need practice and for this purpose a range will have to be selected where there is absolutely no danger to any one within a mile or two.  A good practice range is across a lake or river with a bank of earth or clay to stop the bullets.  Big game hunting is done so frequently from canoes that it is well to get practice from a boat, both moving and stationary.  To shoot successfully from a sitting position in a canoe is a very difficult feat.  Just as with a shot-gun the universal tendency is to shoot too quickly, with a rifle it is to shoot too high.  The reason is that we hold our head so high up in looking at our game that we fail to see the rear sight at all.  Be sure your head is low enough to see both sights.

[Illustration:  The modern sporting rifle that will kill at a mile.  An unsafe weapon for boys]

Always hold your breath while you are taking aim.  Learn to shoot from all sorts of positions, lying, sitting, kneeling, and standing.  If the shot is a long one, be sure that your rear sight is properly elevated for the distance.  Most of the shots at big game are stationary shots and within a hundred yards; consequently accuracy counts for more than quickness.

With a magazine or repeating rifle be sure that you have emptied your magazine before you leave the gun.  With a shot-gun there is a possibility that the “person who didn’t know it was loaded” may not kill his victim outright.  With a sporting rifle it is practically sure death.

The general rules of care apply to both rifles and shot-guns.  Always clean the gun after you have taken it into the field.  This is necessary whether you have fired the gun or not, as a gun barrel will always collect a certain amount of dampness.  It is an excellent practice to keep a gun covered with oil or vaseline except when it is in use.  It not only prevents rust, but the grease also discourages visitors and friends from handling the gun, snapping the trigger, or otherwise damaging it.

In this chapter, I have not said anything about revolvers or pistols, because I do not believe that any sensible boy will care to own one.  A revolver is a constant source of danger owing to its short barrel, and as it has no practical value except as a weapon of defence, and as there is a severe penalty for carrying a concealed weapon, I should not care to recommend any boy to own a revolver.

The final question whether we may have a gun and what kind it should be, will depend very largely on the place we live.  Any kind of a gun is very much out of place in cities or towns.  The boy who does not really have an opportunity to use a gun should be too sensible to ask for one, for surely if we own it we shall constantly want to use it even at some risk.  It will be far better to ask for something we can use and leave the gun question until the time when we have a real opportunity.

Finally we must remember that the one who has the gun in his possession is rarely the one that is accidentally shot.  We should therefore avoid companions who do own guns and who are careless with them.  No amount of care on our part will prevent some careless boy friend from risking our lives.  The safer way is to stay home.