Dog and Gun: A Few Loose Chapters on Shooting, Among Which Will Be Found Some Anecdotes and Incidents

by Johnson Jones Hooper, Philip D. Beidler (Introduction)

Overview

The least well known of Johnson Jones Hooper’s works, Dog and Gun was first published as a newspaper series, then appeared in six book editions between 1856 and 1871. Hooper is Alabama’s most celebrated antebellum author, and here he gives insight into the meaning of a culture where every male hunts – and a man who shoots as a gentleman will be assumed a gentleman. Beidler’s introduction to this reprint edition explores the social, literary, and technical dimensions of Dog and Gun, which he sees as an important commentary on class distinctions in the antebellum South, as well as a straightforward treatise on hunting.   Although the book is a manual for the hunter, with characteristic humor and a certain disdain, Hooper gives a full picture of the gentlemanly sport of hunting – clearly distinct from hunting for food – in all aspects including hunter, weaponry, and sporting dogs. He takes us back to an autumnal ritual of the hunt, where one is always a boy with his first gun – to the natural mystery of quest, competition, predation, pursuit, survival, bravery, endurance, and eventual defeat, called the mystery of the hunt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817393182
Publisher:	University of Alabama Press
Publication date:	11/12/2019
Series:	Library of Alabama Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Johnson Jones Hooper (1815-1862) was also the author of Some Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs to be reprinted by this Press in fall 1992.   Philip D. Beidler is Professor of English at The University of Alabama.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE GENTLEMAN'S AMUSEMENT.

My young sporting friends will observe, that in my title I fortify my own opinion of the manliness and innocence of Field Sports with a classic authority, while the quotation from the bard, shows our theme not wanting in poetic dignity. In my day I have heard the delightful pastime much reviled by prejudiced ignorance and under-bred and over-done morality; but while the advocate of Dog and Gun is backed by old Ascham, and a host of such ancient worthies, and finds among the writers of the present day such aid as is afforded by the graphic and versatile pen of HERBERT, he may well afford to treat all cavillers, high or low, with a quiet curl of his lip. I need only add. that the shooting of game birds, over pointers and setters, has been, time out of mind, the gentleman's amusement; so much so, that I would hardly hesitate to make some guess concerning any man's antecedents, who should cross a stubble with me one of these crispy, brown October mornings.

Getting towards the main topic as speedily as possible, I will remark in a general way that, in this region, game proper may be considered as limited to the Quail and two or three varieties of Duck. Both Woodcock and Snipe, though increasing latterly, have been too sparsely scattered through Eastern Alabama, to be worthy of particular attention. Here and there, there are some few grounds, in the neighborhood of large streams, where a day's sport may be had, at the proper season, shooting the latter. It is likely, however, judging by the past, that in a few years both will afford fine amusement to the Alabama sportsman. At present, I suspect that my friends, Col. Augustus Brooks and A. R. Meslier, Esq., bag more snipe and cock, in the immediate neighborhood of Mobile, than are killed in all the rest of the State put together. If, in this idea, I am mistaken, I shall be very much obliged to any friend who can furnish me an authoritative correction. Indeed, in all that I write on the subject of sporting, I would have it remembered I bring a very limited experience to bear; and I fulfil a promise made, some time ago, to several young friends, as much to direct their attention to the works of Frank Forester (Herbert), Hawker (Am. Ed. by W. T. Porter, Esq.), "Dinks," and others, as to convey a few grains of information suitable to this latitude, and not perhaps to be readily picked up in sporting books.

It may be added, that whoso takes the Spirit of the Times will find that, from week to week, during the appropriate seasons, Mr. Porter's correspondents furnish abundance of facts, feats, and general information in the sporting line, a great deal of which is really valuable, as throwing light on the history and habits of the game of the country.

To return from a digression: The Quail is our chief, most reliable game bird in this section. A brave fellow he is too, and worthy to be properly known and called by his own true name, and not by his universal misnomer, Partridge. Let all true sportsmen call him aright — leaving it to the pot-hunter who shoots the bevy as it huddles on the ground, or murders the whistling cock on the fence or stump, and the clown who nets or traps what he cannot fairly kill, to apply to him a name for which there is no owner on this continent. Every one who writes on sports of the field has his rules; and my RULE THE FIRST is — Call Quail, QUAIL! Persistently give him his true name, and you are, young reader, one step nearer sportsmanship than the commune vulgus who kill him foully and serve him more foully, to wit: in hog's lard. Presently I shall tell you what I know of the habits of the bird, and when you have added your own observation thereunto, you will quite probably attain to killing him in good style, and to knowing how to have him dressed with a half-teaspoonful of pale brandy, permeated through his plump breast, according to the recipe of my friend, Dr. E. B. J., of Macon.

Of the ducks that visit us here (except the Canvasback, and some other varieties in Mobile Bay, about which I know nothing, but of which I should like to receive information from those who do), incomparably the finest is that old stand-by, the Mallard. Shot, or only to be shot, he is the duck of our waters; whereby, I mean that the sport he affords, on the river or the table, is superior to that we derive from any of the genus Anas. Next to him, the Blue-winged Teal is considered generally to rank. Then comes the Wood or Summer Duck, known generally in the country as the Striped-head. There are a few other species, less common, that I may refer to hereafter.

I have mentioned now the different varieties of game about which, as it respects their habits and the modes of killing, I propose to write, in these discursive essays. As I go along, I hope to get aid from more experienced persons; and I especially ask it from those who have signified a willingness to contribute to the Mail on the subject of Sporting.

It will be well enough to close this chapter with some remarks on SPORTING TERMS.

It may be here observed, that there is more than appears, at first blush, in uniformity of sporting nomenclature. Without looking at all to the fact, that the sportsman's associations leak out by the terms of art which he uses, just as the ill-bred fellow is detected by the ordinary dialect he affects, it is desirable that persons pursuing field-sports, in any given section of country, should adopt the same phraseology, for reasons growing out of the positive inconvenience of want of uniformity. To illustrate: A has been accustomed all his life to the use of the proper word, toho! to bring his dog to a stand. He can no more — in ninety instances out of the hundred — bring himself to substitute the word heed! when a-field, than he can fly. But he gets a dog broken by some ignorant trainer, which has been taught to obey this slang word of command; and by the end of the week, he has Dash thoroughly confused between toho! and heed! — and himself just about as much so. Or, B lends a young dog (broken to the slang word), to a friend, because he knows that friend is an accomplished sportsman, for a day's shooting. The friend discovers that Plato is rather eagerly pressing a running bevy, and with regulated, steady voice, not loud, gives the order, toho! Plato is probably expecting the word he was taught, and hearing it not, but another in its stead, springs in and flushes — and, possibly, runs a quarter of a mile before he can be brought in. The friend trounces him severely, the dog the while only vaguely conscious of a fault — for his mind is not carried back to the disobeying of a command he was previously taught to obey. There you have it: the shooter curses the dog for an ill-taught mongrel (when he is, perhaps, a capital young pointer, only a trifle heady), and sets him back in his education, by allowing him to flush and by the whipping, fully half a season. To illustrate again: you might as well break horses as dogs to diverse words of command. Add to all this, the convenience to those who interchange opinions, theories, experiences, on the subject of shooting, through the press, or conversationally, and I think the argument becomes irresistible in favor of a Uniform Sporting Nomenclature.

Mr. Herbert's work on Field Sports is the standard in this country, on this and cognate subjects. I quote from it, as many of the technical terms of the art as are necessary for the range I propose to cover:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Having given thus much from Herbert's Sporting Nomenclature, I may add that a dog is said to quarter his ground, NOT "to hunt about the field;" he breaks his charge, and does not "jump up and run after the birds." He retrieves game when he brings it in. He flushes the bevy (if he is ill-behaved,) and does not "scare up the flock." The single bird sometimes towers, (i. e. flies very high and almost perpendicularly), if shot through the brain or heart. The bevy generally flies to covert when disturbed, but the sportsman marks them down. If he is a good shot, he bags quite a number.

My young readers will remember my Rule the First: Call Quail, Quail!

And here I will add another almost as short. It is founded on the fact that there is no such thing as a Partridge, on the whole broad continent — a fact that taboos to the American sportsman the word corey. I know that far better sportsmen than I am, habitually use it; but it is a custom we should "reform altogether." My Rule the Second, then, is: Call a Bevy of Quail, A Bevy of Quail!

CHAPTER 2

HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD GUN.

The prime necessity of a young sportsman, is, of course, a GOOD GUN. If he has plenty of money, there need be little difficulty in supplying himself, quite speedily, with an excellent article. He has but to get a friend, or some reliable business man, not in the trade of selling guns, to import him one from the workshop of Westley Richards, or Purday, or Moore, or some other crack English maker, and the thing is done. Such a gun, reliable and perfectly well-finished, will cost from $300 to $500 Frank Forester tells us that guns, a good deal resembling this fine English work (and really being of English manufacture), put up in very nice mahogany cases, with velvet lining, may be bought for from $75 to $150. Hundreds of these guns are sold annually, in hardware and other stores. They are called by Forester Brumagem ware, taking the name from a corruption of Birmingham (England), where a vast deal of such showy but unreliable stuff is fabricated. By the way, Richards is the only Birmingham maker of any repute, and it is said of him, in these latter days, that his barrels are too soft. At any rate, his reputation is on the decline. Manton (the successor, of course, of old Joe Manton), is a fourth rate maker. There are a dozen or more, however, who are said to make as good guns as "old Joe" ever did, and there is no difficulty in getting the article, provided you are able and willing to pay for it; but the best informed think it bad policy to import a gun which costs under $300. Even that is rather low. If unable to stand these figures, the better plan, according to Herbert, is to get Constable, of Philadelphia, or John Mullin, of 16 Ann street, New York, to build you one. Of the former, I know nothing, except by reputation; but of Mr. Mullin I can speak, after trying his work, with the utmost confidence. He built me a gun, a little more than a year ago, at the instance of my friend, Mr. Porter, of the Spirit of the Times, which comes up fully to all he engaged it should do. I believe that his forte is the making of the heavier descriptions of barrels, especially for bay and river duck-shooting. His work is perfectly neat, and while, of course, it wants the extreme finish of the costly English gun, is to the full as honest a shooter. And if for $150 (with $10 to $20 for cover, case, and small appliances), you get a piece with all the substantial qualities of hard, close shooting, regularity in dispersion of shot, and durability of barrels and locks, which you would obtain in an English gun for $300 or $400, the gain is greatly yours. These qualities I and some friends of mine have obtained, within these last two or three years, from Mr. Mullin, at the mentioned price. The guns he has sent to Georgia and Alabama, so far as I can ascertain, after a good deal of inquiry, have in no instance failed to prove themselves the very hardest and closest shooters.

While on the subject of Mullin's work, I will state that his best barrels are laminated steel. Somehow or other, I had imbibed a strong prejudice against them, notwithstanding one of the very best guns I ever shot was one of them, made by Stevens, which I have parted with because it was of laminated steel. It was a little difficult for Mr. Mullin to convert me from this prejudice, but he did finally succeed. In a letter to me, he says: "I give you a description of the laminated steel barrels, which you seem so much to fear. They are made of thin layers of steel, twisted as a rope of three strands, and then twisted around a rod to form the barrel; then welded and then put through the annealing process, which takes all, or nearly all, of the carbon out, and leaves the barrels all the closeness of steel, and all the toughness of fine iron. Suppose all the carbon is taken out of your razor, and it rendered iron once more, then what iron can compare with it in closeness and toughness?" Again, in another letter, he sends me a table of the comparative capacity of resistance of different barrels, and says: "I hope the scale opposite will satisfy your fears, and when you come to use the gun, I feel certain no man could prevail on you to go back to iron barrels; the steel kill so clean and keep so clean, and no give-out in their shooting powers." Again he says: "They (the steel barrels) will not lead on account of their closeness, nor breech-burn, but maintain their power of shooting," &c.

The following is the table of comparative strength of the different materials used in gun building, furnished me a year or two since by Mr. Mullin:

[TABLE OMITTED]

Assuming the correctness of this comparison, and I know nothing to throw any doubt upon it, the laminated steel ought to drive other descriptions of barrels out of the market entirely. The "two-penny skelp" guns, I presume, are those which we see sold every day, in the stores, painted outside in rings like a raccoon's tail, and which are familiarly known as pot-metal. How any man of sense should risk his life forty times a day with such a weapon, I cannot comprehend; but I presume a great many who have brains do not so jeopard them.

In determining as to the size of a gun, reference is of course to be had to the character of the shooting it is intended for Practically, in the South, almost every man limits himself to a single gun "of all work." He wants one convenient and tolerably effective in a deer, turkey, or duck hunt, and not too heavy for a day's fagging after quail or snipe. All writers and persons of any experience, agree that the dimensions of a gun for these various purposes, are as follows: —

I believe that, from some cause, or other, more good guns are made of these measurements than of any other. It may be that the makers have so many to supply, that practice and experience in the particular size have gradually taught the exact relations of all the parts.

For the larger game mentioned above, it is better to have 32 to 34 inches, 10, 11, or 12 gauge, and 8 to 9 lbs. weight. But most men overweight themselves. A gun should be fully within the strength of the person who is to handle it. A strong man, ceteris paribus, shoots always better than a feeble one; the weak should shoot as light guns as are effective. To be sure, I do not practice what I preach-shooting an eight and a half pound gun, when six pounds would better suit my muscles — but then all small men are ambitious!

The custom of using long, small-gauged guns — for instance (and nothing is more common), barrels 34 to 36 inches, and 15 to 18 guage — is ridiculous. No man but a pot-hunter, ignorant and irreclaimable, would do so. Not but that many of these guns do shoot excellently, but they do so not on account of their great length. In my opinion, a 14 gauge gun of 32 inches will carry as far as the same gauge with a half dozen inches added. If you increase the calibre, length may properly be added; but for any shoulder gun, I have no doubt 34 inches is quite enough, though possibly two inches more may benefit.

In purchasing guns in New York, or importing them to that city, I would recommend any friend of mine to engage the services of no one, out of the trade, but Wm. T. Porter, Esq., of the Spirit of the Times. If he has one made there, let him by all means go to Mullin, whom I recommend simply and solely, because I have dealt with him, paid him his best prices and got just what I wanted on all occasions.

(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Contents Introduction Facsimile of Dedication Facsimile of Title Page Chapter I. The Gentleman's Amusement Chapter II. How to Choose a Good Gun Chapter III. On the Charging of a Gun Chapter IV. These Setter and Pointer Chapter V. Field Training Chapter VI. Remarks on Training Chapter VII. Advice to the Sportsman Chapter VIII. On the Shooting of Quail Chapter IX. Duck Shooting—The Mallard Chapter X. A Woodcock Story—Quail Chapter XI. Partridge Shooting Chapter XII. Treatment of the Distemper Chapter XIII. Snipe Shooting in Florida Facsimile of Advertisements