THE BEST SHOT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3760, 14 March 1907, Page 4

THE BEST SHOT.

Better Than a Fish Story. A party of Yankee sportsmen on a trip through the Maine woods, were sitting by the evening camp fire and reviewing the day’s sport. The talk turned upon a remarkable shot made by one of them that day, and a discussion arose, some claiming that such shots were due more to luck than to skill, and telling incidents which seemed to prove it. At last one of the company turned to the guide who accompanied them, and asked his' opinion. “Well,” he replied, “I 1 never was much of a shot, and the best shot I ever made, or the one that killed the most, was certainly due to luck. I was out for meat one day—didn’t care much what kind—but I couldn’t find any at all. At noon I was ten miles away from my camp, and hadn’t seen a thing. I sat down under a tree and ate some lunch I had in my pocket, and then, being tired, I dropped asleep. I woke with a start, thinking I was in camp and the alarm clock going off. But when I got ray eyes open I saw a big rattler coiled within ten feet of me, with his tail going like an electric buzzer. I raised my gun, thinking I’d put a bullet through him, when a slight sound caused me to look up, and on a limb above my head I saw a half-dozen partridges. I thought a club would do~for the snake, and was just sighting the birds when out of the brush near by came a fine deer. I changed sight mighty quick. ‘ ‘ Just as I was covering the deer it gave a jump, and up irom the other side comes a black bear. Bearskin is worth more than deer, so a dead bear is safer to have round than a live one, so I fired at the bear—-and the gun burst. The bullet killed the bear alright, though, and just as I fired the deer came by, and a piece of the barrel went plump through his heart — killed him dead. The lock flew off, and as the rattler had his mouth open it want clean down his neck, and choked him to death. The stock flew up and hit the branch above my head such a crack, that the shock killed all the partridges, and the explosion threw me more’n 30 feet, and I hit on a couple of rabbits. Yes, gentlemen, so far as fame went, it was a good shot, but it was luck—just luck.”