I 4 4 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



two or three minutes. As a rule they are found on 

 open grass plains or in thinly bushed country, some- 

 times in open, park-like stretches of giraffe-acacia 

 forest. They are occasionally stalked, but stalking 

 in desert country is not a pastime that recommends 

 itself to the white sportsman. It is a sport fit only 

 for bushmen and Bakalahari. At night these ante- 

 lopes can be shot occasionally at the bracks and salt- 

 pans to which they are known to resort. The best 

 and most usual way to hunt them is on horseback. 

 If poor and in light condition, they take a great deal 

 of running down, and will probably beat a good 

 Cape hunting pony. If the antelope is in fair aver- 

 age condition, however, a well-mounted sportsman 

 can, after a long gallop, usually wear a gemsbok 

 down and obtain his shot. Great care should be 

 taken in approaching one of these animals when 

 wounded or at bay ; the antelope may charge in 

 desperation, and can inflict severe and even fatal 

 wounds with its long horns. There is a persistent 

 legend in South Africa that the gemsbok occasionally 

 impales the lion in its spring, and natives say that 

 only young and inexperienced lions will attack these 

 animals. When thus assailed, the gemsbok throws 

 itself to the ground and offers its spear-like horns to 

 all points of attack. A wounded sable antelope will 

 do the same thing. The flesh of the gemsbok is 

 pretty good eating, and its tough hide in much 

 request for riems or raw-hide halters. 



The Bechuana name for this antelope is Kukama ; 

 the bushmen of the Kalahari know it as Ko. 



