Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
General
Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)
Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
Game and game-birds; Hunting
I have only twice tried sitting over a water-hole or other drinking
place, a method perhaps less sporting than any other, although a very
favourite way of killing game in South Africa in former days; and
my attempts at this form of sport met with such poor success that I
know little or nothing about it. There can be no doubt but that the
Kilimanjaro district and suchlike places are not favourable to this
form of shooting, as there is so much water about, that game cannot
be relied upon to drink at the same place two nights running. To be
successful, water should be scarce, and there should certainly not be
a running stream, with its numerous and well-used drinking-places,
within at least eight or ten miles of the place to be watched. Although
my two attempts were failures, this plan would no doubt be well worth
trying, more especially when there were lions about. Other game, such
as rhinoceroses, buffaloes, and various antelopes, if not to be found
on their feeding grounds in the open at daylight, can be tracked into
the bush, &c. The spoor of a lion, however, excepting in soft ground,
is so difficult to see that it is almost useless to attempt to follow
it.
If a well-used water-hole could be found where game was in sufficient
quantities to attract lions, it would be advisable to watch it on the
chance of getting a shot at a lion--a chance which may not be offered
for months by daylight, though lions may be heard roaring near the camp
night after night.
And now to deal with the last feature of a stalk--the shot. It may be
taken as a general rule that all big game should be shot behind the
shoulder.
Roughly speaking, a bullet placed in the lateral centre of the body,
or a trifle below the centre, and a few inches behind the shoulder in
a perpendicular line with the back of the foreleg, will kill anything,
provided, of course, the bullet has sufficient penetration; as, even if
the heart is not touched, the lungs, which are a much larger mark, and
almost equally vital, certainly will be. The chest shot when the beast
is facing the sportsman is equally good. With elephants, however, when
at close quarters, which would be either in long grass or thick bush,
the head shot is preferable, as a bullet in the brain will be instantly
fatal, and the risk of a charge under conditions unfavourable to the
stalker will be avoided. The danger of a charge in such circumstances,
more especially on a calm day, is greatly increased by the dense cloud
of smoke caused by the explosion of ten or twelve drachms of powder,
which hangs in the air and prevents the stalker from seeing the result
of his shot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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