Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

834 SHOO
shooter’s cry of the word “ pull ” to the opening of the trap and
flight of the bird. This is so much the case that not unfrequently
the gun is fired solely by calculation of time, and before a sluggish
bird has flown. In game-shooting the bird may rise in front or at
either side of the shooter, or even behind him. Yery rapid lateral
movement of the gun may therefore be required, and it appears not
only probable in itself but experimentally true that this can best
be made by the left arm when it has to describe a circle of the
shortest diameter. For this the best and safest position is when
the left hand grasps the gun immediately in front of the trigger-
guard. In pulling the trigger the finger should be well crooked,
so that the pressure may be directly backwards, and no lateral dis¬
turbance may interfere with the aim at the most critical moment.
Stock of If the eye takes in all the rib of the gun when raised to the
o-un, shoulder in position for firing, so that the full length of its surface
is seen, the stock is too straight. If the rib is not seen at all, the
stock is too crooked. When a stock is of the proper curve, the
eye will catch the rib about one-third of its length from the muzzle,
i.e., all the rib in front of that point will be visible, and all behind
it out of sight. A straight stock is, however, preferable to a
crooked one, which makes the gun shoot low,—a bad fault. It is
of first-rate importance that the delicate lateral setting of the stock,
as distinguished from the perpendicular curve, should bring the
centre of the rib exactly into the line of sight. This fine desidera¬
tum may be arrived at conjointly by the sportsman and the maker
of the gun; the latter can be guided by information as to the sports¬
man’s height, length of arm, and breadth of_ chest. If this point
is satisfactory it is immaterial whether a bird flies to the right
hand or to the left, and the neglect of it is the reason why some
sportsmen are good shots in one only of these directions.
Treat- In cleaning breechloaders, including the inside of the barrels,
ment of neither oil nor water should be used, but solely spirits of turpentine.
guns. The gun should never be laid aside on full-cock, as this weakens
the mainsprings. As hammerless guns are necessarily on full-cock
when taken down, the triggers should be drawn, but with the care¬
ful proviso that the points of the hammers strike upon a block of
hard wood held firmly in front of them. The lock should never be
snapped unless there is a discharged or a “dummy” cartridge in
the barrel. No hammer can be made, of any metal or form of con¬
struction, that will not probably crack if it falls without something
in front less trying than the hard and impassive breech. On sea
voyages and in damp climates the barrels should be kept from the
atmosphere by inserting into them wooden rods covered with woollen
cloth, and in such cases the free application of turpentine will be
found invaluable. Failing these rods, each end may be closed with
wadding or corks. For oiling the locks the finest chronometer oil
should be used, and only applied in minute quantities to the points
of friction, not over all: oil dries up and if applied copiously
frustrates the desired purpose. Eaw linseed oil, frequently rubbed
into a stock, hardens and preserves it. Explorers and travellers,
whose lives may depend on their firearms, may usefully strengthen
the weakest part of every gun, the handle of the stock, by wrapping
it tightly round with whip-cord.
Shooting Game.—Space forbids entering at length on the modes
of shooting the several varieties of game. All that is here possible
is briefly to touch upon some of the salient points in the pursuit
of the more common varieties.
Rabbits. Rabbits, on which young sportsmen generally first essay their
“’prentice hand,” dash off for the nearest shelter with great rapidity,
and should be instantaneously fired at, the aim being taken slightly
in advance. If a rabbit has disappeared among brushwood, it may
be not unavailing to fire right in front of the line it was seen to
take. In ‘ ‘ ferreting ” the sportsman should stand clear of the
burrow (over which he should never tread), and never fire at a
Hares, rabbit until it is well away from the “bolt-hole.” Hares are less
tenacious of life than rabbits, and, as it is an object not to mangle
the body and so cause an effusion of blood, the eyes of the sports¬
man should be fixed solely on the tips of the ears in whatever
direction the animal is going, when the shot is instantaneously
fatal. A hare coming straight towards a sportsman should not be
fired at; he should stand quite motionless until it comes within 30
yards, when on his making a slight sound or movement it will turn
aside and give an easy shot. No other direction need be given on
this head (save possibly that the shot is more easy when a hare is
ascending a ridge across which it may be running than when it is
descending from the crown to the furrow), seeing that the one
Roedeer, principle of firing solely at the ears involves everything.^ Roedeer
are usually killed with buckshot—although a small rifle is pre¬
ferable—the “guns” being posted at the likely passes. The neck
or shoulder should be fired at. They are easily killed when within
fair distance, but are exceedingly clever in keeping out of range
and in detecting the presence of the lurking sportsman. They also
have the trick, in common with the elephant, of doubling back and
passing round any knoll, coming out on its other side and then
continuing their intended course. Of this instinctive habit the
sportsman should avail himself.
Grouse. Success in grouse-shooting, probably the finest of all sports from
TING
every point of view, depends mainly on vigilance and careful atten¬
tion to the movements of the dogs, and following them well up as
soon as there are indications of ganle being in front. Save that a
cunning old cock will after rising immediately dip down to nearly
the level of the heather and go off with wondrously baffling speed,
there is no peculiarity in the flight of grouse calling for special
remark. Like partridges, they generally fly straight and nearly
horizontally. As the season advances, their wariness and the
matured strength of the young birds make their pursuit more
difficult, but otherwise they afford fair shots. ‘ ‘ Driving ” is now
quite a recognized branch of grouse-shooting. The “guns” being
posted in artificial places of concealment in the line of flight known
to be usually taken by the birds on being disturbed by beaters, the
shots are taken as the birds are coming overhead. Their speed is
so great that it is needless to fire if they have once passed the
shooter, seeing that the aim must be taken some feet in front.1
It has been found useful for the sportsman to crouch without
motion until the birds are coming within distance, when, suddenly
showing himself, they are startled and throw their heads up, thus
breaking their flight and giving the gun a fair chance. Perhaps
the easiest and most fatal shots are at single birds coming straight
towards the sportsman, taken at about 30 yards. The aim should
be high, and it is aided by the recoil of a gun when fired, which
throws the muzzle up in the line of flight. The pellets also strike
the head and neck, and with such force that, when meeting the bird,
No. 7 shot is most deadly when so discharged. The recoil of a gun
when fired “ high ” is also useful in shooting with a rifle any large
bird passing overhead ; the shooter should face the bird. Driving
is severe work if thoroughly carried out, as the sportsmen, as soon
as one beat is over, have to find their way rapidly to the next
position. It is therefore not an effeminate sport, and it probably
indirectly maintains the number of the stock-birds by killing off
the old leading cocks (which virtually are vermin). Setters are
the proper dogs for grouse-shooting, their hairy feet being well
protected from the heather ; hence to maintain vigour they require
to drink water frequently and even to squat in shallow pools.
Pointers are preferable for dry moors, particularly in hot weather.
Partridge-shooting is akin to grouse-shooting in respect of the Par-
mode of pursuit, the difference lying in its being carried on mostly tridges.
upon cultivated or enclosed land. Both in partridge-shooting and
in grouse-shooting one bird only ought to be singled out and shot
at; no success will follow firing into the “brown” of a covey.
Old sportsmen regret that shooting over dogs (pointers being pre¬
ferable to the swifter and more dashing setters) is going out ot
practice ; but the close cutting of the grain crops now in vogue
leaves so little stubble that the approach of the dogs is seen by the
birds, which, generally rising wild, afford few “shots to points.”
Hence the system of sportsmen walking in line (with no dogs save
retrievers) and taking what birds rise before them, and so driving
them into turnips or other covert, or of having them “driven”
by beaters, is almost enforced. When driven into such coverts the
birds are apt to run before the shooters and take their flight from
the far end of the field. This may be prevented by the sportsman
not advancing directly, but in a series of circuits ; then the birds,
becoming uncertain as to which way they should run, sit close and
only rise on his very near approach. Of course this excellent but
almost unknown system can only be well carried out by a single
shooter, or by two at the most. In “driving” the “guns” are
posted in a line at some distance from each other, under the con¬
cealment of a hedge some 20 yards in their front. Towards this
the beaters (with a fugleman on horseback, if necessary) drive the
birds. The shots are generally very difficult, the birds flying with
remarkable speed, and the shooter being also often bewildered by
the number of smaller birds, such as the various kinds of thrushes,
which precede or accompany the partridges ; their sudden appear¬
ance on coming over the hedge is also trying, whereas the approach
of grouse can be seen. These two systems—“driving” and the
circular progression in covert—are of recent introduction. The
former has developed greater skill in shooting.
The art of shooting pheasants depends upon the fact that, unlike Phea-
partridges or grouse, the birds generally steadily ascend in their sants.
flight; hence the tendency is to shoot under them. This upward
flight is greatest in coverts, until it sometimes becomes almost
perpendicular, birds rising in this way being called “rocketers.”
The inexperienced shooter is also misled by the manner in which
the tail is spread out like a fan, concealing the body, and thus
diverting the aim from the body upon the tail feathers. To aim
high, therefore, is the golden rule. The shooter should face birds
which fly rapidly overhead, in the way described above. _ .
To kill snipe well one must hunt down the wind—an exceptional Snipe-
practice—and on the bird rising fire at once, or, failing that, give it
time to change its few preliminary zigzag motions into a steady flight.
i A carrier pigeon can fly a little over 4 miles 5 furlongs in four minutes,—
an average of nearly 102 feet a second. Assuming the distance to be 40 yards
(a long shot), the aim taken at a bird flying across the shooter at that speed
should be more than 5 feet in advance, the flight of the shot to a distance of
40 yards requiring one-nineteenth of a second.