Texas Game and Fish, Volume 4, Number 10, September 1946 Page: 24
30 p. : col. ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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What's a Sportsman?
By DAVID H. AYLWARD
National Wildlife FederationA. C. MACLIN, of Brad, Texas, and the nine
aid three quarter pound black bass he
caught at Neeley's camp on Possum King-
dom Lake.
Gun, when they mear rifle, which is a
rifled arm.
Rifle, when they mean shotgun which
hi s a smooth bore.
Pistol, when they rmean revolver
which has a revolving cylindrical maga-
zine.
Revolver, when they mean pistol, an
arm without a revolving cylindrical
magazine.
A bullet that ricochets from water
does not actually dive in and out like
a porpoise. It sometimes seems to give
the impression of traveling through the
water and popping out because of the
spora.- that shoots up when the projectile
strikes the water. The bullet remains
above the water at all times. If the bul-
let did submerge, it would keep on go-
ing down and then would not ricochet.
Clay pigeons are neither clay nor do
they resemble pigeons. T'he modern trap
target is made of molten pitch and pul-
verized limestone and looks more like
a deep saucer than anything that flies
w th wings.
The name clay pigeons is an ana-
cronism dating back to the early days
wien a clay target was introduced to
replace live pigeons released from traps.
George Ligowsky, inventor of the first
clay target, discovered that a clay tar-
get frequentlyy would rot break when
struck by shot pellets. Some of his suc-
cesscrs substituted pitcl- with no great-
er success. In winter pitch becomes so
brittle, it broke in handling, and in
sumrmer became too so't to be thrown
from a trap target.
The modern clay target used by skeet
ard :rap shooters attains speeds up to
6C miles an hour in flight and spins at
the rate of 5,000 revolutions per min-
ute. In flight it is a combination of a
* Continued on page 27
24IT CAN be said with a pretty fair de-
I gree of justice that nowadays the
sportsman who is not an active member
of a conservation organization shouldn't
really consider himself a sportsman at
all.
Let's go back a ways .
Thoreau, the gentle philosopher of
Walden Pond, sets forth in his writings
that he came to study and to love the
outdoors as a boy through his ardor for
hunting. It was with gun and dog that
John Burroughs first discovered the
world of wildlife which he so eagerly
explored during a long lifetime. Theo-
dore Roosevelt, who first proclaimed
the basic need of conservation in this
country, was an enthusiastic hunter.
All of us who confess to a fondness
for a bird-dog in action, who thrill to
the roar of wings or to the singing
of a reel sometimes are called upon to
explain to mystified women-folk and
other well-wishers just how we justify
our primitive enjoyments and our de-
termination that wildlife must be pro-
tected, conserved, restored.
I guess we can't explain. The true
sportsman's kinship with the outdoors
is mysterious. His love for living crea-
tures increases as he becomes older,
and it is entirely likely that he may at
some stage lay aside the rod and gun
for the camera, the notebook, or merely
for the pleasures of roaming and ob-
serving.
Nearly three-quarters of a century
ago sportsmen, alarmed by the inroads
being made into wildlife resources, got
together, ate dinners, listened to
speeches, smoked cigars, passed resolu-
tions, demanded legislation-and wenthome to forget about the whole busi-
ness.
Later on, other sections of the public
got excited. Some cried out for the
complete prohibition of all shooting for
sport. They disregarded the fact that the
short-sighted reclamation projects have
obliterated far more ducks than the
pump gun, far more fur than the trap-
per. That pollution has destroyed more
fish than all the nets and dynamite and
spears ever manufactured. That "clean
farming" and over-grazing and fires
have done far more harm to upland
game-as well as to insectivorous birds
-than all the shooters, trappers, hounds
and ferrets.
Modern conservation did not begin
with the enactment of laws, with closed
seasons and bag limits. Nor with am-
bitious hatching and planting programs.
Certainly not with "predator control,"
regarded with increasing skepticism by
all practical game management author-
ities.
It began when sportsmen got to-
gether, not only for annual dinners, but
for concerted action during 365 days a
year.
It began when they comprehended
that the restoration of environment is
of first importance, not only to sport,
but to our whole economic structure.
Wildlife is the crop that is of first in-
terest to the sportsman, but wildlife is
only an extra dividend paid on the re-
building of our productive system of
earth, water, vegetation.
It began when sportsmen began to
join hands with the women's organ-
izations, with farmers, business men,
and youth.1.0
TEXAS GAME AND FISH
A NICE STRING
caught by
Bill Garrett
and
Jesse Stone
of Fort Worth
at Neeley's
Camp on
Possum
Kingdom
Lake.
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 4, Number 10, September 1946, periodical, September 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588327/m1/24/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.