Ranching in the Bad Lands. 39 



tance, finding it a trifle over a hundred and ninety. I 

 always make it a rule to pace off the distance after a 

 successful shot, whenever practicable that is, when the 

 animal has not run too far before dropping, and I was 

 at first both amused and somewhat chagrined to see how 

 rapidly what I had supposed to be remarkably long shots 

 shrank under actual pacing. It is a good rule always to 

 try to get as near the game as possible, and in most cases 

 it is best to risk startling it in the effort to get closer 

 rather than to risk missing it by a shot at long range. 

 At the same time, I am a great believer in powder- 

 burning, and if I cannot get near, will generally try a 

 shot anyhow, if there is a chance of the rifle's carrying 

 to it. In this way a man will now and then, in the 

 midst of many misses, make a very good long shot, but 

 he should not try to deceive himself into the belief that 

 these occasional long shots are to be taken as samples of 

 his ordinary skill. Yet it is curious to see how a really 

 truthful man will forget his misses, and his hits at close 

 quarters, and, by dint of constant repetition, will finally 

 persuade himself that he is in the habit of killing his game 

 at three or four hundred yards. Of course in different 

 kinds of ground the average range for shooting varies. 

 In the Bad Lands most shots will be obtained much closer 

 than on the prairie, and in the timber they will be nearer 

 still. 



Old hunters who are hardy, persevering, and well 

 acquainted with the nature of the animals they pursue, 

 will often kill a great deal of game without being particu- 

 larly good marksmen ; besides, they are careful to get up 



