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SHOOTING , as a See also:British See also: See also:Save in a few specially favoured localities, such as the Moy See also: Enormous bags of driven grouse are occasionally made on the Yorkshire and See also:Durham moors; over 1300 See also:brace have been killed in a single day at Broomhead near See also:Sheffield, and there are several other well-known moors where, in a good season, moo brace are obtainable in a day's shooting. Grouse driving is believed to have been first practised in a very modified form on the English moors as See also:early as 18o5, but its usage did not become See also:general until fifty or sixty years later. Grouse-shooting over dogs, though lacking the excitement of grouse-driving, and not requiring the same high standard of skill in shooting, is none the less incomparably the higher form of sport. Owing to the almost universal wildness of all modern game-birds, its general practice is now almost entirely confined to the Highlands, where, especially on the western seaboard, grouse will lie to dogs practically throughout the season. Except on very See also:ill-watered moors, where they stiffer more than other breeds of dogs from thirst, large big-boned setters are preferable to pointers for grouse-shooting, as the latter are more easily affected by See also:cold and See also:damp, and in the writer's experience are more easily fatigued. Care should of course be taken always to work one's dogs up wind when possible, and in hot, still See also:weather to See also:beat the higher ground thoroughly, with a view to killing down the old cocks and barren hens which resort there. In stormy weather grouse naturally seek the See also:lower slopes of the moors. See also:Partridge-shooting over dogs is a most delightful form of sport, popularly supposed to be See also:extinct nowadays, but there are happily Partridge- many parts of See also:England where it is still practised in shooting. suitable localities. None the less, modern agricultural conditions do not lend themselves to the use of dogs in partridge-shooting, and the most general See also:custom is to drive the birds off the pastures and stubbles into the See also:root crops where they can be walked up in line, a rather uninteresting method of shooting. Care should of course be taken always to walk across the drills; and where birds are wild, and time does not See also:press, it will occasionally be found advantageous to work a field in a See also:series of gradually diminishing circles. Much valuable time is often wasted in partridge-shooting in the See also:search for dead and wounded birds; this can be obviated to a large extent by observing the See also:golden See also:rule that as soon as a bird is down the line should See also:halt, and the dogs, whose business it is to retrieve the game, be allowed to do so, unassisted—or more correctly unhampered. If the bird cannot be found within reasonable time, the line should proceed, leaving a keeper and a steady See also:dog behind to search for it. Where game is plentiful it is always advisable to employ one See also:man with a couple of retrievers for the See also:sole purpose of remaining behind the line to retrieve lost or See also:running birds. As with all game, the modern tendency is to drive partridges: a form of shooting that of all others exacts the highest test of skill, not only on the See also:part of the shooter, but also of the keeper who organizes the proceedings. To these requirements must be added a suitable See also:tract of See also:country for the purpose, and a large head of game; given all these essentials, partridge-driving is a delightful amusement; without them it is usually a fruitless and wearisome undertaking. In driving, the birds should be gradually and quietly collected into one large root-field, and sent from this over the guns, who should, when possible, always be placed in a grass-field where dead or wounded birds are more easily retrieved. Another field of roots should be at a convenient distance behind the guns for the purpose of gathering the birds, which, unless the wind be specially unfavourable, can then be brought back over them in a return drive. See also:Long drives are not advisable; the more partridges can be kept on the wing, and the coveys broken up, the better. Where partridge-driving is carried on on a large See also:scale, it is a good See also:plan to supplement such hedge-rows as are convenient for the purpose by narrow belts of coniferous trees. These, if wired in to prevent disturbance by foxes, dogs, &c., not only provide admirable nesting-ground for winged-game, but afford better concealment for the guns, and cause the partridges to offer higher and more attractive shots. In shooting driven partridges, the sportsman should stand as far as practicable away from the fence, and concentrate his attention on the bird which first tops it. A driven grouse or rocketing pheasant will See also:fly straight towards the shooter without swerving when he raises his gun, but not so the partridge, which can twist in the See also:air almost like a See also:snipe; it is this peculiarity, coupled with their startling scream, that proves so disconcerting to the See also:young sportsman. Especial care should always be taken that the guns stand in a perfectly straight line within sight of one another: neglect of this precaution has often led to serious accidents. Frequent See also:change of See also:blood is beneficial on estates where a large head of partridges is preserved, and it is advisable to kill off superfluous See also:cock-birds before the commencement of the breeding-season, though when partridges are reared artificially a better plan is to catch them alive, and use them as See also:foster-mothers, a See also:duty they perform admirably. The pheasant, once one of the rarest British game-birds, has now, thanks to artificial production, become almost the commonest, and to shoot it over dogs among the hedge-rows in See also:October, as was formerly the practice, s would shooting.
heasani-
be a See also:manifest absurdity. Under modern conditions
it can only be dealt with satisfactorily' as a " rocketer," i.e. a bird flying high and fast towards the shooter. As such, the pheasant has no See also:superior, provided only it fly high and fast enough, but otherwise it is a rather uninteresting sporting-bird which invariably elects to seek safety by running rather than See also:flight. Like the modern pheasant itself, the rocketer is a more or less artificial creation, and considerable organization is necessary to produce it in perfection. It is only of See also:late years that keepers have recognized that sportsmen See also:place little value on the See also:mere magnitude of a day's bag, as compared to the difficult or "'See also:pretty" shots ,they may obtain. Much, therefore, depends on the management of covert-shooting, the handling of the beaters, the disposition of the " stops," and the pains taken to ensure high-flying pheasants, or the See also:reverse. When the configuration of the coverts permits of it, pheasants should always be driven down-See also: game. the old cocks with a See also:miniature rifle. See also:Ptarmigan are practically confined to the summits of the higher Scottish hills, which are usually reserved for See also:deer-forests, rmi and, therefore, offer no opportunity for sport with the gam. shot-gun. In mild still weather they give but poor sport, running persistently in front of the dogs, or sitting until they can almost be knocked down with a stick, but on stormy days they rise wild, and afford splendid sport, especially in See also:conjunction with the wild and romantic scenery in which they are found. They are of course invariably shot over dogs. See also:Capercally, once extinct in Great Britain, were reintroduced into Scotland about 1835, and now exist in tolerable See also:numbers, chiefly in See also:Perthshire. Being a See also:forest-haunting bird, they are usually driven to the guns like pheasants, but apart from their rarity and See also:size, they are not held in great favour as sporting birds, while owing to the great damage they do to young coniferous trees, they are not encouraged to multiply on estates where there is a large acreage of growing plantations. Capercally are very courageous birds, and the writer has seen a winged cock attack and hold at See also:bay a dog sent to retrieve it. Snipe and See also:woodcock, though properly wild-See also:fowl, are usually regarded as belonging to the See also:category of game-birds. Though snipe. both the full-snipe and the woodcock breed to a limited extent in the British Isles, they may more correctly be described as autumn and See also:winter migrants to them. The varieties then to be shot are the full-snipe, the See also:jack-snipe and the great or solitary snipe; but the latter is exceedingly rarely met with, and the jack-snipe is becoming scarcer every year. Neither of these latter varieties breeds in the See also:United See also:Kingdom. Snipe are exceedingly erratic in their movements, which are largely influenced by the weather; like the woodcock they are here to-day and gone to-morrow. They haunt moist, or marshy localities, and the finest snipe shooting in the British islands is to be found on the Irish bogs. In hard frosts they should be sought near running See also:water. As a general rule a dog is not used to find snipe, but where this may be considered necessary, a well broken Irish water-spaniel is to be recommended. These are the most intelligent of dogs, can be trained to point and retrieve as well, and are capable of See also:standing wet and cold with impunity. It is a generally accepted See also:axiom that snipe should be walked up, down wind, since they offer an easier mark when rising against it; but in the writer's experience this is more than counterbalanced by the fact that. snipe, which are particularly susceptible to See also:noise, lie far better when approached up wind. To kill snipe well is the most difficult knack in shooting, and one to which few men, however good shots they may be at other forms of game, rarely attain. Woodcock are rarer birds than snipe, and even more erratic in their movements. Large quantities of them usually arrive in England with the first See also:November See also:combination of an easterlygale and a full See also:moon, but they cannot be depended on to stay more than a few See also:hours in the locality where they alight. In Ireland, however, they are far more See also:constant in their habits, and it is here that the largest bags of Woodcock. woodcock are made in the United Kingdom. Though woodcock are properly forest, or covert-haunting birds, in many parts of Ireland and the Western Highlands of Scotland they frequent the open bogs and moors, where they are shot over pointers or setters. Otherwise no particular rules can be laid down for their pursuit, beyond the fact that they are very conservative, in their choice of a haunt, and that year after year cock may be found in the same spot. Woodcock are usually esteemed difficult birds to shoot, but more are missed from over-eagerness on the part of the shooter than from the difficulty of the shot they present. Still in thick covert they undoubtedly require a See also:quick hand and See also:eye acting in unison, to kill them neatly. Of quadrupeds or ground-game, only three varieties, the See also:roe-deer, the See also:hare and the See also:rabbit, are preserved for sport with the shot-gun in the United Kingdom. The first-named, though found in a few widely distant districts Roe-deer. in England and Ireland, is chiefly associated with Scotland so far as shooting is concerned. It is essentially a forest-loving See also:animal, and is usually killed by driving it up to a line of guns, when, if close enough, it will drop to an See also:ordinary See also:charge of No. 5 shot; but a heavy load of B.B. or No. i is a far preferable, and more merciful, See also:gauge to use. Roe-deer are not easy animals to move in a direction in which they suspect danger, and the more quietly a drive is conducted, the greater the See also:chance of success. A few men walking carelessly through a See also:wood, i.e. as if beating were not their object, will drive roe, and especially the cunning old bucks, with far greater certainty than an See also:array of shouting, stick-rapping beaters. Far finer spert, however, in every sense of the expression, can be obtained by stalking roe-bucks during the summer months with a small-See also:bore rifle, carrying a hollow-nosed, and not a solid See also:bullet. The most suitable opportunity for this is at sunrise or sunset, when the roe will be found feeding in the more open spaces in the See also:woods. The same animals will nearly always be found in the same locality, but they are exceedingly wary creatures, and the old bucks are quite as difficult to stalk as a red-deer See also:stag. .The hare no longer exists in the same quantities as formerly; indeed in many parts of Great Britain it is practically extinct, the result of the Ground Game See also:Act of 1881. No See also:Hares. See also:special methods are employed for shooting hares, nor is any great skill requisite for doing so, but sportsmen should always See also:bear in mind that unless See also:hit in the head or See also:heart hares are not easily killed dead, and should, therefore, refrain from firing long shots at them, especially when they do not offer a See also:broadside shot. It is to be presumed that the Ground Game Act was specially directed—and with See also:reason—against rabbits more than hares, but the former show little or no See also:evidence of being Rabbits. affected by it. Yet from every point of view, except perhaps that of shooting, they are far less valuable, and more noxious, animals, which ravage alike the young plantations of the landlord and the crops of the See also:tenant See also:farmer. Where they are preserved in large numbers, the most usual method of shooting them is to See also:ferret them out of the burrows as See also:short a time as possible before the day fixed for shooting, and then fill in the mouths of the holes with well beaten See also:soil, which should also be drenched with See also:paraffin or See also:tar to deter the rabbits from digging their way in again. If this be carefully done, and plenty of covert—coarse grass, bracken or gorse—be available, in See also:fine dry weather the rabbits will lie out for two or three nights, but in the event of heavy See also:rain or especially See also:snow, nothing will prevent them going to ground again. Where natural covert is scarce, it can be supplemented by strewing brushwood and fir-loppings under which rabbits will readily shelter. In beating for rabbits, the beaters should not merely tap with their sticks, but should thrust them into the clumps of grass and underwood; otherwise many rabbits will be passed over. When rabbits are driven up This is possibly due to altered agricultural conditions, the laying to pasture of much of the arable See also:land which formerly fringed the Lowland moors, and the consequent See also:surface-drainage which is responsible for the destruction of many young birds; but the See also:chief cause lies in the wholly inefficient close-time afforded, which should be extended by at least a See also:month. Black-game- and grouse-shooting differ in no way in their methods, though the former are far more difficult birds to handle by driving, while really fascinating sport can be obtained by stalking See also:Caper- r. to a line of guns in covert, the latter—if no winged game is expected—should stand just inside the edge of the wood, with their backs to the beaters, and take the rabbits after they have passed. This not only induces the rabbits to face the open, but precludes the possibility of an accident to the beaters. See also:Capital sport can be enjoyed in the summer evenings by stalking rabbits with a See also:pea-rifle in a suitable locality, i.e. where no danger to human beings or live-stock can be caused by a stray or deflected bullet. A disused See also:quarry or See also:sand pit is an ideal place for such sport. One See also:branch of shooting remains to be touched on, namely, wild-fowling, which again must be classed under two totally -vim- distinct headings, See also:shore or flight shooting, and shooting See also:tow/. afloat with a swivel See also:punt gun. In flight shooting, the sportsman stations himself at a point over which the birds will probably pass at sundown or daybreak in their passage from or to the See also:sea, when going to or leaving their inland feeding places. Success in flight-shooting must, therefore, depend very largely on chance or See also:luck, but given a See also:fair proportion of the latter, it is a fine, wild sport. One essential requirement is a well-trained and thoroughly intelligent dog, and here again no better can be selected than an Irish water-spaniel. No special rules of guidance can be laid down for shore-shooting; the districts are unhappily few and far between where even a moderate bag of edible wild-fowl can be made nowadays, and experience alone can give that knowledge of their habits which is essential to success. Wild stormy weather which drives the birds off the sea is best for shore-shooting. Punt-See also:gunning or wild-fowling afloat is a sport confined to an exceedingly small number of See also:people, professional or See also:amateur, and is as distinct from ordinary inland shooting as deer-stalking from See also:pigeon-shooting. It may be briefly described as the art of shooting wild-fowl on the sea, or in estuaries of See also:rivers, from a flat-bottomed punt carrying a heavy, fixed gun, weighing anything from 70-170 lb, the muzzle of which rests in a revolving crutch in the See also:bow of the See also:boat, and firing a charge of 1-2 lb of shot. A punt may be either single- or See also:double-handed, i.e. to contain one or two people, and it is perhaps unnecessary to add the fowl are shot sitting, or just as they rise from the water. It is a sport that contains a considerable See also:element of danger, and requires great See also:powers of endurance and a strong constitution no less than good nerves, and it has been rightly termed a See also:science in itself, only to be learnt by a patient See also:apprenticeship under an experienced teacher. The art of shooting cannot be learnt theoretically, and can only be acquired by experience and practice. The beginner should, however, from the first seek to avoid an ugly The art of shooting. or cramped See also:style, which, once See also:developed, is very difficult to get rid of, and should bear in mind that, in firing at a moving object, his purpose should be not to place his charge of shot where such object is at the moment he pulls the trigger, but where it will be by the time the shot reaches it; in other words the game should run or fly into the circle of pellets. Nor should he seek to effect this by dwelling on his game with his gun at his See also:shoulder—a practice not only clumsy but exceedingly dangerous—but by firing at an imaginary point in front of it. Practice alone can See also:teach the knack of doing this properly; to some men it seems a natural See also:gift, while others do not acquire it in a See also:life-time. A See also:sound digestion is the surest aid to successful shooting, for unless the See also:nervous See also:system be in perfect tune, See also:brain, eye and hand cannot act in that spontaneous sympathy necessary to quick and pretty marksmanship. None the less a good See also:deal depends on the gun, as well as the man who uses it, and-in choosing a fowling-piece it will be found an See also:advantage, no less than an ultimate See also:economy, for the young shooter to place himself in the hands of a See also:London gunmaker of repute, and pay a good See also:price for a good article. A See also:r2-bore is the generally accepted gauge for modern shot guns, and this should weigh from 62-64 lb. Of late years it is gradually becoming customary to reduce the length of the barrels from 30 to 28 in., a most decided improvement, as without diminishing the killing-See also:power of the gun it improves its See also:balance, and so lessensthe See also:probability of shooting under game, a very common See also:fault among sportsmen. Excessive choking is to be deprecated; a See also:pattern of 140 for the right and of 16o for the See also:left See also:barrel will be found amply sufficient, and a load of 40-42 grains of nitro-See also:powder with r or r k oz. No. 5i unchilled shot will meet , all ordinary requirements of the shooting field. A thoroughly good hammerless ejector gun can be obtained from a first-class London gunmaker for 35-45 guineas, and a pair for £75 to £roo, but these prices are capable of considerable modification or the reverse. Single-trigger guns are the latest fashion, but no special advantage can be claimed for them. The bibliography of shooting is very extensive, but the following See also:works may be cited as standard ones on the subject: The " See also:Badminton Library " Shooting—Hints to Young Shooters, by See also:Sir See also:Ralph See also:Payne-Gallwey; " The See also:Fur and See also:Feather " series of publications; The Gun and its Developments, by Greener; and for wild-fowling, See also:Colonel See also:Hawker's See also:evergreen Instructions to Young Sportsmen; The Art of Wildfowling, by See also:Abel See also:Chapman; The See also:Fowler in Ireland, by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey; and The Wildfowler, by Folkard.
Big Game.
The pursuit of large game, whether for See also:food or sport, has ever exercised the greatest See also:fascination for mankind, and with the rapid opening up of vast continents hitherto unexplored, and the introduction of See also:breech-loading rifles, it has assumed an importance within the last few decades that bids fair to render it a thing of the past before the end of the current century. The present See also:generation has seen the bison, which formerly roamed the See also:American prairies in countless millions, wiped off the face of creation; the veldt of See also:Southern See also:Africa, which teemed in equal proportions with big game of every description, has become a See also:pastoral country, where a few of the commoner varieties of See also:antelope are suffered to exist under much the same conditions as the semi-wild deer of the Scottish Highlands; and even the jungles of Hindustan, save where jealously preserved by native potentates, show signs of exhaustion as regards the larger See also:fauna. True, wherever the See also: Already large tracts in the wilder parts of the Eastern States of America have been acquired by See also:rich men, over which they jealously preserve the sporting; and with the opening up of railway communication in the See also:south of Africa to the See also:Zambezi, and in the north to See also:Khartum, the See also:dawn of another century may not improbably see shooting-boxes advertised " to let for the winter months," dotting the very countries where Oswell, or See also:Baker, found a virgin field for their rifles within the last few decades. Distasteful as such a state of things may seem to the present generation of sportsmen, some-thing more or less approaching it will inevitably come to pass; and where See also:climatic conditions or inaccessibility forbid its See also:adoption, big game will become extinct at the hands of native races or white " professional " hunters. Carpe diem must undoubtedly be the See also:motto of the big game shooter of the present day, who requires genuine wild sport under the highest possible conditions. Even at present it is essential that he should obtain the fullest See also:information as to the existing game laws in the part of the world in which he proposes to See also:hunt, the whole of North America and practically three-fourths of Africa being governed by stringent regulations respecting the preservation of big game. Every state in the North American See also:Union, and in some cases every county in a state, has its own close-times and game laws, and the same is true of See also:Canada. Moreover, heavy fees for licences to kill big game are now exacted in all parts of the world where game laws exist. In the United States the cost of this varies very much, the present highest charge being $50 for a " non-See also:resident " sportsman, while in addition in some states he is not permitted to hunt unless accompanied with a qualified See also:guide. Full information on these points can be obtained gratis on application to the See also:Board of See also:Agriculture at See also:Washington, where every assistance is given with the greatest See also:courtesy, and which further issues admirably compiled See also:pamphlets dealing with the whole question of game-preservation. Infringement of the United States Game Laws entails exceedingly heavy penalties, amounting in the most extreme See also:case to two years' imprisonment plus a fine of $500C. In Canada the highest charge is $roo in See also:Manitoba, while in Africa it varies from L5o in the See also:Sudan and British and See also:German East Africa to roo in See also:Bechuanaland. Moreover, it must be See also:borne in mind that these fees only permit the killing of a limited number of specified animals. Still, excellent as these laws undoubtedly are, their value must remain enormously discounted as long as the See also:sale of game and skins by aboriginal or professional hunters is permitted; it is they, and not the heavily taxed See also:foreign sportsman, who are responsible for the threatened extinction of big game. . So far as See also:Asiatic sport is concerned, British India, save to those furnished with See also:credentials to native potentates or high See also:government officials, offers scant opportunity as regards big game to the itinerant sportsman, who must now wander farther afield into Central or North-Eastern Asia, Borneo, See also:Java and the wilder parts of See also:Assam or See also:Burma; but the greater portion of the first-named locality is only open to persons duly authorized by the See also:Russian government. Although South America and See also:Australia offer little attraction for sport with the rifle, big game of varying species is thus indigenous in every part of the world.' It is obviously impossible within our limits-to deal at any length with either its habits or the various methods of See also:hunting it. Brief allusion will be made, however, to the chief varieties of it found in the various continents and the necessary equipment for their pursuit. Europe contains big game in greater variety and quantity than is generally supposed. The last survivors of the See also:aurochs or European bison still roam the forests of Lithuania and the ' Except in New See also:Zealand, where red-deer have, however, been introduced and afford magnificent sport. Caucasus: See also:elk are found in Scandinavia, See also:Russia and Eastern See also:Prussia, and red-deer are common to the whole of the continent. Of the more Alpine kinds of big game, See also:reindeer exist Europe. in See also:Norway; See also:chamois in the mountainous districts of Central and Southern Europe; wild See also:sheep in See also:Corsica and See also:Sardinia; while a few of the European See also:ibex still linger in the royal pre-serves of the See also:Italian See also:Alps. A variety of ibex is fairly plentiful in See also:Spain, and wild goats are found in South-Eastern Europe. Of the See also:carnivora, bears, wolves and lynxes, though not often met with, still exist in fair numbers in most of the mountainous countries of Europe, though the first-named animal is practically the only one affording opportunity for sport with the rifle. Gluttons or wolverines are found in Scandinavia and Russia, and so-called wild-See also:boar are plentiful in the carefully preserved forests of Central Europe. The reason for this continued supply of big game is that the whole of the European continent has been for centuries under private, communal or state preservation. The Caucasus, which though geographically in Europe, can hardly with fairness be held to be so as regards sport, further contain such purely Asiatic varieties of big game as tigers, leopards and See also:tahr, and but for the See also:savage See also:character of the country and its inhabitants, and the obstacles thrown in the way of foreign travellers, would probably be far more visited by English sportsmen than is at present the case. In civilized Europe, Scandinavia, Spain and the Mediterranean islands probably offer the best field for the big game See also:hunter of moderate means, though the last named localities still enjoy an unenviable reputation for See also:brigandage.
Among useful works of reference dealing with big game shooting in Europe the following may be cited: Wild Spain, by Chapman, and Wild Norway by the same author; See also:Flood, See also:Fell and Forest, by Sir See also: Panthers, though more plentiful than tigers, are less frequently bagged, as they are exceedingly difficult animals to beat out of covert; they are usually killed by sitting up over a bait, or by smoking them out of the caves they frequently make their homes. A wounded panther has the reputation of being a more dangerous animal than a tiger. Other varieties of the felines are the See also:cheetah, the clouded panther, the See also:lynx, and most beautiful and rarest of all, the See also:ounce or snow leopard only found above the snow line. Of other Asiatic carnivora the bears are the most important from the sportsman's point of view. A great variety of them exists, ranging from the great Kamchatkan bear to the small See also:blue bear of Thibet, but the methods of their pursuit See also:call for no special mention. The See also:Indian See also:elephant is rather smaller than the See also:African variety, and has other well-marked See also:differences, the chief as regards shooting being the fact that the cavity at the See also:top of the See also:trunk is not protected by the roots of the tusk as in the African elephant, thus enabling a frontal shot to reach the brain. This point, one at the side of the See also:temple, and another at the back of the See also:ear, are most usually selected for their aim by Indian sportsmen, who do not favour the shoulder shot so commonly employed in Africa. A charging elephant can often be turned by a well-planted, though not necessarily fatal, bullet, but a really determined animal, especially a See also:female with a See also:calf, will not cease its attack until either it or the hunter be killed. Though elephants will usually fly from the See also:report of a rifle, the sound of_a human See also:voice will often make them charge. Four varieties of See also:rhinoceros, of which two are one-horned, and two double-horned, are found in Asia, ranging eastwards from Assam through Burma and See also:Siam as far as Sumatra. The rhinoceros is almost invariably found in heavy grass swamps, and can consequently only be hunted by means of elephants, It is usually beaten out by means of a long line, but is occasion-ally tracked to its lair on a single elephant. In common with many animals of the deer and antelope tribes, the rhinoceros always deposits its droppings in the same place, a peculiarity which enables native shikaris to locate it with tolerable ease. Although a rhinoceros, even when wounded, will rarely charge See also:home, it has a peculiarly terrifying effect on tame elephants, and specially trustworthy ones are necessary for this sport. The Indian rhinoceros differs in many important details from the African variety. Of bovines, Asia produces the See also:buffalo, three species of the See also:gaur —miscalled the Indian bison—and the See also:yak, the latter a rather uninteresting beast of the chase only found on the open ground of the Tibetan See also:plateau. Very different is the pursuit of the gaur in the dense forests of India and Burma, where it is usually stalked on See also:foot; and to track a wounded See also:bull through thick See also:jungle affords one of the most exciting experiences of big game shooting. Such an animal will almost invariably turn at right angles to its trail, and See also:watch for its pursuer, whom it will charge from a distance of perhaps a few yards, even feet. The wild buffalo, too, is an exceedingly plucky animal, and will on occasion even attack a European—whose See also:smell appears distasteful to it—unmolested, a peculiarity it shares with the tame variety. The numerous species of deer and antelope scattered over the continent of Asia are usually obtained by stalking, but the former being essentially forest-haunting animals, while the latter are usually found on open ground, the methods of approaching them naturally vary with local conditions. Of deer the best known are the sambar, the chital and the swamp deer, but the Hangul or Cashmere stag, the See also:Altai wapiti and the Maral or Asiatic red-deer afford the finest trophies. Of Asiatic antelope the handsomest and commonest variety is probably the black-See also:buck, found practically all over India as far east as Assam. To many sportsmen the most fascinating form of Asiatic big game shooting is the pursuit of the many varieties of wild goats and sheep, common to the various See also:mountain ranges and high-lying plateaus of the continent. While such sport lacks the See also:risk of attack from the animal hunted, it exacts remarkable powers of endurance and perseverance on the part of the hunter, coupled in most cases with the dangers inseparable from Alpine climbing. There is scarcely a mountainous or elevated part of Asia which does not contain some variety of wild See also:goat or sheep, of which the best known are the ibex and See also:markhor of the Himalayas and See also:Hindu Kush among the former, and the Ovis Poli and O. See also:Ammon of See also:Tibet among the latter. As a general rule all wild goats can only be obtained under conditions which exact the highestmountaineering qualities on the part of the stalker, but with regard to the sheep of the vast tablelands of High Asia—" the roof of the world "—a good deal of work has to be done on See also:pony back, as the rarefied See also:atmosphere of these great altitudes precludes much physical exertion. Exception, however, in this respect must be made of the burhel—Ovis Nahura—which haunts the same inaccessible crags as the ibex or markhor. The sportsman who essays to bag an Ovis Poli, or O. Ammon, will probably have had ample opportunity of testing his climbing powers on the See also: For forest or jungle shooting a to- or 12-bore See also:Paradox gun is an admirable weapon, capable of use as a rifle against large and dangerous animals, or as an ordinary shot gun for small game. A double-barrelled rifle is essential for dangerous game, the saving of time, short as it is, in merely shifting the See also:finger from one trigger to another, being an enormous advantage as compared with the See also:action of ejecting and re-loading from a magazine. Finally it may be said that a sportsman would be completely equipped for big game shooting in Asia, or indeed any part of the world, with a battery consisting of a •450 cordite rifle, a to- or 12-bore Paradox gun and a .256 or •3o3 magazine rifle. As regards the See also:rest of his outfit, if he {propose to shoot in any part of British Asia, he can procure this on the spot, as well, and far cheaper, than in England. Useful works dealing with big game shooting in Asia are: See also:Baldwin, Large and Small Game of See also:Bengal; Forsyth, Highlands of Central India; See also:Sanderson, Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India; Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Thibet, &c.; Maclntyre, Hindu Koh; Steindale, Natural See also:History; Demidoff, Sport in Central Asia; Ronaldshay, Sport and Travel 'See also:neath an Eastern Sky; A Shooting Trip to See also:Kamchatka; and See also:Fife-Cookson, Tiger-Shooting in the Doan and Ulwar. The See also:main feature of African big game is the antelopes, which exist in great variety; such widely different animals as the See also:noble See also:sable antelope and the tiny dik-dik being classed among them. African gazelles and antelopes may be roughly divided into two classes, those found on plains or open ground, and those frequenting forest or See also:bush, and the methods of hunting them naturally vary with the locality. Still, as a general rule, the antelopes of the plains are not only the finer animals, but afford more enjoyable sport in the stalk, combined with the advantage of a See also:climate See also:free from See also:malaria. There is practically no part of Africa where antelopes do not exist in one variety or, Africa. another, but probably British East Africa or See also:Somaliland offer the best field for sportsmen. On open ground a good deal of hunting can be done on horseback—except in those districts where the tsetse fly exists—and antelopes are occasionally ridden down, but a very stout-hearted See also:horse is required to overtake such animals as sable antelopes, See also:eland or gemsbok. Caution should always be exercised in approaching the larger varieties of antelope when at bay, whether wounded or not, as some of them, notably the See also:roan and sable, and the See also:oryx, are inclined to be very savage, and will charge desperately home. It is said that even a See also:lion is chary of attacking the oryx, owing to its long See also:rapier-like horns. The African carnivora include the lion, leopard, cheetah, See also:hyena and other smaller varieties, but it is only necessary to deal with the first named, which, where not exterminated or driven away by See also:civilization,:may be said to be common to the whole continent. As with all ga , big or small, the conditions of lion-shooting vary with the locality; thus, on the open plains of Somaliland, lions can be spied from a distance and stalked on foot, or even ridden to bay on horseback, while in densely bushed districts, unless chanced on in open ground, the most usual method is to sit up at night over a bait or kill, inside a zareba of See also:thorn bushes. This method, however, makes aiming with any degree of accuracy a See also:matter of difficulty, but a German, Herr Schillings, has demonstrated the use of a flashlight in such circumstances. Lions frequently lie up or shelter in detached patches of scrub, whence they may be driven by a " bobbery " pack of dogs, or as a last resource the bush may be set on fire, the See also:sports-man having previously concealed himself down wind. Lions when emboldened by See also:hunger will fearlessly attack human beings, especially at night, and, like tigers that have once developed a taste for human flesh, become See also:positive scourges of their neighbourhood. Mr F. C. See also:Selous, than whom there are few better authorities, considers the lion the most dangerous of all African big game, a distinction that other writers See also:award to the buffalo. Of the pachyderms the commonest is the rhinoceros (R.bicornis), usually termed the black rhinoceros to distinguish it from the so-called " white " variety now almost extinct. Though the first-named is by no means so widely distributed as formerly, it is still plentiful in See also:Equatorial Africa, and to a lesser extent in Somaliland. It bears rather a mixed character for ferocity, but most hunters agree that while it will charge with little or no provocation, it does so blindly, and rarely turns to renew the attack. This is probably due to its exceedingly poor sense of sight, but its sense of smell is correspondingly extraordinarily acute, while an additional cause that renders it a difficult beast to stalk is the presence of the " rhinoceros birds " which are its almost invariable companions, and which warn it of danger. Though so huge an animal, the rhinoceros is easily killed by a bullet in front of the See also:base of the ear, or midway along the See also:neck; the shoulder shot is only employed when the hunter has stepped aside to avoid a charge. The See also:hippopotamus is still plentiful throughout most parts of uncivilized Africa. In narrow rivers where they can be shot from the See also:bank, they are easily killed by a brain-shot, the best spot to aim at being the base of the ear. If the bullet be properly placed the animal will sink to the bottom of the stream and rise to the surface within a few hours. Hippopotami are nocturnal feeders, and can be occasionally shot at night when at a considerable distance from water; but owing to the difficulty of placing the bullet accurately, they are See also:apt to See also:escape wounded. Hippopotamus shooting does not See also:rank high as a sport, but the meat, when young, is excellent, and the huge size of the animal enables a hunter to provide a large number of followers with food; this "can be the only excuse for killing these comparatively harmless animals in any number. Elephants still exist in considerable numbers in parts of Africa, but, unless more stringent methods of See also:protection are afforded, their ultimate extermination at the hands of professional See also:ivory-hunters, white or coloured, is inevitable. What can be done in the direction of preservation is shown in Cape See also:Colony, where elephants, which have been rigidly protected for many years, now exist in considerable, and increasing, quantity. Elephantshave an extraordinarily keen sense of smell, which, coupled with their See also:habit of roaming over vast expanses of country, forms their chief safeguard against the relentless persecution to which they are subject. They may be hunted either on foot or horseback; where feasible, the latter is the preferable method, as it not only enables the hunter to follow up his quarry with greater ease —and when startled, or wounded, elephants will travel enormous distances—but in open country gives him a better chance of escape from a charge. The heart, or broadside, shot is usually employed. Incredible as it may seem, these enormous creatures can be killed by a single pellet of hardened nickel, discharged from a •303 rifle. A weapon of heavier calibre is, however, to be recommended, and a •45o rifle, or ro or 8 bore Paradox gun, are most suitable; the closer the hunter can safely get to the animal the better. A charging elephant can usually, but not invariably, be turned by a shot in the See also:chest; to fire at the head is useless. The buffalo (See also:Bos See also:coffer), formerly one of the commonest of African wild animals, has been practically exterminated in many parts by the See also:plague of See also:rinderpest, but is still plentiful in the malarious swamps between the mouths of the See also:Limpopo and the Zambezi, and even more so in the See also:Beira See also:district of Portuguese East Africa. Like most wild animals, the buffalo is naturally disinclined to take the offensive, but when roused to action, it will pursue a hunter with relentless ferocity, and is held by many authorities to be the most dangerous of African big game. The greatest care should therefore be exercised in following up a wounded animal, or in approaching one that is apparently dead, for as long as a spark of life lingers in it, it will endeavour to destroy its destroyer. A wounded buffalo will nearly always make for the nearest thicket, where it will await its pursuer, and in such circumstances, it should be left alone for an See also:hour or two, when it will probably lie down, and be less active in attack owing to its wound having stiffened. A charging buffalo always carries its head at such an See also:angle that a frontal shot is useless, unless the bullet penetrates through the See also:nose into the See also:throat or chest. I A •500 or .450 rifle with a solid bullet, or an 8-bore Paradox gun is the best weapon for buffalo-shooting. Other varieties of the African bovines are the smaller, Abyssinian, the Senegalian, and the See also:dwarf, or See also:Congo buffaloes. The only other species of African big game calling for special mention is the See also:giraffe, which is usually ridden down and killed by a raking shot at the root of the tail; but except when required for food or specimens, the destruction of this inoffensive animal, which offers no See also:trophy of the chase, is to be deprecated. Great numbers are annually destroyed by professional skin hunters, and their carcases left to rot. Bears, though little known, exist in North-West Africa, and the ubiquitous wild goat, or ibex, is also found in the north of the continent. A •450 cordite rifle, a .303 small bore, and a ro or 8 bore Paradox gun, is an ample battery for African big game shooting.
Useful books of reference for African shooting are: Selous, A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa; Travel and See also:Adventure in S.E. Africa, by the same author; Baker, Wild Beasts and their Ways; Swayne, Seventeen Trips through Somaliland; See also:Powell See also:Cotton, Travel and Adventure in the Congo Free State, A Sporting Trip to See also:Abyssinia; Melliss, Lion Hunting in Somaliland; See also:Willoughby, East Africa and its Big Game; See also:Neumann, Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa; See also:Hay, Western See also:Barbary; Bryden, Kloof and See also:Karroo; See also:Millais, A Breath from the Veldt; See also:Thomson, Through See also:Masai-Land, and See also:Theodore See also:Roosevelt, African Game Trails (N.Y. 1910).
Big game in North America has been rapidly disappearing for several decades before the advance of civilization armed with breech-loading rifles. Among the carnivora, bears and pumas are the only species that need be taken into Am
North
e America.
See also:account as far as shooting is concerned. Of the former
three' varieties exist, the grizzly, rarely found east of the Rocky Mountains, the See also: In Alaska, bears are frequently shot along the See also:river-See also:banks, to which they resort in autumn to feed on the See also:salmon which then See also:crowd the rivers. Otherwise no fixed rule can be laid down for American bear-shooting; the quarry may be hunted with dogs, which " tree " the black bear, or bring the grizzly, which is unable to climb, to bay; it may be killed over a bait; it may be spied and stalked, or, most common of all, it may be accidentally " jumped " and shot by the hunter. The neck or heart is the most vulnerable spot to aim for, but bears are very tenacious of life, and astonishingly active, despite their clumsy See also:appearance. Their eyesight is See also:bad, but their sense of smell and See also:hearing very acute. The biggest of grizzlies will rarely charge unprovoked, unless it be a female with cubs, but when molested or wounded it will push its attack home with the greatest temerity, and caution should always be exercised in approaching a wounded animal, even when apparently dead. Of North American Cervidae the finest is the wapiti, invariably miscalled elk, once as plentiful as the bison, but now extinct east of the Rockies, where, though still fairly abundant, it is found in sadly diminished numbers. It is especially common in See also:Vancouver, but as is almost invariably the case with insular deer, the heads are small compared to those of the mainland. Wapiti-hunting is probably the finest sport in America, not only from the magnificent trophy these splendid deer afford, but also on account of the beautiful country they frequent in the United States; open See also:rolling ranges of hills interspersed with patches of See also:timber. Wapiti are almost invariably killed by stalking during the rutting-season, when the big bulls betray themselves by their defiant See also:challenge. The largest deer in the world is the North American See also:moose, which, except for a difference in size, is precisely the same animal as the elk of See also:Northern and Eastern Europe. It is essentially a forest-haunting animal, which in the Eastern States and Canada is frequently killed by "calling" i.e. imitating the call of the cow , and so attracting the rutting bull to within shot of the hunter. This is usually effected by means of a species of See also:trumpet made of See also:birch-bark, and in this art of ."calling" both white men and See also:Indians become exceedingly skilful. In Alaska, where the finest moose are found, they are usually stalked or " still-hunted " on foot, and to " still-hunt " these animals in dense timber successfully is a most delicate piece of wood See also:craft. Unless struck in a vital part a wounded moose will travel enormous distances, but a single shot in the heart, or better still, the neck, is usually fatal. A wounded moose can be dangerous and should be approached with caution. The North American caribou, which is practically the same animal as the European and Asiatic reindeer, may be divided into two varieties: the Barren Ground caribou, found in the north, and the Woodland caribou, found all over the forests of Canada, and in a few localities in the United States. The former is probably the only wild animal existing on the American continent in practically the same numbers as formerly, while the latter, thanks to careful preservation, is still abundant. The Barren Ground caribou of the northern regions of North America are frequently hunted by white men. They form the staple food of the natives of Arctic North America, and huge quantities of them are killed during the spring and autumn See also:migration, especially when See also:swimming lakes or rivers. The woodland caribou is easily stalked in fairly open ground, and a bullet in the heart or neck will kill the largest bull. Caribou and reindeer are the only animals of the Cervidae in which the See also:females have horns as well as the See also:males. The two most widely separated districts of Canada, See also:Newfoundland and British See also:Columbia, probably afford the best ground for woodland caribou. Other American deer are the See also:mule, or black-tailed, and the Virginian, or white-tailed, both widely distributed throughout the continent, but the latter, which is essentially a See also:denizen of thick forest, is much the most difficult beast to stalk. It is occasionally " hounded " or hunted with dogs, which drive it to runways where the hunterhas previously concealed himself. A smaller variety of the black-tail is found on the Pacific See also:coast. The See also:prongbuck, invariably, but incorrectly, styled an antelope, is a sporting little animal only found on open plains. It was formerly exceedingly plentiful, but is now sadly diminished in numbers. It can only be obtained by fair stalking, and the shot has almost invariably to be taken at long range. It affords excellent sport when coursed with greyhounds. It is the only hollow horned ruminant which annually sheds its horns. Now that the bison is extinct as far as shooting is concerned, the only bovine of North America is the See also:musk ox of the Arctic Circle, but few sportsmen care to undergo the discomforts attendant on the pursuit of this animal, which moreover is an exceedingly uninteresting beast of sport and offers but a poor trophy. The same may be said of the Rocky Mountain goat, a curious animal, which zoologically is an antelope, and which, though its pursuit exacts great powers of endurance and See also:mountaineering ability, is so stupid, or self-confident a creature, that practically no science is required to stalk it. Very different is the chase of the magnificent big horn or wild sheep, now scarce in the United States, but fairly plentiful in the Kootenay district of British Columbia, and which, when killed by fair stalking, affords a trophy that may be considered the Blue Ribbon of American big game shooting. It is occasionally hunted with dogs, which hold it at bay until the hunter can get within range, or it may be killed by watching the so-called " licks," or beds of See also:limestone See also:clay, to which these animals are fond of resorting, and which they lick or gnaw, presumably as a form of corrective. Big horn, varying according to locality, are found as far north as the shores of the See also:Bering Sea, and south to Northern See also:Mexico. The only other wild animal of North America that needs mention is the See also:puma or panther. This is invariably hunted with dogs, which " tree " it or hold it at bay until the arrival of the hunter, while a good pack of staunch hounds will kill it themselves. To seek it without the aid of dogs is useless, and it is therefore an uninteresting beast of sport. Certain American writers have claimed a rather See also:spurious courage for the puma, but the general consensus of See also:opinion is that it is a skulking, cowardly beast. No special battery need be taken to America; a .303 rifle is sufficient for all the big game of the continent, but a .400 or .450 cordite rifle is probably preferable for dealing with the big Alaskan grizzlies. Useful works of reference for American shooting are: Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman; See also:Van Dyke, The Still-Hunter; See also:Pike, The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada; Grohmann, Camps in the Rockies; Caton, The Antelope and Deer of America; American Big Game Hunting (edited by oosevelt) ; See also:Davis, Caribou Shooting in Newfoundland; Buxton, Short Stalks; See also:Whitehead, See also:Camp Fires of the See also:Everglades; and the volumes of the " Badminton Library " dealing with the subject. Although two or three sorts of unimportant deer are found in South America, as well as the puma and See also:jaguar, it does not call for special mention in respect of big game Aoat6 America. shooting, an extraordinary fact in view of the enormous size of the continent. The best work of reference is See also:Kennedy, Sporting Sketches in South America. Arctic big game shooting appeals to such a small class of sportsmen, and is so limited in its variety of game, other that it need not be touched on here. Full information on the subject can be found in the works of See also:Lamont, See also:Nansen, and other Arctic explorers. Some of the finest deer stalking in the world can be obtained in New Zealand, by those able to spare the time for so long a journey. Big game shooting is not only an exceedingly expensive amusement, but one of which the cost has been continually increasing, and no expedition of any length outside Europe could be enjoyed under an See also:expenditure of from Soo-500; but in view of the enormous difference in local conditions, no less than individual requirements, no hard and fast scale can be laid down. East Africa, and Somaliland are probably the most expensive localities in whicb
General considerations.
to hunt, on account of the numbers of porters, and followers, SHORE, JANE (d. 1527), See also:mistress of the English See also: It should be remembered that clothing should err on the side of warmth; a chill can be contracted in the tropics just as easily as in a temperate clime, and is far more dangerous in its effects. A small See also:medicine-chest should form part of the equipment, and most medicines can now be obtained in easily portable tabloids. Warburg's See also:fever See also:tincture, and See also:quinine, are essential in tropical or malarious districts. Cheap See also:rubber-soled shoes, to be thrown away when worn out, are excellent for See also:rock work, otherwise no footgear can equal a well-made English shooting See also:boot. Good field-glasses are preferable to telescopes, on account of their handiness. Now that big game shooting has become the " fashion," and facilities for world travel are increasing every year, people are prone to enter on the sport with but vague ideas as to its dangers, hardships and responsibilities. Presumably no one not of sound constitution would undertake an expedition to, say, Central Africa, or Asia; but even granted this necessary qualification, he may be naturally unfitted by temperament to deal with the discomforts and draw-backs inseparable from big game shooting, even under the most favourable conditions. He may be able to plant shot after shot on the bull's-eye of a stationary See also:iron See also:target, yet this is a very different matter from finding the shoulder of an animal moving through surroundings which closely assimilate with its own colouring, or from placing his bullet in exactly the right spot to stop the charge of an infuriated wild-beast. In such a situation, if eye, hand, or See also:nerve fail him, the odds are that the creature will kill him instead of his killing it, for, as has been truly said, dangerous wild animals when wounded, or provoked beyond endurance, will hunt a human being as a terrier does a rabbit. In dealing with coloured retainers, whether Asiatic or African, the hunter should above all remember that he is a white man, and exact implicit obedience and respect, by combining firmness with scrupulously fair treatment. Again, to instance a minor, but none the less important, essential, how many would-be big-game hunters are there who can See also:trust themselves to find their direction by a See also:compass, or See also:steer a course at night by the aid of the best-known constellations? Yet this is merely one of a hundred other requirements necessary_to travel in a wild country. (P. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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