Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-24
OUTDOOR ADJUSTMENTS.
ITEMS OF INTEREST TO The LOVERS OF
FIELD SPORTS.

In this department. as the bead indicates we pro-
pose &c make record CT current sporting events.
Communications to the paper concerning such
matters should be addressed to the q Outdoor
Amusement Department "
THE FORESTER TOURNAMENT. The For
ester Club of Sacramento has announced,
on its own responsibility, a wing shooting
tournament, to be held here during Fair
week. In doing so it handicaps certain
marksmen by distance extensions. In all
other respects, we believe, the details are
not criticised and are admittedly liberal.
But as to the handicapping there have
been some objections made, out of which q
little bitterness of feeling has grown. 1t
is charged that, as the club expects aid
from the State Agricultural Society, it
should have taken into its councils repre-
sentative sportsmen from all parts
of the State, and not having done so has
acted selfshly. 1t is objected that handi-
Gaping three or four men is wrong, as
twenty or thirty Others are nearly as good,
and that many marksmen object to shoot
ing with odds in their favor, and consider
themselves too highly to be thus placed as
second rate, and would prefer that several
prizes of equal or nearly equal value be
given that the best shots may contest for
them, and the other prizes be graduated,
so that the real skill of all will be made
manifest by the result of all shooting alike
as to distance, etc. To these things, we
understand the club members to reply,
that it is a club matter, and those who do
not like it need not come in. That it is
not fair to assume that the club is to handle
the Agricultural Society's money; that
there is no State Association, and if
State tournament is to be given it must
be under some local direction as a
by distance is common that the club has
acted according to its best judgment that
at estate hunts heretofore San Fran
cisco clubs and shooters have not responded
to any account, and that San Francisco aid
in prizes has been trivial that the For
esters have no money to make, no private
ends to subserve, and give their time, labor
and energy to the work free, etc. These
of adjustment The Forester Club had a
right to announce any kind of match it
saw fit, and no one has any right to ques-
ton it. If the State Agricultural Society
asks it to disburse its prizes, teen the So
ciety must trust TO the good judgment and
sense of right of the Foresters. The at
tempt to form State Society has been
repeatedly made and as repeatedly failed,
and we know that it has not been the
fault of the sportsmen of the inte-
rior. We doubt very much if the San
Francisco sportsmen who growl most,
would come here and arrange the details
of match, and aid in the labor of its man
agement As matter of policy the For
esters might well have written to leading
sportsmen, and have asked their advice.
That would have fiattered personal vanity,
and undoubtedly have forestalled all growl-
ing. 1t would have beenldisereet to have
done that, and have affirmatively shown
that they respected the advice of our resi-
dent sportsman, as we know they do but,
all the same, it does not appear that the
Foresters have done any thing they had
not the perfect right to do, or that they
have invaded the rights of any one In the
premises. Their tournament they have a
right to manage as they please. Their
proposed management is not new. Handi-
Gaping is sustained by precedent, and
the judgment of the club has been
exercised, we believe, honestly, and
without the intention of tread
ing on anybody's toes. Now, these
being the facts, it is easy to adjust
this whole matter. The I" Bay" sportsmen
have shown very manly spirit OF conces.
sion and goodwill by appointing COM
mittee TO consult with the Forester Club.
This consultation ought to bring about an
amicable settlement, and we doubt not it
will. The Forester Club has acted as it
deemed right, and we have too much con-
fdence in It's membership to believe that it
will Intentionally do any wrong. While
the tournament is to be its own, to manage
as it pleases, yet it will undoubtedly, as it
ought, receive the committee and treat it
with every consideration. We cannot see
that any request of the State Agricultural
Society, when made, to the club to dis
burse its prizes will affect the question.
If the Society asks the club to do this
thing, it must trust to the club to do it in
its own way, or else choose an independ-
ent committee to manage the Agricultural
Society tournament. In that case, we
shall have two tournaments, and we do
not see that two would be entire failure.
With about so good wing shots in the
State, two sets of matches could be run.
However, one would be better, for such
rivalry will only beget bad feeling
In this connection we give place
to the following communication
EDS. RECORD UNION AS the proposed
handicapping of several gentlemen at the
coming State pigeon tournament has given |
rise to considerable comment from news
papers and sportsmen, it might be well to
inquire into the merits of the case. Handi- |
Gaping is that system, the introduction of
which into trials of skill, speed or endur-
ance is supposed in great measure to
equalize the chances of the contesting par
ties, and is done by the concession of GER
tain distance, time or weight to the sup
posed weaker contestants. Trap-shooting
having struck popular vein, has become
one of the leading sporting features in Cali
'fornia, and any proposed match is at once
filed by those who deem themselves prof. |
cient in the use of the gun. There
is certain fascination about pigeon
ner to imagine that he is certain
of securing prize should he enter the list
of contestants, and after he has done So
aud proven one of the unsuccessful ones,
he will attribute it to the victors having
easier birds, or some of those excuses that
come readily to the mind of the unfortu-
Hate. OUCH DSlliS JIG CASE, IL Can pidiniy
be seen that, taking advantage of such
condition OF things, a few men, who have
by long experience perfected themselves in
the art of trap-shooting may be able to
reap quite harvest at these shooting
matches, where the first moneys are from
four to ten times as much as the entrance
fee. One of the gentlemen who has been
handicapped by the Forester Club has been
always considered by his friends as the
equal OF any Que in the use of the gun,
and when Bogardus came to thiscoast several
years ago a series of matches was gotten
up between the two. 1t is not the intention
of the writer to make any comments upon
those matches only as they affect the sub.
ject under consideration. In the contests
alluded to, so well matched were the two
men supposed to be that the Californian
asked no odds either in distance or money