122 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



nowadays, a good deal of catching. As with the 

 hartebeest, it is impossible to run it down in fair, tail- 

 on-end chase. By getting between a troop grazing 

 on the flat and the neighbouring bush to which it 

 resorts, two mounted men can often, however, so 

 flurry and puzzle a herd as to be able to obtain 

 fairly easy shots, and by hard galloping and turning 

 the herd to one another, secure what meat or 

 trophies they may require. The shot is, of course, 

 taken when dismounted. A bullet, striking up the 

 dust in front of a galloping troop, will almost 

 invariably turn the game in a completely different 

 direction, even if they are nearing bush, and so 

 enable the gunner to get in his shot ; this manreuvre 

 can be repeated successfully two or three times. 

 Where Blue Wildebeest are little molested, especially 

 where occasional bush or tall ant-heaps offer con- 

 venient cover, the sportsman can usually obtain his 

 shot within 200 or 250 yards. As a rule, however, 

 these antelopes are sufficiently wary beasts, and, 

 especially in East Africa, prove extremely difficult 

 to stalk wherever the country is open. No beast in 

 the world is more tenacious of life, and a badly 

 wounded gnu is more likely than not to gallop clean 

 away and make good its retreat, even although hit 

 through the lungs, or with a broken leg. The flesh 

 is poor eating coarse, and only palatable to natives. 

 The head shaggy, massive, and Roman-nosed, and 

 surmounted by horns measuring as much as from 23 

 to 33^ inches in width forms a good trophy. 

 Native names for this animal are Kaop of Hotten- 



