Big Game Shooting 



Eland are found in herds of from five or six to 

 twenty, and sometimes fifty and sixty. The bull 

 (there is, as a rule, only one big one to the herd) 

 invariably comes last. 



I cannot help thinking that the eland is quite 

 the most difficult animal in the jungle to get near. 

 It may be my stupidity in stalking, but I have 

 come across lots of herds, and up to date I hold 

 that opinion. Anyhow, if a sportsman does a 

 really careful stalk, I hope Luck will befriend him 

 better than she has me. The first eland that 

 I killed was a cow, I am sorry to have to 

 relate, and that was also through my stupidity. 

 I had done a most painstaking stalk to within 

 sixty yards, and thought that at last my patience 

 was going to be rewarded. However, something 

 startled them, and the bull and an unfortunate 

 cow got mixed up behind a bush ; at any rate 

 they came out wrong way on, and in the rush 

 I bagged the cow with one shot. I found that 

 one '256 Dum-dum bullet was sufficient to lay her 

 out on the spot. I mention this, as lots of people 

 tell me that they are as a rule very difficult 

 animals to stop. 



I have before and since pursued them violently 

 in bush, grass, and on a fairly open plain, but I 

 suppose I am fated not to get a real big bull, or 

 anywhere quite near a herd. 



On going down to water, the cows and calves 

 come first, and very often pretend to be frightened 



126 



