The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-24
Gossip Of
the @hooter5

Y 1t has been noticed in many
clubs of large membership the
small number who turn out to the
regular shoots and participate in the
asweeps which usually follow the club
tSevent A few years ago it was not an
uncommon occurrence to see % or more
shooters in the sweeps at weekly club
shoots in almost every seitys of size
Now it is hard work to get al half a
dozen men to enter a sweep after club
Sevent is ended. There are several rea-
ssons for this but the chief one is the
expense. This is in a measure caused
&by few men ''hogging" it. So. They
have developed into good shots and
then endeavor to pay for their sport
at the expense on Etlie OIL her members,
who are not SO skillfui." 1t does not
take long for an ordinary shot to dis
cover that he is feeding his more eX-
pert brothers, and he straightway loses
Sinterest in the club affairs.
%s An organization recently formed in
New York decided to change the order
sof things and shoot purely for pleas
ure. They hold regular meetings and
have a club shoot at live birds Not a
cent is put up except each man pays
for his own birds. In this way a poor
shot has an opportunity of lettering
MS skill with the gun without being
obliged to pay 10 times its worth for
s8another's experience. So many men
$have acquired a high degree of skill
8dhat sweepstakes in an ordinary crowd
of shooters does not pay the winners,
sWhile at the same time it is just as ex-
4penslve to the poor shot as though all
the cracks were getting rich. There are
lew poor shots now who enter sweeps,
consequently no money for the collec-
ation of good ones who put up their
S%money.
&. George Munson of st. Louis writes
as follows concerning the tournament
of the st. Louis Shooting association:
Every sportsman of any prominence
in the United States will be in St. Louis
ssfrom May Is to May 90. On those days
Egthe 22nd annual shoot of the Missouri
Estate Game and Fish Protective asso-
cia ton will be held at Du Pont park.
under the auspices of the newly organ
lied st. Louis Shooting association.
The management of this shoot will be
lin the hands of prominent young St
& Louis business men, who are hustlers
from the word go, and they intend to
make this event the biggest of it's kind
ever held west of New York. Letters
III have been received by the management
from many crack shots, and they all
say they will surely be on hand in the
Mound City when the shoot COM
mences."
Annie Oakley, the famous lady shot,
lis now using a new 12-gauge gun, put
mp specially to her order. 1t has a very
fine pair of chain Damascus barrels; on
1.-The right-hand lock is engraved a por-
strait of Annie Oakley in stage costume
and on the left-hand lock the regular
portrait SO familiar to all shooters. In
the guard, inlaid in gold, is Miss Oak
ley'S entire name. The gun is pro-
nounced by everyone who has seen it
a magnificent piece of work, and the
way Miss Oakley handles it is wonder
full.
III There is already some talk of a team
of American trap shots visiting Eng
hand in 1900. A team of IS to % expert
shots equally proficient at inanmate
targets and live birds could easily be
selected that could hold their own With
the best shots in the world.
Jim Elliott is anxious to shoot a
match at Charter Oak park with Ed
Johnson of Atlantic City. He would
like a match at 100 birds. birmingham
rules, for 500 to 5000 side. Although
Elliott uses a Winchester repeating
shotgun. he feels confident that he could
give the Jerseyman a hard race.
Mrs Alan Gardner. who is Very much
Of a lioness in English society at this
time, owes her fame to her accomplish
ments as a huntress, She has killed
lions in Africa and other big game in
New Zealand, in Spain, in the Rocky
mountains and elsewhere. She caught
sher hunting zeal from her husband,
fwho is the brother of Lord Onslow.
former governor of New Zealand. Mrs,
Gardner is the daughter of Sir James
Blyth. 4xts izsE
Drilling for Oil II Years.