where deer use, and feed, or
routes they travel. In traveling, deer follow each other,
even to making distinct trails; these are called runways.
After you have found their feeding grounds and runways,
if you have the patience to sit "quietly on a log" and the
endurance to withstand the cold for a few hours each day,
morning and evening, you will certainly be rewarded with
a shot at a deer, at short range. A deer coming from the
windward toward you will pass within a few feet of you and
not see you, provided you don't move, and remain perfectly
quiet; also, a deer may even get scent of you, but he von't
54 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
run until he sees you move. Now is the time your gun
should be in a good position to be easily handled, and with
the least possible motion. A deer will not run from the re-
.port of a gun if he has not seen the hunter move. " Culti-
vate the art of sitting quietly on a log" or in the same
manner, leaning against a tree. If in the vicinity where
deer feed, or are in the habit of passing, your chances of
success are ten times greater than in any other style of hunt-
ing. Stalking deer by their track in the snow, requires
great skill and any amount of physical endurance, and
can be practiced only by men of nerve and experience.
The man that hunts but a few days each year and for
recreation, who undertakes to hunt deer by following their
tracks in the snow, in a strange woods, will be likely to
find after he has followed the deer all day, without even
getting sight of him, that he is many miles from camp, and
with a very cloudy knowledge as to the true direction of
camp; and is, in fact, lost. This is not a pleasant situation
by any means; he consults his compass, and North is ex-
actly where he imagined South to be; in his confusion he
has forgotten whether the blue end of the needle points
North or South; the fact is, he is completely turned, and
don't know anything. Now, one of the things not to do is,
don't get excited. There is not the least occasion for it;
you" are not the first man that was lost. Be perfectly calm,
sit down and take a smoke; if you don't; smoke, sing a
song, or repeat the multiplication table, or do anything to
keep from becoming excited, or panic-stricken. It is not an
uncommon thing for old woodsmen to get turned around.
When you become perfectly cool and collected you will
have some idea of the direction of camp. If your camp is
on a stream, or road, and if the stream or road run north and
south, you certainly will know whether you are on the east
or west side of it. If you are on the east side your camp
HUNTING LARGE GAME, AND WOODCRAFT. 55
must be in a westerly direction, and your compass, as a
rule, is right; if you will travel by it toward the west you
will certainly strike the river or road. Carry your compass
in your hand, and consult it often in order to keep your
course. A man who is lost is inclined to travel in a circle,
generally to the right; why this is so has never been satis-
factorily explained. Men have been lost in the canebrakes
of the South who have wandered around and around in the
same circle, until they have died from starvation.
An old bear hunter in Arkansas told the writer how he
worked it whenever he became 'turned around in a cane-
brake. He said he would cut the longest and stiffest cane
he could find, then straddle it (as a boy does a broom-stick)
and walk straight ahead, the long cane preventing his walk-
ing in a circle, and he was sure to come out soon by going
straight ahead. Now, when you get lost don't "quarrel
with your compass," it will take you to the river, or to the
road, if you will follow it. After you have found the river,
or road, unless you are quite familiar with either, it will be
quite difficult to decide whether to go north or south to find
camp. If it is near sundown, it is best not to try either
direction until morning, but before dark fix up a comfort-
able camp for the night. Select a large, green tree, on high
ground, for a camp-fire. Build your fire on the windward
side of the tree, and prepare plenty of good wood for the
night. It may be well to say here, that every man going
into the woods should have a good supply of water-proof
matches; a good substitute, if water-proof ones cannot be
had, is to fill a small vial with good matches and cork the
vial tightly; in this way they will remain dry, even under
water. Prepare plenty of wood, as a fire in the dark woods
is excellent company, and it add's greatly to a man's courage
and keeps off wild animals. A good way to keep a fire all
night is, cut with your hatchet two sticks, dry ones are best,
56
SPORTSMAN S HAND BOOK.
about eight or nine feet long, and as large as you can carry.
Lean the sticks against the tree on the windward side, with
the lower ends about four feet from the root of the tree,
and the upper ends close together; stake the Jower ends so
they can not roll, or slip, then build a fire on the ends next
to the tree with good, dry sticks; for kindling, you can find
some pitch-wood on the side of a pine tree that has been
burnt. It will take some little time to get your fire started,
and after it is once started, as the ends of the stick burnjoff,
they will slip down on the tree, and in contact with fresh
bark, which will keep up the fire all night. One large stick
is better than two small ones, but one man could not handle
one that would be large enough to burn all night. This fire
is not for the purpose of keeping you warm, but just a
HUNTING LARGE GAME, AND WOODCRAFT. 57
sociable adjunct to a lonely camp, and if properly arranged
it will burn all night and make a good light; by exercising
a little ingenuity you can, with brush poles and bark, have a
good, warm place to sleep near the fire, on the ground and
against the tree. Don't make the mistake most campers do;
that is, don't make a great big fire, a small one is better.
The fire on the side of the tree will furnish plenty of light.
Now that everything is prepared for the night, in your tin
cup make a strong cup of tea, and if you have killed any
game, salt and broil a piece, or with your ample lunch you
will have quite a supper; as soon as it is quite dark and still,
fire off your gun two- or three times in quick succession; if
your companions in camp hear you they will reply, when
you can, by the sound, locate the direction of your camp;
unless it is quite near, don't attempt to find camp until
morning. Following streams- in pine woods is very diffi-
cult, even in the daylight, and next to impossible after
dark, as they are invariably bordered in places with swamps
and thickets. If care has been exercised in fixing your
camp, you will pass a comfortable night, and it will be one
of the incidents connected with camping out that you will
never forget. Old and experienced woodsmen can, by gen-
eral observation, and certain signs, very nearly tell the
points of the compass in dark, cloudy days, but only men of
long experience would think of relying upon these means to
guide them safely through the forest.
The mosses usually grow the heaviest on the north side
of the trees, while the south side is generally graced with
the largest and longest limbs. Trees blown down by the
wind unsually lie northeast, from the fact that the prevail-
ing winds are from the southwest. The most reliable sign
the writer has noticed is this: The tops of pine, spruce, and
hemlock saplings, usually taper out into a long, slender
branch, and especially is this true of the pine; and this
58 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
long, slender branch invariably points east, or in an easterly
direction; that is, it leans or points toward the east. It
seems to be a provision of nature for catching the first rays
of the sun; the same fact is noticed in the inclination of
house plants toward the sun.
When, by observation, you find a large per cent, of the
slender top branches of the young trees pointing in about
the same direction, you will find by comparison the largest
and longest limbs are on the same side, that direction is
surely the east, or a little south of east.
To recapitulate, when you are lost in the woods don't
get excited, or become panic-stricken, and go rushing franti-
cally through the woods, to no purpose, but be cool and
level-headed, and trust your compass, and "a cool judg-
ment will bring you out all right."
59
CARE OF AND CLEANING GUNS.
To prevent guns from rusting when duck shooting on
fresh or salt water, give the entire outside of gun, stock and
all, a coat or two of shelac varnish. Put on in this way:
take a piece of woolen cloth, dip your finger in linseed oil
and rub on the cloth; then put about a half teaspoonful of
best shelac varnish on where the oil was put; then rub the
gun briskly with two or three coats; there should be just
enough oil on the cloth to prevent the varnish working
sticky; this will give the gun a nice finish if properly done;
beyond a fine polish, no varnish will be noticed ; no better
rust preventive can be found. The gun will always look
new. So much for the outside.
There are two ways to look after the inside of the barrels.
One is to clean thoroughly and oil well; in this case, the
oil should be renewed occasionally whether the gun is used
or not; any of the prepared oils called rust preventers are
the best to use. A sure preventive against spots in gun-
barrels has not yet been discovered. Gun barrels called
Damascus are the most liable to get spotted, stub twist the
least.
The spots commence first at the breech end and on the
lower side, then gradually increase all around to\vard the
muzzle, but rarely entirely to the muzzle. It is claimed the
fulminate used in the primer is to the greatest degree inju-
rious. An unloaded shell should never be snapped in a gun
when it can be avoided.
So long as the rust spots are confined to the breech end
of the barrels, it is very doubtful whether they effect the
good shooting qualities of the gun. The writer's experience
is, guns that are cleaned the least inside, spot the least; in
other words, if guns were not cleaned at all inside, they
would not spot at all. This experience is confirmed by over-
60 SPORTSMAN'S HAND HOUR.
hauling guns that have been lest in ponds while duck
shooting. One that was over a year in the water and mud,
the other about six months before found; the inside of both
when cleaned was just as bright as the day they fell over-
board. The outside of one was ruined with rust, which is
certainly good .evidence that the residue of burnt powder
must be a powerful rust preventive; had the guns fallen
in the water when perfectly clean there would not have
been a single particle of bright surface left. Hence,
there can be no better rule than to clean and oil
the outside of your gun every time after using it, and the
inside just before using it; in this way a gun will retain a
bright clear surface inside, longer than in any other way.
To this there is just one exception, that is: in case a gun
has been fired very rapidly until the barrels are very hot; in
this case, the gun should be cleaned before the barrels cool,
if left to cool, the burnt powder will bake on the inside
and be very hard to remove; warm water is best to use
in this case, but look well to cleaning the gun until perfect-
ly dry; after using water and before putting away, fire a load
from each barrel. It may appear a very slovenly way to
put away a gun in a dirty condition inside, but the man
who practices it will never have occasion to regret doingso,
if he wishes to see bright clean barrels after they are
cleaned.
Gunlocks should be taken off occasionally and cleaned;
if they are much gummed up with oil and dirt, the best way
to clean them is to have a kettle of hot rain water and soap,
make a strong, hot suds, tie a string to each lock and churn
it around in the hot suds until perfectly clean, it will sur-
prise you how quick it is done; then; with a linen cloth,
wipe well while yet hot; the heat will thoroughly dry all
the inside parts, then oil the working parts with any good
oil. Rust preventers are not oil; for the lock, use the best
CARE OF AND CLEANING GUNS. 61
lard sperm, or sewing machine oil. Don't be afraid to
put your locks in hot water; water cannot be made hot
enough in an open kettle to effect the temper in steel. In
removing the lock use a smoothe square end screwdriver;
use with care, so as not to mar the screw heads. If
guns are put away in a woolen cover they will keep in bet-
ter condition than in any other kind. The best gun cases
are heavy canvass, lined with* sheepskin that has a good
coat of short wool; they will keep a gun in good condition
as well as prevent bruising them in handling.
62 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
RUST SPOTS IN GUN BARRELS.
The following communications appeared in Forest
and Stream January J2, 1882. They sufficiently explain
themselves:
Editor Forest and Stream: COLUMBUS, O.
I wish to take one more turn at the wheel which has
been at work of late trying to grind the rust spots out of
gun barrels, and give the crank a gentle turn, for I respect
the various experiences and opinions as presented in your
columns. I have noticed very plainly that, while one
sportsman could find nothing but coal oil that would keep
his gun in desired condition, another was positive it would
not do. Others have tried peculiar remedies and have met
with success, while there undoubtedly still remain a few
whose experience would be directly to the contrary. Often
have I gone to my tent after dark, tired and hungry, and,
before I would give any attention to satisfy my appetite,
would get out my wiping rod, tow, rags, sperm oil and vas-
eline, and go to work; would rub and scrub and clean my
gun and lay it away carefully, and then in the morning take
a peep through the barrels and find a spot here and there,
which I gave credit to not quite enough diligence the night
before. Now, my way is to wipe off the outside and oil
properly; break the gun and oil breech piece, plungers, and,
in fact, clean the outside, but do not touch the inside of the
barrels, and I am positive that my gun is in as good con-
dition to-day as it was when I first tried the experiment.
The information that I obtained from an old Californian
(as per Forest and Stream, Oct. 20, 1881) was from Col.
Horace Park, a resident gunsmith of this city, with whom I
am well acquainted and know to be a man with great expe-
rience, and a superior mechanic.
I send to you herewith a very interesting letter, which
RUST SPOTS IN GUN BARRELS. 63
he has kindly written at my request, and I hope it may be
of benefit to brother sportsmen. FRANK N. BEEBE.
COLUMBUS, O.
Gun barrels made of clean, refined, homogeneous iron
will not get the "measles." My theory, from observation,
is that the finer the grade of barrels, as our manufacturers
grade them, the more liable they are to "scab," as I call it.
Take the fine Damascus barrels (so-called), that is, the bar-
rels, with the fine, beautiful, curly figure. In the manufac-
ture of such barrel the maker must use great care in welding
that is, nurse it carefully with the hammer so as to pre-
serve the curl regular. As a result, the iron is not so close
grained as it would be if spanked down right hard with the
hammer, without reference to the shape of the figures, v as in
the common barrels. Of course all understand that the dif-
ferent figures and colors in gun barrels are made by a mix-
ture of steel and iron, or different kinds of iron. In case of
steel and iron being used, the iron being softer will rust
easier, leaving the steel brighter, clearly showing the figure
of the barrels. If not nursed much in welding, the figures
will not be so perfect; but in case of steel twist, or any irreg-
ular twist made of small scrap iron and steel, such as needles,
fish-hooks, nails and screws, the fagots are put under a
heavy hammer, and so thoroughly incorporated as to almost
make the iron of one nature and texture. Gun barrels made
in this way will not spot under ordinary care. I discover
from the various correspondents that the finer the gun and
the more care, the more they spot. I believe that con-
clusion is almost an axiom ; but some of your correspondents,
on their dignity, appeal to "common sense" to prove such is
not the case. If a farmer would daub his plows with a mix-
ture of common blasting powder and water he could leave
M SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
his plows in the fence corner with no fear of their rusting.
The real causes of spots in gun barrels are various.
I believe, with one of your correspondents, that the
grades of powder that are called the best have more or less
to do with it. The cheaper grades of powder, in our days
of adulteration, have incorporated in them more-or less soda
in some shape. In blasting powder, soda is used altogether
instead of nitre; and soda is known to be one of the best rust
preventives we have. Any machinist who has ever used a
solution of sal-soda for drilling, or as a drop on the tool
when turning shafting, knows the same will not rust even if
allowed to lie about the shop or yard for months. I find
one of your correspondents changed from the higher to the
lower grade of powder and found a cure for the rust busi-
ness. I believe, in all business, results are what men are
after. I have used, in comparison, the very best grades of
powder, from C. & H. down, and have found by actual expe-
rience that just as good results are obtained from the lower
grades of our best powder makers.
I am the "Californian " referred to by Mr. Beebe, and
the fact referred to, that leaving your gun after shooting
without cleaning until the gun is to be used again would
preserve the inside in good condition, was first brought to
my attention in California, at Lawson's Meadow, on the
headwaters of the North Fork of Feather River, where I
was prospecting. In going to the meadows I found the
slough and bayous literally covered with ducks of all kinds.
With my rifle I could make poor headway with the ducks.
I went to Mr. Knight (who was running a ferry and the only
man living in the meadows at the time) and asked if he had
a shotgun. He had not; but thought there was in his wood-
shed an old army musket that some '49er had left there. He
did not know what condition it was in, as he had not seen
it for several years. This was in 1856. We went in search
RUST SPOTS IN GUN BARRELS. 65
of it, and finally found the old musket buried in chips and
dirt. I, being a mechanic and iron-worker, took off the
lock and with a little repair found that it would work, but
it was badly eaten with rust. The outside of the barrels
was coated with rust and the stock nearly rotted off. I took
off the barrel and with a hatchet and iron wedge succeeded
in getting the breech-pin out, it took but a moment to wash
out the gun. and, to my astonishment, with the exception of
two or three inches of the muzzle-end, the polish was as per-
fect as on the day the gun left the U. S. Arsenal. The gun
had been banged about, without cleaning, for four or five
years. The perfect condition of the inside of this musket
led me to the conclusion that the proper thing to do was to
leave a gun, after shooting, without cleaning a practice
which I have followed ever since and never have had any
trouble with rust nor do my barrels ever lead.
Another sure test that a gun will not rust if left after
shooting, was furnished at the Licking Company reservoir
near here, last winter. "Johnnie Webb," as he is famili-
arly known, an old and expert hunter who lives at the res-
ervoir, was out shooting, a year ago last fall; and by some
mishap he capsized his boat and lost his gun, a Parker fine
twist. He did not find the gun until late this summer after
the water was very low. The gun lay in the water and mud
over six months. The outside of the barrel was rusty and
eaten away until it resembled an old, rusty file, but the inside,
after being wiped out, was bright as the day it was lost in
the water. I overhauled this gun myself, so I know.
There is no preparation that I know of that would have
as well preserved the gun as the burnt powder did, and it
confirmed my experience that it is safe to put away your gun
without cleaning the inside; the outside must be looked
after. One of the best ways to prevent rust on the outside,
is to take a piece of heavy chamois skin and rub into it well
66 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
some mercurial ointment; wipe off your gun properly and
carefully, and you will have no trouble with the outside.
Now, for the benefit of those very nice men who say to
leave your gun without cleaning after shooting, is a very
shiftless, slovenly way of doing things, I will say that if
some ingenious man would get up a preparation of the resi-
due of burnt powder, put it up in very small bottles, and
labeled in gilt letters, some outlandish name, ending with
"rust preventive," these men would buy it at the rate of
fifty cents per bottle, and go to the trouble of wiping out
their guns with it, and swear it was perfection.
No man, using a medium grade of powder, will ever
have any regret for putting his gun away without cleaning
the inside if he will try the experiment.
Will some one, familiar with the manufacture of pow-
der, give some items through the columns of Forest and
Stream, as to whether the best grades are strictly nitre, salt-
petre and charcoal, and whether the lower grades contain
soda in any form. If by using soda, gun barrels will be bet-
ter protected from "scabbing," I think it would be well
to know it. These discussions are valuable; let the good
work go on. CALIFORNIAN.
67
CAMPING OUT.
Nine-tenths portion of the civilized human family almost
shudder at the thought of sleeping on the ground in open
air; or even in a well regulated tent. " You will take your
death of cold; " or get the rheumatism they will say. Such
is not a fact, sleeping on the ground in the open air, with
proper camping equipments is almost a cure for all the ills
the human flesh is heir to. The writer knows "whereof
he affirms," having camped out for ten consecutive years,
in all kinds of climates, under all kinds of circumstances,
with shelter and without, in mountain snow storms, and in
dismal swamps without experiencing the evil effects, from
what most people would call exposure. Sleeping in a room
or tent warmed with a stove, is much more liable to produce
colds than sleeping in the open air. Take a tent fitted up
with the ordinary sheet-iron camp stove, about bed time,
some member of the party will fire up by filling the stove
with wood and pine knots, then retire ; the tent will get as
hot as a " torch-light procession," all will go to sleep only
partially covered, or the blankets thrown back, the fire soon
burns down and you awake up chilled through, that is you
have taken cold. Only by the most judicious management
can a sheet-iron stove be used in a tent without producing
more or less bad effects to the occupants. When changing
from a long camping tour, to hotels, or houses, great care
should be exercised as to the sleeping apartments: Discard
stoves or fire entirely; look well to the ventilation, see to it
that one window at least is open ; have the bed in such a
position that there will be no draught directly over the
sleeper; no matter what the weather is, be sure the sleeping
room is well ventilated, as there is much more danger
of taking cold in changing from out-door sleeping to a
house, than, from house to out-door, but more of this when
68 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
tents and camp outfits are referred to. One of the evils
camping parties are almost sure to encounter, is too much
baggage ; extra baggage in camp is an expensive, useless
luxury; a continual source of annoyance. Parties contem-
plating a camping tour, should commence by studying how
little baggage they can get along with. You will be surprised
how little baggage is really necessary. Great big trunks are
an abomination, don't think of a trunk for one moment, a
common farm grain sack will be found most excellent; what
is better, is a bag made of quite heavy canvass with a round
bottom something like a U. S. mail bag, halving a row of
eyelets around the top to lace it up with a strap of lace
leather, (such as is used for lacing machine belts,) the bag
should be a little larger than a two-bushel grain sack; it
will be quite sufficient to hold all the clothing and baggage,
including blankets necessary for one man fora three months'
trip. The amount of baggage really necessary for one man,
is one strong woolen suit, two pair woolen shirts, two under-
shirts, two pair drawers, a half dozen pair socks, one coarse
towel and a piece of soap, one pair of unlined single-soled
cowhide shoes, the heels low, and soles very broad, "if
snow is likely to be encountered, a pair of gum boots will
be very convenient, one pair heavy woolen blankets, or two
pairs light ones, two gum blankets, or what is better, get at
a hardware store two pieces of gum cloth, each in size about
five by eight feet, one for aground blanket and one for the
outside, one small well-filled feather pillow, a pocket comb,
toothbrush, and handkerchiefs, also a few needles, thread
and buttons; a ball of strong twine, and a large needle.
All the articles mentioned, except the suit you wear, can be
easily packed in the canvass bag mentioned. The bag
should be of the following dimensions: quite heavy canvass,
forty-five inches in circumference, thirty inches long, a
round bottom, with eyelets, etc. Also have a ring rivited
CAMPING OUT. 69
with a billet of leather on each end of the bag, to which
you can buckle a long strap like a gun sling; this will be
found convenient to handle it by, or in carrying, by slinging
the bag on the shoulder. Don't forget the pillow, it is one
of the most important parts of the outfit. Don't think of
taking an overcoat; if the weather is cold, wear one of your
blankets Indian style, it will be found quite warm and very
much more convenient; with one gun and one fishing-rod,
and the outfit is complete. You will find plenty of room
yet in the bag, for fishing-tackle, ammunition, pipes and to-,
bacco, for quite an extended trip,
Camping parties should consist of not more than
four persons. It is quite pleasant to have a number
of parties together,- but parties of not more than four
in number should be absolutely separate, and distinct.
Each party of four should be composed of congenial
companions; two even, will be found too many if either
of them are irritable, peevish, or fault finding. One
grumbler in camp will destroy the pleasure of the whole
trip. The man in camp is a very different being, from the
man in society, as a rule; .therefore, look well for genial
companions, as very much of the pleasure of the trip de-
pends upon it. It may be a delicate subject, but should be
talked over earnestly, and squarely, by parties starting out
on a camping tour for the first time. It will go a long ways
toward preventing much unpleasantness, if you have a clear
understanding that no petty quarrelling, grumbling, or
fault-finding, will be indulged in by any member of the
party. This kind of an understanding will put each man
on his guard; in other words, put him to thinking, and by
just thinking a little, many trifling affairs could be turned to
fun that might otherwise irritate. The camp work should
be about equally divided among the party, then each mem-
ber see for himself that he attends to his own part promptly
70 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
and willingly. Domineering and ordering about will be
found a very poor lubricant for the camp machinery. Just
remember the story of the lark and the farmer. The best
way when you want anything done is to do it yourself.
Camping parties while en route should go into camp for the
night quite early, then everything can be prepared and
made snug by daylight. Select camping ground with refer-
ence to wood and water; have both plenty and convenient.
When the camp is just for the night the best place for the
fire is against the windward side of a large green tree. The
heat will cause a draft up the tree, which will carry away
the smoke almost equal to a chimney. If the tree is not
hollow there will be no danger of burning it down in one
night, or even three or four. In selecting a camp-site for a
camp of several days, or weeks, more care should be taken ;
when possible, select a place sheltered from wind and
storms by hills or heavy growth of timber on the side of the
prevailing storms, at the same time out of danger from fall-
ing trees or limbs; look well to the wood supply; don't for-
get to ha\e an ax in kit; and for water, select a running
stream, lake, or spring. Too much care cannot be taken as
to cleanliness about the camp grounds; have a certain place
for offal and garbage, and then see that it is all deposited
there. The offal of fish, game, etc., if promiscuously scat-
tered about, will soon make the grounds filthy and unwhole-
some; this matter cannot be too carefully looked after. If
camping on a running stream, in the stream will be a good
place to deposit the refuse of camp, if the current is
sufficiently swift to carry it off. The following will be about
the equipage necessary for a party of four: One wall tent,
10 by 12 feet square, wall two or three feet high, made of
8-ounce duck. -The government wall tent is a good one,
and will answer the purpose quite well, but one of the
following description is very much better. A tent about
CAMPING OUT.
71
10 feet square, with a shed roof, the front about 9 feet high,
the back 2 feet high. The front or highest side should have
an awning running out, 6 or 8 feet, something like a porch;
72 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
the front of the tent under the awning should be opened,
from bottom to top, like curtains, so that it could be
opened out wide, like opening curtains; at the same time,
there should be lap enough to close tight when necessary.
With this kind of a tent a camp stove is wholly unneces-
sary, as a fire properly built under the edge of the awning
in front of the center, will keep the tent warm and dry in
almost any kind of weather. Arrange the tent and fire as
follows: Pitch the tent with the opening to the leeward of
the prevailing winds; directly in front of the opening, build
a backwall of logs, or poles, six or eight feet long, which is
easily done by driving stout stakes in the ground, slanting
them back a little from the tent; pile up the logs or poles
against the stake, one on top of the other, (with the largest
in the bottom) two or three feet high, or higher the higher
the better. By having it quite slanting it can be chinked
and a heavy coat of dirt or mud put on, when 'the backwall
will last almost indefinitely. If boulders or stone are plen-
tiful, a better backwall can be made of them. For fire
dogs use short, good-sized green sticks, or stones, to hold up
a good fore-stick, which will make a fire quite con-
venient for cooking; but little wood will be required to
keep the tent dry and warm. A small fire properly built
is better to warm by than a large one, to say nothing about
the comfort of cooking. Don't make the mistake that most
campers do, by building the fire so big that you can't warm
by it. After the tent is pitched and back-wall built, cut a
ditch around the whole business to prevent water from the
rains from running into the tent or fire. The center of the
fire-place should be excavated about a foot deep at least,
and allowed to fill up with ashes and coals; this will be the
bake-oven of the camp. Don't forget to cut a good stout
poker of a green limb, five or six feet long; also cut a stake
from a sapling well provided with limbs, cut off the limbs,
CAMPING OUT. 73
leaving stubs five or six inches long ; sharpen the big end
and drive it firmly in the ground, on the right side of the
fire-place, it will be handy to hang up the dish-cloths,
towels, etc.; it will also be a place to lean the poker, as
well as to hang a wooden hook, which will be convenient to
handle pots and kettles with. A camp broom can easily be
made by cutting a bunch of slim twigs and lashing them
around a stick of the proper size for a handle. A broom
made in this way is quite serviceable. Camp comforts de-
pend largely on neatness, ingenuity, and industry of the
party. Time spent in fixing up little conveniences about
camp will be well spent. Now comes the cooking outfit.
This may appear a little as though the cart was before the
horse. But inasmuch as this is not a literary production in
any sense, it makes but little difference. Detail and clear-
ness are the points aimed at. The chest for the mess kit
should be a light, strong box, with a hinged lid; dimen-
sions about 26 inches long, 18 to 20 inches wide, and 14
inches high; this is quite large enough for the mess kit, of
four men. The kit is composed of the following articles:
Four tin camp kettles; tin is much better than iron, and will
last quite as long. The largest one a straight up kettle
about 8 inches in diameter and 10 inches high, with a good
fitting lid; the next just small enough to go inside the large
one, lid and all, and the third and fourth fit within each
other, and in the same manner. All four will occupy the
space of the largest one; even two more could be fitted in
the same way, and would be found to be very useful. Two
common water buckets, two large dish pans, (one for wash-
ing dishes, the other for mixing bread,) one of the dish
pans should be about one inch larger than the other for the
purpose of converting the two pans into a baker, which will
be explained farther along. One large coffee-pot, three
small mess pans, such as will nest, (two quarts each is large
74 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
enough) a half dozen tin cups of the kind that will also
nest, the common pressed tin cup, with the lower end of the
handle loose, answers the purpose; a half dozen each of
tin plates, large and small iron spoons, knives, forks,
and one butcher knife, one pepper box, one salt box, and
one frying pan. The mess chest will hold all the articles
named, except the water buckets, which can be carried
outside. One other article would add much to the con-
venience of cooking, that is a tin reflector, such as was used
by the Pioneer Mothers of this country. The "Land Look-
ers " of Northern Michigan have a folding tin reflector
which they pack on their backs during their long tramps
through the woods. When folded it occupies but little
space, is quite light, and the "boss thing" for most any
kind of cooking. The cooking is done by reflected heat,
so that as soon as your fire begins to burn you can go to
cooking bread, meat, or fish. For a mountain trip where
transportation by pack mules, or burros is necessary, the
camp kit should be reduced somewhat, and the box dis-
pensed with. For the mess chest, substitute two empty
champagne baskets, or regular packs, or baskets called
paniers. The champagne baskets will answer quite well;
they are very durable, and a pair of them will hold a large
quantity and make excellent side-packs for an animal
Now for the commissary department.
"ARTICLE 1190, U. S. ARMY REGULATIONS."
A ration is the established daily allowance of food for
one person^ for the United States army. It is composed
as follows: Twelve ounces of pork, or bacon, or one pound
and four ounces of salt, or fresh beef, one pound and six
ounces of soft bread, or flour, or one pound of hard bread,
or one pound and four ounces of cornmeal, and to every
one hundred rations fifteen pounds of beans, or peas, ten
CAMPING OUT. 75
pounds of rice, or hominy, ten pounds of green coffee or
eight of roasted (or roasted and ground) coffee, or one
pound and eight ounces of tea, fifteen pounds of sugar,
four quarts of vinegar, one pound and four ounces of ada-
mantine, or star candles, four pounds of soap, three pounds
and twelve ounces of salt, four ounces of pepper, thirty
pounds of potatoes, when practicable, and one quart of
molasses.
The army ration is a good basis to figure from. The
amount of supplies necessary for a given number of men,
for a given time, will be found quite liberal enough to cover
all the necessary waste of camp, after liberally supplying
the table. It is not always well to make much allowance
for prospective game and fish, for that is like "the Indians
say of the white man, "mighty uncertain;" have each
separate article of provisions put up in sacks, made of good
drilling; each sack should be provided with a strong string
knotted at each end and sewed fast to the sack loose
strings disappear about camp like magic. This is the only
way to keep provisions from getting mixed and wasted.
Butter should be carried in tin cans; good butter can be
procured in one pound cans, and will be found most con-
venient. It is better to pack the sacks of provision in a
number of small boxes than a large one, where the trans-
portation will be by railroad or wagon. Don't forget a few
pounds of nails and spikes; also a few boards of light lum-
ber can be put in the bottom of the wagon box. Shakes,
or puncheons can be split out of spruce, orpine; but boards
are best for making tables, cupboards,etc. With the material
named, and a small amount of labor and a little ingenuity, a
cozy camp can soon be arranged. All hands should devote
one or two days fixing up camp and putting things in order.
A well-arranged camp adds much to the pleasure of camp-
ing out. Don't waste any time making bunks, for without
76 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
mattresses they make a very cold bed. The ground is much
better. First With a hatchet cut off the stubs and roots
and level the ground; then, for outlines for the beds, double
or single, use poles at least six inches in diameter one on
each side the full length of the bed; also one across at the
head and one at the foot, then fill up the inside with small
pine or spruce boughs; straw is better, if accessible. When
using boughs, commence at the foot/with a course across
eight or ten inches deep, then gradually shingle up to the
head, keeping up the thickness; if properly done only the
tip ends of the boughs will show, and if plenty is used the
bed will be equal to a spring mattress; if on the ground, it
will be quite warm, with a limited amount of blankets.
Hunting and fishing parties, usually in their eagerness
to get to hunting or fishing, are apt to neglect the comforts
of the camp; don't make this mistake. First, of all, put
your camp in order that full enjoyment of the expedition
may be realized, for you are just as apt to get game in sight
of camp, in a game country, as by an all-day tramp in the
woods. There is an old saying with the hunters, that the
man that keeps camp usually kills the most game.
77
CAMP COOKING HOW IT IS DONE-
If no cook is employed there should be one at least in
the party who has had some experience in camp-cooking;
however, plain cooking is quite easily learned. One of the
most difficult problems about camp-cooking is to learn how
to build and manage the fire. The backwall described, with
a good fore-stick and small wood, is the best, provided the
mania that average campers have for an immense fire can be
controlled. Cooking cannot be done by a big fire with any
satisfaction; a small, snugly-built fire is best, not only for
cooking, but for warming purposes. The cooking kit should
be well supplied with dishcloths, wiping towels, and soap;
a yard or two of common muslin will also be found con-
venient for many purposes.
MAKING COFFEE.
The ordinary way of making coffee is to put a pot full
of water over the fire until it boils, then add the ground
coffee, about one handfull for each man, and one for the
pot; set the pot back a little from the fire to prevent it from
boiling too violently, as it will immediately boil over and
waste the coffee. To prevent this, stir the coffee with a
stick, or caseknife, until the grounds are thoroughly satu-
rated with the water, when the inclination to boil over will
cease. Coffee should be allowed to boil slowly fifteen or
twenty minutes, when the addition of a little cold water
will settle the grounds, then it is ready for the table.
There is a stereotyped notion with most men that coffee
should not be boiled. It is a grand mistake. The coloring
matter can be soaked out of ground coffee, but clear and
well-flavored coffee can only be made by boiling it, and it is
the writer's firm belief that better coffee can be made in an
open pot than in a closed one. Black tea, like coffee, should
be boiled a short time. Green tea should be made by
78 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
infusion. Black tea is the most wholesome, and best
for camp.
PREPARING AND FRYING FISH.
This is one of the most difficult branches of cookery.
Fish of almost any kind, when properly prepared and
cooked, are a luxury; but when otherwise, they are just the
opposite, rather disgusting. In the first place, fish should
be killed when first caught, then put in a basket and kept
perfectly clean; what is better, roll them in a towel as they
are caught and killed, so there will be a thickness of towel
between each fish. No water should be permitted to touch
the fish; then the fish, as they come from the water, are per-
fectly clean and don't require washing. If fish that require
scaling, first wipe them with a dry towel and scrape off the
scales with a caseknife; if you want to cook them with the
heads on, remove the eyes and gills. For removing the
entrails, from small fish, open on the belly; large fish on
the back, and cut out the vent. The blood usually settles
along the spine, but can easily be scraped off with the end
of a caseknife, or the thumb nail; then, with a dry towel,
thoroughly wipe them the dryer the fish are the better.
If spread out on a board, and a little salt sprinkled over
them, and allowed to remain over nighl, all the better. To
cook them, warm the proper amount of lard or bacon grease
in a frying-pan, then lay the pan nearly full of fish, of a
uniform size, salt and pepper to taste and fry over not too
hot a fire; if the fish are quite dry they will cook done and
will brown in a very short time, when they can be turned
over nicely without tearing them all to pieces. To cook
fish just from the water without time to dry them, they
should be wiped dry and rolled in cornmeal, flour, or pul-
verized crackers; even then they will, in cooking, curl up
in the pan and tear to pieces in turning them, and will re-
CAMP COOKING. 79
quire twice the time to cook. Venison, and all kinds of
meats that are to be broiled, or fried, should not be touched
with water. Meats can, and should, be kept clean without
washing. In boiling meat of any kind, for stews, always
have the water boiling hot when the meat is put in.
PORK AND BEANS.
There are few dishes in camp, or out, equal to a dish of
well-cooked pork and beans. This is the way to do it:
First, take the quantity of beans you desire to cook, say a
quart, pick them over carefully and remove all the defective
beans, sticks, and gravel, then wash thoroughly in clear
water, pour off the water, and repeat until the beans are
perfectly clean, then put them in a good sized camp-kettle
with plenty of water, and hang over the fire; as they boil
keep them supplied with water hot water is the best. It
is customary to boil the beans a \\hile or parboil, as it is
called, then pour off the water and fill up with fresh water;
don't do it, if you desire to retain the full flavor of the beans.
You might just as well parboil coffee and pour off and fill
up with fresh water, and expect to have good coffee. Now
you have the beans on the fire boiling, select a nice, fat
piece of pork, or bacon, (pork is best) about equal in bulk
to the beans ; be liberal with tire pork, and have it all fat;
put the pork in another kettle with water and start it to
boiling. After boiling a short time it will be necessary to
skim it once or twice. It is quite necessary to put on the
pork in a separate kettle, in order to have it quite done be-
fore putting them together. As soon as the beans have cooked
until they are quite soft, which can be ascertained by squeez-
ing one between the thumb and finger, or when the skin
cracks and curls up; by this time the water on both pork and
beans should be quite low, then put all together in one ket-
tle, and allowed to cook until the pork is very tender or quite
80 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
soft. To be done right it will require several hours, and
when done the water should be about all boiled out. The
best way to finish the cooking, after the pork and beans
have been put together, is to take a piece of muslin, a little
larger than the top of the kettle, remove the lid and place the
muslin over the top of the kettle, then force the lid back to its
place; the rim of the lid that fits inside the kettle will carry
the muslin in with it, making a tight joint. With a
sharp knife trim the surplus muslin close to the kettle.
Now, if the fireplace has been prepared as directed, you
will have the excavation full of live coals and ashes. With
the poker scrape out the coals and ashes until you have the
hole deep enough to bury the kettle, set the kettle in quite
level and cover it entirely with the hot ashes and coals, the
muslin under the lid will prevent any dirt from getting in;
let the kettle remain covered up six or eight hours; over
night is better, the beans will not burn. If the directions
have been carefully followed, in the morning you will have
a dish fit for a king. The best way to warm cold beans to
avoid burning them, is in a frying-pan over a slow fire.
Venison, or any kind of game, is good prepared in the
same way as the beans. Fill a kettle quite full of venison,
grouse, rabbits, squirrels, or any kind of meat or game, .be
certain that the kettle is quite full, and don't forget to put
in two or three good sized pieces of fat pork or bacon, then
fill the kettle with water and put on the fire to boil, add
pepper and salt to taste, then boil until quite tender, skim
occasionally, if necessary. After the meat is done and the
water nearly all boiled away, put on a piece of muslin, as
with the beans, and bury the pot in hot ashes and coals and
leave it in over night, then you will have a pot of the best
baked meat for breakfast that you ever ate. There is abso-
lutely no other way of cooking meat equal to this. Now,
with what is left after breakfast, (unless you have quite a
CAMP COOKING. 81
large kettle) there will not be much left; but if there is any
left you can have a splendid stew for dinner by adding a
little water and a good supply of pared and quartered pota-
toes and a few onions, then cook over a slow fire until the
potatoes are well done; this will require close watching, for
if the fire is too hot it will scorch very quickly; the safest
way is to surround the lower half of the kettle with hot
ashes and coals. If this dish has been properly attended to
four men will get away with a pile of it.
The best prepared bread for camping is very hard-baked
rye bread, hard-tack, or Boston crackers. Soda crackers are
no earthly good. Rye bread baked thoroughly brown all over
will keep in a bag quite fresh, from ten days to two weeks,
and it is a good, wholesome bread. However, camping parties
should be provided with flour and some dry yeast'. Good
bread can be made in camp, but it requires more experience
than any other kind of cooking. With the supply of flour
there should be a few cakes of yeast, such as are sold by
grocers, dissolve one small yeast cake with warm water, in
a two-quart tin bucket, when the yeast is well dissolved add
flour and warm water enough to fill the bucket one-half to
two-thirds full of stiff batter; this should be well stirred
with a spoon, then set the bucket near the fire until it
foments and fills the bucket, then fill one of the large pans
about half full of flour; with the hand, shove the flour out
to the edge of the pan, making a kind of nest, into this
pour the contents of the bucket, then add warm water and
flour, stir with a large spoon until you have a very stiff bat-
ter; by tempering with flour you can stir it until you can
handle the dough with the hands; work it well until the
dough is tough and smooth, and not too stiff. Now take
the other dish pan, (the one that is about one inch smaller
than the one you mixed the bread in) warm and grease it
inside with a pork rind, then put the dough or loaf in the
82 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
pan, placing a piece of cloth over it and put in a warm
place and let it raise; turn the pan around occasionally to
warm the dough equally; as soon as the dough commences
to raise it is ready to bake. In the meantime, the pan that
was used to mix the bread should be cleaned and greased.
Scrape out the hole in the fireplace quite deep and place
in it the pan of dough, have it level, then turn the other
pan upside down over the one in the ashes, and cover the
whole with hot coals and ashes, cover quite deep and leave
it about an hour and a half; when you take it out you will
find you have a loaf of bread filling both pans, with a rich,
brown crust. Don't become discouraged if the first trial is
a partial failure; however, it will not be, provided your
yeast and flour are good. In order to have the yeast ready
for next baking, all that is necessary is to fill the two-quart
tin pails with flour and warm water, with a little salt; there
wfll be enough of the first yeast sticking to the pail to cause
fomentation, without adding fresh yeast. If the fomenta-
tion is too rapid, and the yeast stands two or three days, it
will get sour; then, in making bread, soda should be used,
just enough to neutralize the acid. However, unless the
weather is quite warm, good bread can be made of the yeast
as prepared, without soda. Bread in this way is so
wholesome that it will make a man hungry to smell it when
warm. This same yeast, by adding flour and water suf-
ficiently for a stiff batter, will make the proverbial "slap-
jack," called by Californians " forty-niners;" they are un-
wholesome, and quite unfit to eat. With the reflector
spoken of, biscuit, as well as good bread, can be baked in
front of the fire more conveniently than by burying in the
ashes. The reflector is also good for cooking all kinds of
game and fish; in fact, the reflector is the best arrangement
for out-door cooking that can be had. The best sauce for
-camp is pressed prunells; they are pressed into hard cakes;
CAMP COOKING. 83
they occupy but little space, and are easily prepared by add-
ing sufficient water and sugar and stewing them over a very
slow fire. They are quite tart, and for sauce, with any kind
of game, are as good as cranberries.
In fitting out camp equippage where it is necessary to
transport by pack-mule or burro, over mountain trails, it
would jpe well to dispense with some of the cooking uten-
sils, also the mess chest; in fact, all kinds of boxes, as they
are heavy and quite inconvenient to pack on mules, unless
there is an experienced packer in the party, or one who has
had some experience in mountain hunting. For a pack-
saddle the Mexican aparejo is the best, but for the totally
inexperienced, the Indian or Government pack-saddle is the
best. If regular paniers can be had, you will have the best
possible arrangement. The Mexican panier is a strong wil-
low basket, something like an office waste basket, but larger,
with the side that is next to the pack-saddle flat, the re-
maining sides an oval, and larger at the top than bottom.
Judging from memory, the bottom should be about 10 by
24 inches, the top 16 by 24 inches, and 20 inches deep.
Two such bapkets strapped together at the flat sides of the
larger, or open ends, makes a set for one pack animal. The
straps should be strong and buckled, that baskets can be ad-
justed the proper distance apart, to rest firmly on the pack-
saddle, or aparejo. If regular basket paniers cannot be had,
pouches made of leather or heavy canvass can be made,
something like a very large pair of old-fashioned saddle-
bags. The pouches should be closed with a flap or cover,
buckled dow r n; either pouches or paniers are very con-
venient for packing on animals, and your traps are more
easily managed than without them. To put a pack-saddle
or an aparejo on a mule properly, thereby preventing sores
on his back, is the great secret in successful packing.
Much depends upon fitting on the saddle and having the load
84 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
about equally balanced. To saddle the pack-animal first
put on the saddle-blanket; over this there is no objection to
putting one of the camp blankets; the blankets should ex-
tend well down the animal's side, then put on the saddle or
aparejo, put on the crupper and adjust the saddle in the
proper position, then run one hand under the blankets, on
the animal's withers, and raise up the blankets cleaj of the
animal's backbone, then cincho very tight. A cincho is the
broad band used to fasten the pack-saddle; it goes entirely
around the saddle, as well as the animal. On the ends of the
cincho are large rings; to one of the rings is fastened a long
leather strap called a latago. This strap should be wreathed
through both rings, like a tackle block, which gives a good
purchase. It requires the strength of two men to cincho a
pack-saddle properly. The animal will "hump his back"
and make some fuss, but no difference, it must be "cin-
choed " tight for the animal's good, for if the saddle is loose it
will soon chafe sores on his back. When paniers or pouches
are used, blankets can be folded up in square packages and
piled on top the paniers; if you have no paniers or pouches
everything but blankets should be put in strong bags, each
separate article of provision in small bags; then put into
two large bags. These, when packed, should be about
equal in weight. Hang the two bags together with a sling
rope, one on each side, in the proper position quite high up
on the animal's side, pack blankets on top of all; then the
whole business is fastened on with a long rope, generally a
raw-hide one, called a lash rope. Lashing on the pack is
the most difficult part of packing, yet quite simple to expe-
rienced packers. Here is a description of how it is done,
but it is almost impossible to make it intelligible in writing:
The lash-rope (only one to an animal) should be about
twenty-five feet long, twisted or braided raw-hide is best,
about five-eighths of an inch in diameter; on one end of
CAMP COOKING. 85
the lash-rope should be fastened to a short wide cincho, to
the other end of cincho a stubby wooden hook, made of the
forked limb of any tough wood; it requires a man qn each
side of the pack to do the lashing. The man on the near
side of the animal takes the lash-rope and throws the end
that has no hook on out to the rear of the animal on the
ground. See that is well stretched out without kinks, draw
the rope over the pack lengthwise that is from tail toward
head of the animal throw the cincho or hook end under
the animal's belly, for the man on the other side; then cast
over the pack the rope doubled, the doubled part must go
over the part of the rope laying on the pack, the opposite
man must hook the loop end of the double rope on the wooden
hook, then the part of the long end of the rope laid the length
of the pack ; that is, the left hand rope must be thrown around
the right corner of the pack, over to the right, passed back
under the rope around the animal and around the left
corner of the load, then the long end of the rope should be
cast in a loop over the opposite side of the pack, pass the end
under the left hand rope; that is, over or across the pack,
then everything is ready for drawing up. The man on the
off side must draw the rope through the cincho, hook as
tight as he can; the man on the near side takes up the
slack and follows it around the pack, drawing the rope
tight as he goes, then fasten the end by tucking two or
three times. If properly put on, the two ropes across the
pack will form a diamond on top the pack. The short sides
of the diamond will be drawn front and rear of the center of
the pack, by the rope as it was placed. This description
would be quite clear to a man after he sees the thing done,
but whether from the description a man could do it, is
another thing. The writer has attempted to make it
quite plain, but finds it very difficult to do. Unless the
pack is well lashed on it will be a source of trouble continu-
86 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
ally, and will have a tendency to make sores on the animal's
back. Two good pack mules can carry a sufficient camp
outfit for four men, including blankets, provision, cooking
utensils, tent, etc., for a ten days' or two weeks' trip; how-
ever, in this case, game and fish must be looked after. If
saddle horses are used by the party each man can carry on
his horse, lashed to the saddle, quite a portion of the equip-
page, especially blankets. Pack mules will carry from two
to three hundred pounds from twelve to fifteen miles each
day, over mountain trails with ease. With an experienced
man as packer, and to look after the horses, a party of four
or five could have a jolly time in any of the mountains of
the western territories, especially on the Pacific slope, where
game and trout abound in almost unlimited numbers.
The large game of the west is fast disappearing at the
hands of the skin hunters. The writer spent from the 15th
of last July to October 1st, in the territories of Montana,
Wyoming, Idaho and Washington without even seeing any
fresh buffalo signs, but was told that a few mountain bison
were still high up in the mountains of the Yellowstone
Park. Bear, deer and elk are yet quite plenty. Antelope
are quite scarce, compared to a few years ago, but the
mountain streams are swarming with trout, and will be for
years, as many of them will be rarely visited by any but the
boldest mountaineers.
For mountain travel there is no way equal to saddle
horses and pack-mules; the baggage need only be limited
by the number of pack animals. The intelligence of a well
conditioned pack-mule is phenomenal; a source of continual
interesting enjoyment to watch their ingenious maneuvers
in climbing rugged places, fallen timber, and tangled
thickets. For saddle, as well as pack animals, mules are
better than horses; they are surer-footed, hardier, require
less care, and will carry a man safely where a horse would
CAMP COOKING. 87
fail. However, it is well to have one horse in the party ;
the mules, from some unaccountable reason, will become at-
tached to a horse that they are permitted to associate with.
This is quite convenient, as when in camp all that is neces-
tary to keep the mules in the vicinity is to hobble the horse
by strapping his fore feet together about seventeen or
eighteen inches apart. A regular hobble is a short piece of
chain, a ring at each end; also straps and buckles. Buckle
a strap around each fore leg, between hoof and fetlock, the
chain connecting the two; the horse will soon learn to get
around sufficient to procure all the food necessary. Don't
be uneasy abeut the mules, they will under no circum-
stance leave the horse very far. It is not necessary to
carry feed for the animals; if camps are properly selected
there will always be quite sufficient grass and browse for any
number of animals, turned loose as directed.
There are many advantages in this way of traveling,
probably the most important is the perfect freedom and inde-
pendence, go where and when you please, and not necess-
arily confined to trails or roads, but can make excursions to
unfrequented points of interest that would be absolutely im-
possible to reach in any other way. It is the only satisfactory
way to do the National Park. Of course, progress is slower,
but much more satisfactory; besides, time spent in mountain
excursions, like the chase, "is not counted in the length of
life." This is another case where a man should not begrudge
the time. From twelve to fifteen miles a day is all that
should be required of a full-laden pack animal; this distance
can be made in from four to six hours easily. If only about
this distance is habitually traveled the animals soon under-
stand it and will endeavor to make the distance in the least
possible time; they will require no urging. But, on the
contrary, if irregularity is practiced as to distance and num-
ber of hours on the road, the animals will become indiffer-
88 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
ent lazy and stubborn, and will require constant urging; in
fact, three times the labor to make the same distance as it
would where regularity of distance was adhered to by mak-
ing regular distances of from twelve to fifteen miles; very
early starts are unnecessary, the distance can be made and
give ample time to fix up camp before dark. By going into
camp early, the animals will have plenty of time to feed and
at night lie down and rest. They will again in the morn-
ing have time to feed while you are leisurely getting break-
fast and striking camp. An animal properly managed and
properly packed, will neither get a sore back, nor poor in
flesh. The most economical way for a party to make a
mountain tour of a few weeks, or months, is to purchase
outright the whole outfit of pack and saddle animal. If a
party of four, it pays to hire an experienced packer to look
after the animals and attend to the packing; one that under
stands the business would also be a good mountaineer all
the guide necessary to have. The animals and outfit by
judicious management, at the ead of the trip will bring all
they cost, or nearly so. It will be found very much cheaper
than to hire the outfit by the day. For tjie northern territo-
ries the native horse, called cayouse, is tough, sure-footed,
an excellent climber, and usually of a good disposition,
fully equal to the mule for riding or packing. But for Cali-
fornia, Texas and Mexico, the mule is preferable to the
mustang or lower country horse, both for riding and
packing. As a rule, mules are more tractable; they soon
form attachment to persons, as well as things. The only
attachment that will keep the average mustang within
bounds is a good, strong picket-rope, well staked.
In selecting an outfit of saddle and pack animals, it is
well not to be in too great a hurry. Try the animals under
the saddle, note their dispositions, also try the pack animals
with packs on; it will pay to take time to select animals of
CAMP COOKING. 89
good dispositions and well broken; that have no bad habits,
such as kicking and bucking. See that they have sound
backs and that their tails are not crupper-sore. Don't re-
ject a mule on the account of a big belly; if everything
else is all right, big bellied mules are the kind to stay
with you through thick and thin. For a riding saddle,
select the best of the California pattern with the fewest trap-
pings; by using the kind that has two cinchos, the crupper
can be dispensed with. A few days spent in the vicinity of
the starting point will be well spent; in fact, it is the only
way that a perfect outfit can be secured. Two or three days
will be ample time. Learn just what is necessary, as well
as what is unnecessary, then be governed accordingly.
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.
Camping parties should have a limited supply of sim-
ple remedies, such as tincture of aconite and quinine for
fevers, a bottle of camphor and a bottle of whisky, also
some good liniment, a roll of mustard plaster and some ad-
hesive plaster and a roll of bandages; also a good diarrhoea
mixture; but it is best to consult a physician. How-
ever, the above will be found all that is necessary. Fevers
brought on by exposure and over-exertion can be corrected
by a few doses of tincture of aconite, followed by a few
doses of quinine. Aconite is a virulent poison, and must
be taken in small quantities; three drops as a dose, every
hour, for a few hours, will usually reduce ordinary fevers,
then take three or four 3-grain quinine pills, two hours
apart. The bottle of whisky mentioned is strictly for
medicinal purposes, and must be kept for emergencies.
If a supply of whisky is taken along to be used as a
beverage, don't in any event drink in the morning before
breakfast. One drink in the morning will do more damage
than a half dozen will repair afterward. " Don't forget it."
90 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
Camping parties are really better with no whisky ex-
cept that which is strictly for medicine. To parties that
insist on having a supply for drinking purposes, take the
advice of an old campaigner, and do all the drinking in the
afternoon and evening.
FISHING WITH HOOK AND LINE.
The subject of fishing has been fully written up over
and over by many good writers fly fishing, especially.
Theory after theory has been advanced, all kinds of signs
taken into account, the wind, weather, etc.
Often, luck comes in for a large share, or some great
secret is connected with the art. This brings to memory a
story in Campfire Flickering, published in the Forest and
Stream, of a man that was noted for his success as a fisher-
man. So much so that the opinion that there was some
great secret connected with it, or known to him, had become
general. A member of a fishing party one day, thinking .to
get some advantage over others of the party, thought he
would possess himself of the secret by a slick species of bribery.
He called the noted lucky fisherman to one side, slipped a
five dollar bill in his hand, and slyly asked him the secret
of his success. The old man pulled his head down and
solemnly whispered in his ear, "When you get a bite, jerk."
The art of fishing can not be learned from books no more
than watch making.
To be a successful fisherman requires patient persever-
ance, industry and devotion. Fish are frightened more by
moving objects than anything else. The habits of fish and
the likely places to find them can only be learned by observa-
tion and study. Find the likely places, move about cau-
tiously, keep out of sight as much as possible, then, "when
you get a bite, jerk."
HOW TO PRESERVE FISH. 91
HOW TO PRESERVE FRESH FISH IN WARM WEATHER.
A simple and effectual mode of preparing fresh trout,
or any other kind of fish so they can be preserved, perfectly
fresh and good, for from seven to ten days, at any time of
the year, and in almost any climate.
Trout, as well as other fish, should be killed as soon as
caught, and never be permitted to again touch water; fish
will keep longer, and retain their flavor better, than by
attempting to keep them alive in the water, or permitting
them to die out of the water.
To prepare trout, kill them as soon as they are caught,
keeping them in a clean basket, box, or creel, and free from
water. When you have caught a sufficient quantity to make
a package, prepare them as follows: With a dry towel or
cloth, wipe them clean and dry, open them on the belly
for the purpose of removing the entrails; then with the
thumb, or a round bladed knife, scrape the blood from the
back bone, then remove the gills, also the eyes, as the fluid
from the eyes would give the fish an unpleasant flavor;
now, again wipe them dry; the more thoroughly this is
done, the better they will keep; then, from the inside, split
the fish through the backbone to the skin on the back,
then sprinkle salt over the open fish and rub it well in,
using just enough to properly season the fish when cooked,
close the sides together so the fish will look natural, then
spread them over night on a dry log or board for the purpose
of cooling. The nights where trout are usually caught are
cool, sufficiently so for this purpose: In the morning, before
sunrise, carefully fold the fish in dry towels, in rows, dis-
tributed in such a manner that there will be a fold of the
towel between each fish; this must be done with care, then
carefully wrap the whole package snugly in a piece of
muslin, then with a coarse needle and thread, sew the pack-
age close and tight; wrap again in a piece of woolen
92 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
blanket, or a whole one is better, and sew the ends and
sides, being certain to have sufficient coverings of cloth and
woolens, now put the roll in a stout paper bag, such as is
used for flour, then tie tightly, and the thing is done.
Fish in this manner can be sent from Maine to New
Orleans, even in August, and preserved fresh and nice. The
more care bestowed in preparing them, the better they will
keep. The fleshy parts of venison can be preserved in the
same way.
Fishing and hunting parties desiring to send fish or game
to distant friends, in warm weather, can do it in this way
with perfect assurance that they will arrive sweet and whole-
some, if they have been careful in preparing them.
93
MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES.
VARNISH FOR JOINTED RODS.
Dissolve in pure alcohol, a sufficient quantity of the
best orange shellac, to give the mixture a consistency of thin
varnish, apply with a piece of woolen cloth, first putting a
little linseed oil on the cloth with your finger, then quite a
dab of varnish, with this rub briskly to a polish. Just
enough oil should be used to prevent the varnish from
becoming sticky. Five or six coats is not too much, then
with a small brush, give the wrapping an extra coat; for the
wrappings/coach varnish is the best. In this manner go
over your rods once or twice each season, and they will
always look new. Always keep a small bottle of varnish
with your tackle; each time the rod is used the wrappings
will be the better if a little varnish is used.
The shellac varnish is the best for gun stocks, rubbed
on in the same way as on your rod, it is also good to pre-
vent the rusting of the barrels and trimmings when shoot-
ing on salt water.
TO COLOR FISH LINES, AND GUT LEADERS, NEUTRAL TINTS.
Soak them over night in green tea, or coffee, or a solu-
tion of indigo. For gut leaders, Arnold's ink, with a little
vinegar added, is the best; allow them to remain 'over night
in it.
LOTION AND PREVENTATIVE FOR MOSQUITO AND GNAT BITES.
Oil of pennyroyal, four ounces; olive oil, eight ounces;
pine tar, two ounces; mix well and apply until a good coat-
ing of varnish is established.
ANOTHER.
Olive oil, two ounces; tinct. camphor, two drachms;
carbolic acid, one drachm; acetic acid, one-half drachm; oil
94 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
of cedar, one drachm; oil of pennyroyal, one drachm. Mix,
and apply, as with the first.
Another, is to wash with strong carbolic s( ap, and dry
without wiping.
WATER PROOFING FOR LEATHER BOOTS DON'T LOOK FOR
ANY OTHER.
Boiled linseed oil with a very little lamp black; apply
a coat each morning for several days, and after, as often
as is required; this will make leather as near water proof
as is possible.
DOGS.
ANTIDOTE FOR STRYCHNIA POISONING.
Camphor gum is all that is necessary. A lump of cam-
phor gum, the size of the end of your thumb, shoved down
the dog's throat will cure him even after he has had spasms.
This is reliable.
CURE FOR DISTEMPER.
Give three drops of the tincture of aconite root every
hour, for from six to ten hours. After the fever is clearly
reduced, give three quinine pills, of three grains each, giving
one every two hours, until the pills are all taken. If the
dog's bowels are free, this is all that is necessary. The best
way to give the aconite is, drop three drops on a small piece
of raw meat, if the dog will eat, if not, drop it on his
tongue, and be careful to give him not more than three
drops, for this remedy is a very active poison, and an over-
dose would speedily prove fatal.
TO CLEAR A DOG KENNEL FROM FLEAS.
Sprinkle the straw, or bedding with dilute carbolic acid,
and a good way to kill them on a dog is, take one part of
OBSERVATIONS OF THE WEATHER. 95
carbolic acid, and thirty parts of water, wash the dog thor-
oughly once a week, for four weeks. This will surely kill
them; and used in the same manner and for the same length
of time, will cure mange, and almost any skin disease that
dogs are heir to.
CURE FOR CANKER OF THE EAR, EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL.
If internal, clean out the ear by filling it with warm
suds, made with carbolic soap, knead the ear well with the
hands, then with a quil or small bellows, blow the ear full
of pulverized lodoform. If external, after cleaning the
ear with carbolic soap, sprinkle on the sore the same remedy
you used in the internal case. If there is not an absolute
cancer, this will effect a cure.
Observations of the Weather, Through the Lunations of
the Moon. (Herschell.)
"The nearer the time of the moon's change, first quarter,
full, and last quarter, are to midnight, the fairer will be the
weather for the following seven days; the range is from ten
at night to two next morning. The nearer midday, or noon,
the phases happen, the more foul, or wet, the weather may
be expected during the following seven days, the range for
this calculation is from ten in the forenoon, until two in
the afternoon.
"These observations refer principally to the summer,
though the spring and autumn are nearly in the same ratio."
SNOODING HOOKS.
The following letter, signed Californian, and published
in the Forest and Stream February, 1885, covers the whole
ground, and as the writer of this book and Californian is
the same individual, it is here reproduced in full:
96 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
SNELL, SNOOD, GIMP.
If the inquirers through the Forest and Stream will try
the following plan for fastening snells to hooks they will
never have occasion to complain of them slipping off:
Get a roll of rubber cement such as is used to fasten
bicycle tires, (it can be procured where bicycles are sold)
warm the shank of the hook in a lamp sufficient to melt the
cement, then draw the shank of the hook across a piece of
the cement and enough will adhere to answer the purpose.
Let it cool for a second to prevent it from sticking to the
fingers, then press the end of the snell on in just the position
you wish it to remain. After allowing the cement to stiffen
a little more wrap with good thread, and if you have just
the proper quantity of cement and the right consistency the
wrapping thread will bury into the cement smoothly; it
will be perfectly waterproof and stick to the business under all
circumstances. The cement also answers well to waterproof
thread or cord for wrapping; use as you would cobbler's
wax.
The best way to snood hooks with silkworm gut is, in-
stead of fastening the gut directly to the hook, to fasten a
small loop of relaid linen line No. 5 to the hook as directed
for snell. The loop should be quite small, not over one-
eighth of an inch. Then prepare the gut by tying a loop at
each end, one for attaching the hook through the small loop
on hook, the other for attaching the line. Many advantages
are gained by this method, the gut is double near the hook,
it also forms a flexible joint and avoids the annoyance of
chafing or breaking off by being bent short; in case a hook
is broken another can be easily attached to the same gut.
Hooks and gut can be carried separately and attached when
required for use. If flies were tied in the same manner
many anglers would find fewer occasions to lose their religion
by having their flies break off where the gut joins the hook.
SNELL, SN 7 OOD, GIMP. 97
Canoeists will find this rubber cement excellent for stop-
ping leaks in canoes, either joint-cracks or holes; quite
large holes can be fixed up with it. For cracks or joints,
with a hot iron or small stone, melt and rub the cement
well in, leave a small streak of the cement over the crack or
joint. For mending a hole take a piece of canvas or boot
leg large enough to cover the hole with about one inch lap
all around. With a hot iron or stone smear over the patch
with a good coat of rubber cement, also smear around the
edges of the hole, then heat the patch quite hot and press it
in place. Then smear over the whole business with cement,
using the hot 'iron or stone. The cement will harden in a
short time, when it will require no further looking after.
This, of course, is only for cases of emergency. To fix a
hole permanently it should be cut out square or oblong with
slightly beveling edges, then neatly fit a piece of wood to
the hole, smear the edges of the piece as well as the edges
of the hole with rubber cement; have it quite warm, then
press the piece in place; if well done it will neither come
out nor leak. No canoeist's or angler's kit is complete with-
out a roll of rubber cement. It is multum in parvo; try it.
Instant Relief for Cramp or Wind Colic.
The severest cramp colic can be cured by simply stand-
ing on the head for a few seconds. This is an Indian cure,
and a good one.
Standing on the head can be easily accomplished by
putting your head and hands on the ground at the butt of
a tree, throw the body and legs against the trunk of the
tree. By the assistance of a companion it is quite easy
done; a few seconds is all that is necessary.
98
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
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99
GOOD STRONG GLUE WATERPROOF.
Alcohol, (spirit of wine) 1 pint; sandarac, 1 ounce;
mastic, 1 ounce; common white turpentine, 1 ounce; glue
and isinglass, sufficient; water, sufficient. Dissolve the two
resins sandarac and mastic in the spirit, and then add the
turpentine to the solution. Make some very strong glue,
and add to it a good pinch of isinglass. Now heat the alco-
holic varnish until the liquid begins to boil, and then very
slowly stir in the warm glue. The amount of the liquid
glue to be added is determined by noting the point at which,
after thorough mixture, a magma or a thin paste is formed
capable of being easily strained through cloth. When re-
quired for use, the strained mixture is to be warmed and
applied like ordinary glue to the articles to be united. A
strong junction is effected, which is not destroyed by cold
water, and only after a con paratively considerable time, by
hot water or ordinary saline solutions. British Journal of
Photography.
ETHER GLUE.
An excellent liquid glue is made by dissolving glue in
nitric ether. The ether will only dissolve a certain amount
of glue, consequently the solution cannot be made too thick.
The glue thus made is about the consistency of molasses,
and is doubly as tenacious as that made with hot water. If
a few bits of india rubber, cut into scraps the size of buck-
shot, be added, and the solution be allowed to stand a few
days, being stirred frequently, it will be all the better, and
will resist the dampness twice as well as glue made with
water.
GLYCERIN CEMENT.
A cement, said to be capable of use where resistence to
the action of both water and heat is required, is composed
100 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
by mixing ordinary glycerin with dry litharge, so as to con-
stitute a tough paste. For uniting the joints of steam pipes
and other similar applications, this preparation is said to be
very satisfactory.
WEIGHT OF AIR AND WATER.
One cubic foot of air weighs 523 grains. One cubic
inch of water weighs .03617 Ibs. One cubic foot of water
weighs 62^ Ibs. One cubic foot of ice weighs 58^ Ibs.
One cylindrical inch of water weighs .02842 Ibs. One cylin-
drical foot of water weighs 49.1 Ibs.
RUBBER BOOTS
can be patched as follows: Rub the patch and boot thor-
oughly with sharp sand paper. Smear both with liquid
rubber five times, every time letting them dry. Do this
once more, and, before they dry, apply the patch, with
pressure, if possible, and the boot is mended. If liquid rub-
ber is not obtainable, dissolve small pieces of rubber, not
vulcanized, in warm spirits of turpentine to the consistence
of molasses in summer.
RELIABLE RECIPES.
For corns, easy shoes; for bile, exercise; for rheuma-
tism, new flannel and patience: for gout, toast and water;
for the toothache, a dentist; for debt, industry; and for love,
matrimony.
TO KEEP GUM ARABIC FROM MOLDING.
Solutions of gum arabic soon mold and sour, and finally
lose their adhesive property. It is said that sulphate of
quinine will prevent this, while it imparts no bad odor of its
own. The addition of a solution of a few crystals of this
salt to gum arabic will prevent the formation of mold quite
as effectually as carbolic acid, and by analogy it is safe to
suppose that the same salt could be used in writing ink,
mucilage, and possibly glue.
MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. 101
BROWN TINT FOR IRON AND STEEL.
Dissolve in four parts of water, two parts of crystallized
chloride of iron, two parts of chloride of antimony and one
part of gallic acid, and apply the solution with a sponge or
cloth to the article, and dry it in the air. Repeat this any
number of times, according to the depth of color which it is
desired to produce. Wash with water and dry, and finally
rub the articles over with boiled linseed oil. The metal
thus receives a brown tint and resists moisture. The chlo-
ride of antimony should be as little acid as possible.
TO TAN SMALL SKINS.
When taken from the animal, let the skins be nailed in
the shape of an oblong square on a board to dry, fur side
down. Before taking them from the board, clean off all the
fat or oily matter with a dull knife. Be careful not to cut
the skins. When you wish to tan them, soak thoroughly in
cold water until soft; then squeeze out the water, and take
of soft water three quarts, salt half a pint, and best oil vit-
roil one ounce Stir well with a stick, and put in the skins
quickly, and leave them in thirty minutes. Then take them
in your hands and squeeze (not wring) them out, and hang
in the shade, fur side down, to dry. If you get the quantity of
liquor proportioned to the skins, they will need no rubbing
to make them soft; and, tanned in this way, the moths will
never disturb them.
BUFFALO ROBES.
These are not, strictly speaking, leather, as they are
prepared without the use of bark or tannin in any form.
They are simply a raw hide made sott and pliable by manip-
ulation and the use of grease or oil, The Indian process, in
principle, is the same we use in making our soft leathers,
chamois, buckskin, lash or string leacher, etc. The Indian
women, in making buffalo robes, first "flesh" and pare down
102 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
the green hide with a bone, toothed something like a saw,
and knives. They then cover it on the flesh side with the
brains, blood, liver, grease and the contents of the gall blad-
der of the buffalo or elk. This is thoroughly worked in
near a fire or in the sun. They then, after the hide is par-
tially dried, work it over a beam or rope until it be-
comes soft and flexible. They sometimes make a species
of leather by taking off the wool by the use of lime, and
then preparing it as above, smoking it thoroughly. The
hide of the buffalo is covered,, not with hair, but with a true
wool, which has the property of felting or fulling, arid out
of which cloth can be manufactured.
CEMENT FOR LEATHER.
Ten parts of carbon bisulphide and one part oil of turpen-
tine are mixed, and as much gutta percha added as will
readily dissolve. The surfaces of leather must be freed,
with a hot iron, from fat, and the parts once joined should
be well pressed until they are firmly united.
103
HOW TO SKIN BIRDS.
For the following very instructive and interesting article
on skinning and preparing bird skins for mounted specimens,
I am indebted to Prof. Oliver Davie, a leading taxidermist of
Columbus, Ohio, also author of the "Naturalist's Manual"
and "Egg Check List of North American Birds" It will
undoubtedly prove very beneficial to many sportsmen who
desire to preserve specimens as trophies of their skill
and sport's:
COLUMBUS, OHIO.
'* Many a rare bird has come to the hands of the naturalist
that would otherwise have been lost and perhaps never
recorded, in a particular locality, were it not for" the sports-
man, and nearly every person who has handled a gun has,
in the course of his experience, taken specimens that for
their beauty or rarity, and also as trophies of a day's hunt,
would like to preserve them for future inspect4on by them-
selves and friends.
To be able to skin and prepare a bird for mounting in a
proper manner is an accomplishment which few sportsmen
have acquired. It is, however, very simple, and with a little
patience and care can easily be done, and with this end in
view, I will make my directions as clear as possible, and tell
how to skin a bird.
In the first place, we need something in the way of a
preservative to put on the skin. Common dry arsenic is the
article most generally used because it is the most convenient,
and when pure, and properly applied, it certainly is a good
thing. Arsenical soap is also used and is better in many
respects, but is not so convenient.
It is a well known fact that arsenic in the form of a
powder is very injurious to the health. Many a taxidermist
has met with serious results after long and constant use of
104 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
dry arsenic which leaves its effects by being inhaled while
dusting it on skins. This however, would not be the case
with a person who would only occasionally find use for it.
Furthermore, the common dry, powdered arsenic that is
usually sold at the apothecary shops is of such an inferior
quality rendered so by adulteration that its effects as a
preservative are of little consequence, and dry arsenic, no
matter how pure, has not the penetrating powers as some-
thing of a similar nature in a liquid form. I therefore
introduce a new Arsenical Solution which is a most powerful
and effectual preservative, although it is not any more con-
venient than arsenical soap. I give it here for those who may
desire to use it. It can be applied to the skin of birds and
mammals in various ways with the most gratifying results,
and while the principal ingredient of this solution is pure
crystallized arsenic it is not injurious to the health, as is the
dry pulverized arsenic. It is made as follows: Take one
pound of crystallized arsenic and one-half pound of bicar-
bonate of soda, add to this five pints of water; boil the
whole down to three pints over a slow fire stirring frequently
to prevent the arsenic and soda from settling to the bottom.
It is a good idea to first break the large pieces of arsenic in
order that they may quickly dissolve. When cold it is
ready for u$e. By mixing a quantity of Spanish whiting
with a small amount of the liquid until it forms a very thin
paste, it is ready to be applied to skins by the use of a brush.
Now, as we have the preservative before us, the next
procedure is to skin the bird. In removing the skin from
a bird, the body, if fat or bloody, should be dusted with
cornmeal, as this prevents the plumage from becoming soiled.
The knife used should be sharp, especially toward the point,
and a pair of scissors are very convenient, although not
altogether essential.
Fill the mouth and nostrils with cotton in order to
HOW TO SKIN BIRDS. 105
prevent liquids or juices escaping and soiling the feathers.
Now, lay the specimen on its back and separate the feathers.
They will open along the abdomen where a bare strip of
skin can be seen from the breast to the tail. Hold the
feathers thus separated with the thumb and finger of the
left hand, and make an incision along the middle line of the
abdomen, almost from the top of the breast bone full to the
vent. Take hold of the cut edge of the skin and press the
flesh of the abdomen down from it with the side of the knife.
Never pull on the skin, but press the flesh away from it.
Carefully raise each side of the skin as far as the legs. Bend
the knee joints up through the opening and cut them off.
Skin the legs, scraping the flesh from the bones, but leaving the
bone of each leg in place. Loosen the skin as far down
toward the back as possible. Now stand the specimen up on
its breast and bend the tail down toward the back. Cut it off
at the joint very slowly, cutting only a little at a time to
make sure that it is flesh and not skin you are severing. You
are also to be careful not to cut through <he quills of the
tail feathers; if cut they will often drop out.
The bird may now be hung head downward, by a hook
inserted in the exposed stump of the rump; and with a little
care, the skin may be gradually stripped off as far as the wings ;
the wings are to be severed from the body, inside the skin,
at the shoulder joint. At this stage, the wings themselves
are to be separately skinned; detaching the secondaries
from the ulna; scraping the bones thoroughly and removing
the humerus or single bone of the wing entirely. This
method of skinning the wing is only applied to small birds.
Always leave all but the head of the humerus in good-sized
birds. Never detach the secondaries from the ulna in birds
the size of Cooper's Hawk and upwards, for in order to do
good work on a large bird if it should ever be mounted, the
secondaries must be attached to the bone. Especially is this
106
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
the case where the bird is to have the wings spread. When
the secondaries are detached it is impossible to give them
the even and regular spread that they have in nature.
f
The muscles and tendons can be removed by making a
cut on the under side of the wing, from the elbow to the wrist ;
this ciU can afterwards be neatly sewed up and the feathers
will fall smoothly to their place and cover the seam. As
soon as the wings have been severed, the skin, which by
this time will have been turned inside out, will easily slip
along the neck as far as the head. To skin the latter is the
most difficult part of the job, and must be carefully done or
the skin will tear.
The head should be skinned close down to the base of the
beak, especially in front of the eyes. The eyes are to be
picked out, and the triangular portion of the skull, together
Skin Brady for Re-turning.
HOW TO SKIN BIRDS. 107
with the flesh between the jaws and the brain is to be
removed, leaving the sides and top of the skull attached
to the bill. The skin above the eyes and ears is closely
adherent by membrane to the bone and must be detached
with great care.
In the general process of skinning after the first incis-
ion, little if any use of the knife or scalpel is required, except
to sever the legs, tail and wings, to work about the eyes
and ears, and to remove the base of the skull. The cut-
ting may be better done with the scissors than with the
knife. The skins of most birds slip off very easily and
can usually be detached with the thumb nail. In the
cases of Woodpeckers some Ducks and a few other birds,
the heads of which are too large in proportion to the
caliber of the neck to be skinned as heretofore directed,
this part must afterward be separately skinned by an
incision made from the outside along the middle line of
the skull. This is done after the body has been severed
from the skull and the skin returned.
If the above process has been properly conducted the
skin has been turned inside out. The arsenic ma"y now be
applied to every part of the skin. Especially the head,
wings, legs and tail should be heavily coated with it. The
arsenical solution which 1 have recommended elsewhere in
this chapter will take the place of arsenical soap in aiding
the skin to slip easily over the head.
Now fill the eye-sockets with pellets of cotton the size
of the bird's eye and the skin is ready to be turned right
side out. Never bung out " a bird's eyes by putting too
much cotton in the sockets or orbits. Be particularly careful
about this in Hawks and Eagles, who have deep set eyes,
which should be pressed inward rather than distended.
108
SPORTSMAN S HAND BOOK.
After the skin has been turned right side out and the
feathers of the head, neck and wings are nicely adjusted,
the wing-hones of opposite sides should be tied with thread
inside the skin as near together as the back of the natural
body of the bird is broad.
Fill the neck with a strip of loose cotton, pushing it up
into the mouth with a slender stick or spring forceps. Fill
the rest of the skin with the same material, but if the bird
is a large one common tow is always best for a filling. Now,
smooth the feathers over the opening and place a narrow
band of paper around the bird or place the bird in a dry-
ing-board like the accompanying cut which is made by
DRYING- BOARD.
tacking heavy paper on a board. There are several methods
of sewing the wings to the skin which are unnecessary to give
here, as the skins made by the sportsman will probably be
mounted before they are many weeks old, and if the skin is
HOW TO SKIN BIRDS.
109
nicely adjusted in the paper belt or
drying-board it will answer all pur-
poses. The name of the bird, sex
and locality and date of capture
should be recorded on the slip of
paper. When dry, it can be dropped
head foremost into a paper cone, and
the end folded over and pinned.
This is what is technically called
a "skin," and is the only practical
way to preserve birds while on an
excursion.
Hundreds of skins will occupy
but a comparatively small amount of
space, and they can be "wet up"
and mounted at any time.
When it is desired to ship birds
in the flesh they should have the
mouth, nostrils and vent tightly filled
with cotton to keep the feathers from
becoming soiled by any of the juices
that are liable to escape.
It is impossible to ship birds in
the flesh in warm weather without
taking the entrails out and then sat-
urating the inside and the throat
well with carbolic acid. All speci-
mens shipped in this way should be
carefully wrapped in paper, placed
in a box and marked "Perishable,
shipped by express.
and in all cases
110
SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
How to Remove and Preserve the Skins of Animals.
A sportsman may at sometime, be desirous of having
a large or small animal mounted and yet not know how to
proceed to skin it properly for the purpose. For this rea-
son I give the following simple directions, which, if followed
closely, will bring about satisfactory results:
The first opening cut should be made along the under
side of the animal from the throat to the base of the tail.
Do not cut through the lips or vent. The tail must be slit
open along the under side about an inch or two, according
to the size of the animal, above the root all the way to
the tip, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1.
FIG. 1.
The dotted lines shew where large animals must be slit open for the
purpose of skinning.
HOW 'TO PRESERVE SKINS. Ill
Begin at the center cut and slit the legs down as far as
the knee joint in the fore legs, and down to the hock joint
in the hind legs. Now make a slight turn and continue the
cut down the back part of the leg to the foot, as shown by
the dotted lines in Fig. 1. These are all the opening cuts
that are necessary to skin a large animal, except when it has
horns. It is then necessary to make an opening at the back
of the neck and cut completely around the base of the horns
as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3.
Lift the skin, beginning at the middle of the abdomen,
and cut it neatly from the carcass, leaving little or no flesh
adhering to it. Detach the skin as much as possible from
the legs and continue skinning until you come to where the
fore leg joins the body at the shoulder and the hind leg at
the hip. Cut through the muscles of the shoulder and hip
and thereby detach the legs entirely from the body. You
have now severed the legs from the carcass and they lie
before you. Cut all the flesh and tendons from them, but
have the bones attached to each other by their natural liga-
ments. The next thing to do in large animals is, to cut the
leg bones off at the first joint above the foot, at the lower
end of what is called the sesamoid bone. They should now
be tied in a bundle and always shipped with the skin.
Never throw away the leg bones of any animal which
you intend to have mounted. A taxidermist must have the
leg bones and skull in order to do accurate work. Detach
the skin down the back to the neck and cut the ears off close
to the head and skin as much of them as possible. Con"
tinue until you come to the eyes. Be very careful here or
you will cut through the eye lids. Cut slowly and keep as
close to the socket as you can. You will now notice a thin
membrane; through this, cut and continue to skin down to
the nose, cutting through the cartilage of the nose close to
112 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
the bone. Both lips must be cut away close to the bone
and detached entirely from the skull.
The skin is now entirely off the animal, and every par-
ticle of flesh adhering to it should be thoroughly cut or
scraped off. The lips are very thick and fleshy and
should be split from the inside and the flesh cut away.
Great care should be exercised or you will cut pieces out
of the skin, and especially is this the case with the face
around the lips which, by the way, is the worst place to dis-
figure an animal. Do not cut so deep that you will cut into
the roots of the whiskers and cause them to come out.
The skin is now ready to be put into "pickle." (See
"Preservation of Skins.")
Sever the skull from the body, clean it thoroughly and
draw out the brain through the occipital opening at the
back of the skull. This can be done with a long spoon
handle bent up at the end, or wire flattened at the end, and
bent in the same manner.
The above directions are only applied to large quadru-
peds, like those of the bear, deer, antelope, elk, moose,
mountain sheep, etc.
TO SKIN SMALL ANIMALS.
The only difference in the skinning of a small animal
and a large one is, that the skin of the legs is not slit open.
It is only necessary to slit the skin open along the abdomen,
beginning at the point midway between the fore legs. Cut
off the legs at the shoulder and hip, the same as in the large
animals, and skin the legs by turning the skin wrong side
out as represented in leg No. 2, Fig. 2.
H\V TO SKIN SMALL ANIMALS. 118
FIG 2.
Showing skin of small animal turned wrong side out.
Cut the tail off at the base; tie to the exposed stump a
strong cord, and fasten it to some stationary object and pull
steadily and the tail will easily slip off. This method of
skinning the tail should only be practiced on such animals
as the fox, raccoon, mink, weasel, squirrel, and those still
smaller. A great many taxidermists, however, recommend
that the tails of the larger ones just mentioned should be
slit open, and that the bottom of the foot should be slit open
lengthwise, from the base of the middle toe to the heel.
The latter operation is certainly a good one for animals from
the size of a raccoon and upwards, or those having fleshy
feet, but I hardly think it necessary to slit the tail of those
under this head.
After the tail is cut off continue to detach the skin down
to the fore legs. Skin them in the same manner you did the
hind legs, and remember to leave all the bones attached to
the skin, and also by their natural ligaments, as seen in No.
1, Fig. 2. Turn the skin wrong side out over the head, cut
the ears off close to the head, using great care while skin-
114 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
ning over the eyes. Take out the skull entirely and clean it
thoroughly, as directed for large animals. The skin, when
cleaned, is ready for the "pickle."
TO PREPARE HEADS FOR MOUNTING.
The head of nearly all animals make very desirable
ornaments when stuffed and well mounted on shields.
Especially is this the case if the animal has beautiful horns.
The great trouble is that hunters usually cut the neck off
too short. If a deer, it should always be cut off just in front
of the shoulders, so that when mounted the taxidermist can
give to the neck the graceful curve and shape which is ,
characteristic of the animal in life. Leave fhe skin longest
on the under side of the neck.
FIG. 8.
The dotted lines show where an animal with horns must be slit open on
the head in order to properly skin it for mounting.
The necks of animals without horns can be cut off
shorter, and it is not necessary to cut the skin at the back
of the neck. It can usually be turned wrong side out over
PRESERVATION OK SKINS. 115
the head. But in all animals that have horns, like deer,
antelope, elk, moose and many others, you must follow the
dotted lines in Fig. 3.
PRESERVATION OF SKINS.
The best method to preserve a skin after it has been
taken from an animal, is as follows: For every gallon of
water take one pound and a half of salt and one pound of
alum, boil until the salt and alum have dissolved. Put it in
an earthen or wooden vessel, and when cool, the skin can
be placed in it. This is commonly called by taxidermists
"pickle." The liquid should cover the skin and it should
be moved and worked about for a while so that the solution
can penetrate every part of the skin. Large skins should
be moved about in the solution every day for at least five
days. Let me impress sportsmen with the fact that the
preservation of the skins of animals is of the highest im-
portance.
The animal, when killed, should be skinned at once,
and the skin put into "pickle" immediately. In a warm
climate you can not be too cautious about this important fact.
116 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
CHOICE OF SPORTING DOGS.
The question, which is the best dog Pointer or Setter
like many other questions connected with field sports, is
a difficult one, and will probably never be answered satis-
factorily. It is generally conceded that the Pointer is best
adapted for dry, warm climates; the Setter for the more cold
or northern.
In this short chapter, dogs will be treated only from a
practical, common sense standpoint; that is, in speaking of
a good dog, has no reference to his breeding or pedigree, nor
his value for the stud, but simply his adaptation to the
particalar use required.
The choice between Pointer and Setter is much a
matter of fancy; there are good and bad of both species,
and really good ones of either are very scarce; moderately
good ones are quite plenty.
The qualifications required for a first-class field dog
are, medium in size, well physically developed as to muscle,
lungs and feet, good hearing, good eyesight and a keen
scent ; in a Pointer the coat should be heavy and stiff, but not
harsh or of a bristly order; in a Setter the coat should be
short and straight, one that lays smooth, the hair on face
and head quite short, ears, legs and tails moderately feath-
ered. To judge a dog's disposition by his looks is a very
difficult matter. However, dogs with a pleasant, intelli-
gent countenance, mild expressive eyes, will usually be
found of a good disposition.
Reject a dog that shows the slightest trace of gun-
shyness. Gun-shyness is usually hereditary; a kind of nerv-
ousness that is but little understood. Dogs that are gun-shy
have the animal propensities strongly developed, and are
usually inclined to run about a great deal become great
loafers. Don't waste any time on a naturally gun-shy dog.
CARE OF DOGS. 117
sometimes pups that have been frightened by the discharge
of a gun, will get over it and make good dogs. Therefore,
in selecting a dog, first ascertain to a certainty whether he
is gun-shy or not. Care should be exercised in this, as pups
are sometimes made so by sudden fright. It is best to
select a pup and raise him yourself. See to the feeding in per-
son; have him in your company as much as possible, as it is
by associating with man that dogs become intelligent.
However sagacious and intelligent a dog may be by na-
ture, he will only become a ninny if chained up in some
back shed by himself. It is much less trouble to raise two
dogs than one, as they will be company for one another and
less inclined to stray off.
CARE OF DOGS.
Dogs should have all the freedom possible for their
proper development. Do not keep them chained up, as it has
a tendancy to make them crooked in the hind legs, and hump
backed. Young dogs require a large amount of food, and
should be fed about twice a day ; table scrap is good for
them and a little raw meat occasionally will do them good.
Give them plenty of meat bones, as they are very fond of
gnawing old bones. Pups should have plenty of salt in their
food as a worm preventative, and there is no worm medicine
equal to salt. Dogs whose food is strongly salted at least
once a week will generally be free from worms; after they
are two years old, once a day is as often as they should be
fed, and at night is the best time. Do not be afraid to feed
them meat; as a rule cooked meat is best, but they should
have occasionally a good feed of raw meat. When they are
to be hunted hard, they should be fed plenty ; table scrap
is good if there is plenty of it. A dog will stand almost any
amount of hard work if he is well fed. Give him plenty of
meat, and if constipated, plenty of fat meat will remedy it,
118 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
for there is no better physic for a dog than a gorge of boiled
fat meat. Feeding dogs meat is contrary to the teachings of
dog men generally, but if you want your dog to hunt every
day in the week give him plenty of good meat in his feed
and he will stay with you through thick and thin. During
the close season they require but little food if they have
their liberty, and will usually pick up more than they should
have. This is more the case in cities than in the country,
however. Dogs, when not used in the field, are very apt to
be overfed and become lazy and fat. Mind you, when they
work hard see that they get plenty of good, strong food,
and when doing nothing see that they get very little strong
food, especially if kept in confinement. If they run at
large they will take care of themselves, so far as food is
concerned, and ten to one will become worthless loafers.
Dogs should have a clean, warm kennel'to sleep in, and
the bedding should be changed often; in the summer time
use plenty of flea powder and sprinkle it in the bedding.
Carbolic acid is good to kill and keep off fleas; sprinkle the
floor of the kennel and bedding with a strong solution of car-
bolic acid, once a week and your dog will not be troubled
with fleas. An excellent wash for dogs is made of carbolic
acid one part and water thirty parts ; this will keep them
clear of fleas, and prevent and even cure almost any
kind of skin disease. Fleas are a terrible pest, but with
care they can be kept clear of them, and it pays to see care-
fully to it.
DOG TRAINING.
There are quite a number of good books on dog training.
Among the best, "Training vs. Breaking," by Hamond, is by
far in the lead. There is but one secret in dog breaking,
that is, prompt and implicit obedience, that is all there is of it.
Dog breaking has no reference to a dog's hunting qualifica-
tions; if a dog has not hunting instinct by nature, it will not
DOG TRAINING. 119
pay to waste any time on him. However, it is very rare to
find one of the pointer or setter species at fault in this par-
ticular. Usually in their eagerness to hunt, they overdo
the business; and in this particular they must be controlled
if they are to become useful. Therefore, it is of the utmost
importance that they are taught obedience at the word of
command. This cannot be done in a few short lessons ; it
will require patience and long perseverance, firmness and
decision. All can be accomplished sooner by kindness than
in any other way. At times punishment will be necessary,
and occasionally quite severe, but never brutal. In such
cases, always use a whip; never kick a dog or use a club,
but keep control of your own temper and you will soon gain
control of your dog. The best whip for the purpose is a
common rawhide riding whip, which can be procured at
any harness store. The best whip for the field, one that
can be carried in the pocket, is a strap of heavy harness
leather, eighteen or twenty inches long, cut about one
inch wide at the butt end, and tapering to the point. Have
the most of the taper in the last half; braid a good, short
thread cracker on the point. It is also well to have a good
strong string fastened to the butt to hang the whip on the
wrist. This makes a much better whip than the worthless
things kept by the trade, and at about one-tenth of the cost.
In training your dog, first get him to understand what you
want him to do, then see that he does it promptly at the
word of command. For all his good behavior, praise and
caress him; when he does wrong, give him to understand by
the tone of your voice, he has displeased you. Dogs are
usually very apt scholars and will soon learn by your tone
of voice or look whether they are doing right or wrong. If
a dog persists in disobeying after he understands what is re-
quired, he must be punished severely, but not brutally.
All pups are very playful by nature; arrange your training
120 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
in the way of play, and you will in time get the very best
control of them. Select a young dog that suits you, the
younger the better, say four or five weeks old. Commence
at once, giving him a short lesson every day ; as soon as he
has become reconciled to his new home, have him in your
company as much as possible, but do not crowd his educa-
tion too fast. Teach him one thing at a time.. It takes from
fifteen to twenty years to educate one of the human species,
or one third of the average length of life; do not make the
mistake of expecting more of a dog, a mere animal, than
of mankind. Be patient, good tempered, and persever-
ance will accomplish all. Stick to the text, that strict obedi-
ence at the word of command, is all there is in dog training.
As soon as you have your dog under reasonable control
at home or in the yard, always use the same command for
certain actions or duties, then take him to the field; he will
hunt from the very start, will also point at sight, but will at
the same time have an almost irresistible desire to catch the
game if it runs or flushes. Now comes the test of his obedi-
ence; if an eager, ambitious dog he will surely make chase,
his nature will be stronger than his education; in this case
call him back and give him to understand that he has done
wrong. In the first lesson, you should not carry a gun,
but have a companion who is a good shot and let him do the
shooting, and you look after the dog. In case you find game
and the pup makes a point, it is quite important, if the bird
flushes, to have it shot by your companion; therefore, he
should be a good shot.
The dog will soon learn that when he finds and points
game that the gun will bring it down if it flushes; that is,
he will depend on the gun to get the game. If you have a
very ambitious dog it will require time to convince him that
he cannot catch a flying bird; your first effort must not be
so much to teach him not to run after birds, as it is that it is
DOG TRAINING. 121
not right to do so. As soon as you get him to understand
that it is wrong to make chase, then if he persists, you
must punish him for disobedience; if he still persists in chas-
ing birds or brakes to shot, you must resort to a check cord.
Get a strong cord, twenty-five or thirty feet long; fasten one
. end to his collar and let him drag it after him in the vicin-
ity of game. As soon as he makes a point, get hold of the
cord and give him the word whoa! or any word that suits
you, the same word that was used to make him stand in yard
breaking. Always use the same word; then if he brakes in,
give a severe jerk with the cord; give him to understand,
by the tone of your voice, that it is wrong to do so. Do the
same if he brakes to shot. A few lessons of this kind will
steady him to business. While hunting, if the dog indicates
the presence of game by crouching and creeping, let him
know that you have observed him by using some particular
cautionary word, such as "steady," or "careful;" always
use the same words. You will find that it will put him on
his guard, and help to steady him very much. If you suc-
ceed the first season in teaching your dog just what is re-
quired of him, you will have accomplished all or more than
you should expect. During the close season, at home, and
on all occasions, continue the education of obedience; do not
neglect it, for obedience is all there is of it. Nature teaches
him to hunt; practice and experience will teach him the
habits of game, birds, and the likely place to find them.
But the importance of obedience must be taught him by
yourself.
If, at the end of the third hunting season, you have suc-
ceeded in controlling your own temper, you will certainly
have succeeded in controlling your dog. If you really have,
you will find that you have a most exellent hunting dog;
one that will more than repay you with pleasure for all the
trouble that you have been to in training him. You will
122 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK.
also have a better understanding why a really good dog is
valued at from three to five hundred dollars.
Retrieving, as a rule, is a natural talent ; if you find
your dog inclined to retrieve, encourage him in it. In the
yard breaking it will be found quite easy to teach him to re-
trieve a ball, or bunch of rags; always use the same word,
such as "fetch," or "bring." If, when you go to the field,
you find him inclined. to bring a bird by using the word
"fetch," encourage him in it; but do not use force. Quite
often dogs will take to retrieving themselves, especially if
hunted in company with dogs that are good retrievers.
Do not forget that prompt obedience is the all import-
ant point, the kind of obedience should be the dogs incli-
nation to please, not through fear of punishment.
If properly managed, as soon as he learns just what you
want, he will take great pleasure in obeying. Do not for-
get it.
HORACE PARK,
DEALER IN ALL KINDS OF
Breech and Muzzle -Loading 1 Guns,
PISTOLS, AMMUNITION, ETC,,
Fishing Tackle and Sportsman's Supplies in General,
Also prepared to do all kinds of Repairing and Choke
Boring for Close Shooting. Dents and Bruises carefully
removed from damaged guns. Satisfaction Guaranteed.
BICYCLE REPAIRING DONE EQUAL TO THE BEST IN .THE COUNTRY,
Camp Outfits furnished on short notice.
Correspondence Solicited.
Especial attention promptly paid to all inquiries
concerning Sporting Matters, Hunting
Grounds, and Camp Outfits.
SALESROOM AND REPAIR SHOP:
No, 11 SOUTH HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, O.
ALSO, AUTHOR OF
SPORTMAN'S HAND-BOOK,
PRICE ONE DOLLAR.
And " AMATEUR' BICYCLE REPAIRING," a complete little book giving
full particulars on bicycle repairing. Price, 25 Cents.
Either book sent by mail, prepaid, to any part of the
United States, on receipt of the price.
ENTERPRISE M'F'G CO.,
, OHIO.
LUMINOUS ARTIFICIAL FLIES.
Though the largest Trout and Bass (and other Game Fish)
feed chiefly at night, it is seldom the ordinary fly has been
used, owing to its invisi-
bility and the difficulty of
managing it in the dark-
ness. Neither the fish nor
the angler could see the
bait plainly, if at all, and
hence it was comparative-
I ly useless, except in the
I twilight or on light nights
, Very dark nights are,
however, the best for fish-
I ing, and our LUMINOUS
FLIES overcome all ob-
jections and completely fill the need that exists. Game fish
are always attracted by illumination
of any kind, and this quality, added I
to the fact that the bait is a close
imitation of a food insect, renders the |
LUMINOUS FLY a most deadly lure.
We make them in all standard pat-
terns, and also to order, whilst the I
following selection is recommended |
as including the best Flies, speci-
ally adapted for night fishing:
1. Scarlet Ibis. 2. Mallard.
3. White Moth. 4. Furnace Hackle. 5. Gray Goose. 6.
Caddis Fly. 7. Ask Hackle. 8. Jenny Lind. 9. Brown
Hackle. 10. Turkey Tail. 11. Little Caddis. 12. Lit-
tle Light Brown. 13. The Cardinal. 14. Silver Gray.
Prire 30 tents Each. $3.00 Per Dozen. Assorted Kinds and Sizes.
These Flies are also useful for Day Fishing, especially during dark
dull weather, when a light colored Fly is the most productive of sport.
The Fly Department is in the charge of a celebrated English fly fish-
erman and fly maker of over 25 years' experience.
KISHING
Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad,
THE DIRECT ROUTE TO
TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, MACKINAC, MARQUETTE,
and Other Delightful Health and Summer Resorts of
NORTHERN MICHIGAN
And the Celebrated Trout and Grayling Streams, Beautiful
Lakes and Grand Forests of this Famous Country.
THE WATERS of Northern Michigan are unsurpassed, if equaled,
in the abundance and great variety of fish contained.
BROOK TROUT abound in the streams, and the famous AMERICAN
GRAYLING is found only in these waters.
THE TROUT SEASON begins May i, and ends September i. THE
GRAYLING SEASON opens June i, and ends November i.
BLACK BASS, PIKE, PICKEREL and MUSKALONGUE also abound in
large numbers in the many lakes and lakelets of this territory.
TAKE YOUR FAMILY WITH You. The scenery of the North Woods
and Lakes is very beautiful. The air is pure, dry and bracing.
THE CLIMATE is peculiarly beneficial to those suffering with HAY-
FEVER and ASTHMATIC AFFECTIONS.
NEW HOTELS, with all modern improvements, have been erected, as
well as many extensive additions to the older ones, .which will guaran-
tee ample accommodations for all.
The completion of this line to Mackinaw City, forms the most direct
route to Mackinac, St. Ignace, and in connection with the Detroit,
Mackinac and Marquette R. R., to Houghton, Hancock, Marquette,
Negaunee, L'Anse, and all points in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
During the season ROUND TRIP EXCURSION TICKETS WILL BE SOLD
AT Low RATES, and attractive train facilities offered to Tourists and
Sportsmen.
For Tourist's Guide, Time Cards and Folders, giving full informa-
tion, address
C. ^. LOCK:\VOOD,
General Passenger Agent, Grand Rapids, Michigan*
J A MfAITIFY
u , ri, IvlUri U ijlj 1
TKNTS,
A\VN!NGS,
FLAGS.
CATALOGUES FREE.
No. 26 N. High Street. CoLUMBUS, O.
HORACE PARK. W. L. GARBER.
PARK & GARBER,
SUCCESSORS TO HORACE PARK,
IMPORTERS AND JOBBERS OF
GUNS, REVOLVERS,
And GUN IMPLEMENTS.
Canvas Sporting Goods of all kinds,
Shell, Cartridges, and Fixed Ammunition,
Rifle, Sporting and Blasting Powder,
High Explosives for Stump and Boulder Blasting,
Fuse and Blasting Caps,
LEAD and SHOT,
MINERS' SUPPLIES,
Squibs, Lamps, Etc.
GUNStylTHING fND BICYCLE REPAIRING
in all Branches equal to any in the Country.
FISHING TACKLE OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.
Rods, Lines, Reels, Leaders,
Artificial Baits, Hooks, Swivels,
Sinkers, Bobbs, and Minnow Seines.
Fine Eods Repaired in No, 1 Style,
LANCE WOOD AND BOAT RODS MADE TO ORDER.
Salesroom arid Shops,
No. 11 South High Street, COLUMBUS, OHIO.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
BERKELEY
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