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¿¿¿Advice is cheap," goes the saying. "Bull," say the writers whose names appear above. This advice has been paid for in blood, sweat, lost opportunities, frustration, disappointment, and an incredible amount of ribbing for doing dumb stuff. In a combined 400 years or so in the fields and streams, they learned what works and what doesn't. And in the 110-year history of Field & Stream, we've discovered that smart tips and true wisdom are timeless. We figure there is no better way to celebrate our anniversary than to collect all this hunting knowledge in one place. We learned the hard way so you don't have to.

Sportsmanship
001 Be a leader.
Always obey the game laws. Always take less than the limit. Do some work each year toward improving habitat for game, controlling predators, preventing erosion, or a similar worthwhile activity. Belong to a sportsmen's organization and encourage others to do so. Try to instill the precepts of sportsmanship into at least one hunter a year. Ted Trueblood, October 1948

002 Stay modest.
Never brag about your shooting ability, especially before you start shooting. Gene Hill, January 1993

003 Lie a little.
Always tell a guide you're five years older than you really are. G.H., January 1993

004 Get lost.
For safety's sake, you should always tell someone where you're going when you hunt alone. Unless, of course, you're going to prime woodcock cover and the flight is down. You're not required to pass on everything you know. G.H., January 1995

005Don't be a snob.
Forget your guide is a hired hand. If you meet him on equal grounds, he may turn out to be the best friend you ever had. And chances are that you'll experience a brand of sport you never thought possible. H.G. Tapply, January 1954

007 Honor the game.
If the only thing important about hunting is what we can nail up on the wall, then we're not really hunters and we bring little honor to ourselves or to what we hunt, or why. G.H., August 1981

Guns
008 Stay cool.
It's the cool and collected individual who gets the best use out of a quick-repeating rifle, no matter what style of action it may be. He has sense enough to know that no shot is ever going to be any better than his first one. Warren Page, July 1955

009 Check stock fit.
Pick out your target object, shut both eyes, and mount the shotgun. Now open your right eye (if you're right-handed). Are you looking straight down the barrel? If you see just the bead sight or perhaps an inch of the end of the barrel, you are properly down on the gun. If you see half the barrel, or all of it, your head position is too high and the gun will shoot high. If you cannot see the bead sight without raising your head from a comfortable stock position, the comb is too low. Bob Brister, September 1979

010 Listen to the expert.
It goes down poorly when you tell a gunsmith how to do a job. If he explains his methods to you, your response should be "Fine, how much?" and not an argument over techniques. David E. Petzal, February 1988

011 Mount a scope.
You can avoid endless trouble by degreasing the base screws on your scope mounts and screwing them in hard. How hard is hard? Hard is when you're turning the screwdriver for all you're worth and the next thing you know you're lying on the floor and the dog is pawing at you and whining. Hard is when you're twisting away and everything turns purple and silver. You get the idea. D.E.P., February 1989

012 Mount a scope, part 2.
When tightening scope ring screws, you do not crank on the screwdriver until all the little blood vessels in your nose burst. You crank until, with a reasonable amount of effort, the screws will turn no longer. Then you stop. D.E.P., February 1989

013 Go large.
If in doubt about which shot size to use, pick the larger one. Although there will be fewer pellets and the patterns aren't as pretty, you'll get more clean kills at longer ranges. They're faster to the target because they maintain velocity better, and they deliver more shock. B.B., December 1998

014 Become a gun writer.
Shoot constantly. Lose most of your hearing by your mid-30s. Pick out one cartridge that you admire and one that you despise and make this a leitmotif of your writing. It helps to be from the West or the South, but Easterners can be successful if they are eccentric enough. Escape death in Africa at least once. D.E.P., June 1994

015 Save your hunt.
Bring a spare scope. A rifle that's put out of commission can often be fixed, but if your scope is damaged, it's time to pee on the fire and call in the dogs, because the hunt is over. D.E.P., October 1991

016 Go long-but only when you have to.
Shooting at long range is a last-ditch measure that should be in the repertory of every skilled hunter, but it should not be used as a substitute for being able to hunt. D.E.P., August 1990

017 Hurry up and take your time.
Wyatt Earp was a masterful liar about some things, but he was a deadly son of a gun and he had some advice that all shooters can use. If you're in a gunfight, he used to say, get your revolver out of the holster just as fast as you can, but take your time aiming. A skilled marksman gets on target very quickly, rifle to shoulder, crosshairs on critter, safety off, and then does not shoot but takes a fraction of a second to make absolutely sure of his sight picture. D.E.P., October 1994

018 Shoot a flashlight.
Insert a Mini Maglite flashlight into your shotgun's empty barrel. It will fit into a 12-gauge Skeet choke (or if the gun has interchangeable chokes, take the tube out). Tape in the flashlight so it can't fall out, focus the beam, and wherever the gun points, the light will go. Practice mounting the gun from the carrying position, and see how quickly you can light up some spot on the wall. You'll quickly find out how the gun has to be mounted to point where you look. Now have a friend shine a second beam, leaving it on just long enough so you can cover it with yours. It'll teach you speed. B.B., November 1998

019 Start small.
The beginning handgunner has no use for anything other than a .22 rimfire. Heavier calibers are useful for serious target work or the stopping of bad men, but none of these is a job for the man without some handgun training. W.P., June 1955

020 Reduce recoil.
No amount of muzzle energy can substitute for the ability to send a bullet right where you want it, and the less kick you have to handle, the more precisely you will shoot. Lose the magnum, and you'll probably shoot much better. D.E.P., August 1991

021 Fix your trigger.
If your trigger gums up due to cold weather, here are a couple of cures: Take the barreled action out of the stock and then pour either boiling water or unheated Coleman lantern fuel through the trigger. That should clear out whatever is jamming it. D.E.P., February 1997

022 Winterize your shotgun.
No gunstock can fit well in light clothing and also fit well with a couple of inches of padding created by a heavy winter coat. One easy solution is to have two recoil pads, one approximately an inch thinner than the other for cold-weather hunting, and change them to match your clothes. B.B., September 1972

023 Forget busting brush.
Putting the crosshairs on a tangle of branches with a deer on the other side and pulling the trigger results in tofu for dinner. No bullet bucks the brush. Would you like a real brush bucker? Get a 20mm cannon. D.E.P., September 2000

024 Fit your rifle.
A badly fitted rifle will kick all out of proportion to its calculable recoil energy. W.P., July 1949

025 Hold your breath.
Be careful as you bring your rifle up to aim that you don't exhale a cloud of moisture-laden breath onto the cold scope lenses. This will fog your scope in an instant. Hold your breath as you bring the rifle up, aim, and shoot. Then exhale. D.E.P., January 2000

026 Test your ammunition.
A box of ammo is not simply a box of ammo; it is either a buck lying slain on the greensward or a buck running off and you standing there with egg on your face. You must, dear reader, find out which ammo shoots accurately in your rifle, and then never depart from it thereafter. D.E.P., May 1987

027 Don't screw around.
Always carry a screwdriver that fits your gun. G.H., January 1993

028 Shop carefully.
When buying a used rifle, avoid anything that shows signs of home gunsmithing. There are two kinds of people who work on guns-those who know how, and morons. Amateur tinkering can not only render a rifle useless; it can also render it dangerous. D.E.P., January 2001

029 Shoot ice.
Ice cubes make sporty plinking targets. They shatter as explosively as glass when you hit them but create no litter that must be picked up later. They also encourage careful marksmanship, because every time you miss the target it melts down a little smaller. H.G.T., May 1983

030 Don't be surprised.
A man is a boob if he has not eliminated every possible element of chance from the performance of his gun. W.P., October 1949

031 Fix your recoil pad.
Soft-rubber recoil pads can occasionally grip on clothing no matter how well you mount your gun. Wrap the sides of the pads (but not the butt) with slick plastic electrical tape. If you don't want tape on your fine butt-stock, try spraying the sides of the pad with some slick vinyl protectant like Armor All. That will help the stock slide over your clothes. B.B., November 1998

032 Beat rust.
After hunting on a very cold day, let your gun warm to room temperature before you put it away in a closed case or cabinet. If you store the firearm while it is still cold, moisture could condense on the metal parts and leave rust spots. H.G.T., January 1981

033 Sight in right.
Eight rifles out of 10 will throw the first round from an oil-wet bore anywhere from 1 to 6 inches away from the center of impact normal to the barrel when it is fouled. W.P., January 1955

034 Save your Muzzle.
The rifling at the muzzle is critical because it puts the final spin on the bullet, and if there is a nick or a ding, or if the muzzle is worn by bad use of a cleaning rod, yp> 024 Fit your rifle.
A badly fitted rifle will kick all out of proportion to its calculable recoil energy. W.P., July 1949

025 Hold your breath.
Be careful as you bring your rifle up to aim that you don't exhale a cloud of moisture-laden breath onto the cold scope lenses. This will fog your scope in an instant. Hold your breath as you bring the rifle up, aim, and shoot. Then exhale. D.E.P., January 2000

026 Test your ammunition.
A box of ammo is not simply a box of ammo; it is either a buck lying slain on the greensward or a buck running off and you standing there with egg on your face. You must, dear reader, find out which ammo shoots accurately in your rifle, and then never depart from it thereafter. D.E.P., May 1987

027 Don't screw around.
Always carry a screwdriver that fits your gun. G.H., January 1993

028 Shop carefully.
When buying a used rifle, avoid anything that shows signs of home gunsmithing. There are two kinds of people who work on guns-those who know how, and morons. Amateur tinkering can not only render a rifle useless; it can also render it dangerous. D.E.P., January 2001

029 Shoot ice.
Ice cubes make sporty plinking targets. They shatter as explosively as glass when you hit them but create no litter that must be picked up later. They also encourage careful marksmanship, because every time you miss the target it melts down a little smaller. H.G.T., May 1983

030 Don't be surprised.
A man is a boob if he has not eliminated every possible element of chance from the performance of his gun. W.P., October 1949

031 Fix your recoil pad.
Soft-rubber recoil pads can occasionally grip on clothing no matter how well you mount your gun. Wrap the sides of the pads (but not the butt) with slick plastic electrical tape. If you don't want tape on your fine butt-stock, try spraying the sides of the pad with some slick vinyl protectant like Armor All. That will help the stock slide over your clothes. B.B., November 1998

032 Beat rust.
After hunting on a very cold day, let your gun warm to room temperature before you put it away in a closed case or cabinet. If you store the firearm while it is still cold, moisture could condense on the metal parts and leave rust spots. H.G.T., January 1981

033 Sight in right.
Eight rifles out of 10 will throw the first round from an oil-wet bore anywhere from 1 to 6 inches away from the center of impact normal to the barrel when it is fouled. W.P., January 1955

034 Save your Muzzle.
The rifling at the muzzle is critical because it puts the final spin on the bullet, and if there is a nick or a ding, or if the muzzle is worn by bad use of a cleaning rod, y