1 62 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



on horseback. This, however, happens not very 

 frequently, and the koodoo is, as a rule, far too 

 timid, watchful, and wide-awake to be caught nap- 

 ping in this way. If thus surprised in open country, 

 a man mounted on a good South African pony can 

 run up to a bull koodoo, and get his shot in two or 

 three miles of galloping. Not so, however, with the 

 cows and younger animals, which are pretty sure to 

 make their escape. As a rule, the koodoo is a beast 

 which lends itself far more to careful stalking than 

 riding up to on horseback. In hill country, not too 

 much bushed, where koodoo can be made out with a 

 good glass while grazing, some beautiful stalking is 

 occasionally to be got. At other times only a snap 

 shot in thick bush and forest offers itself. On these 

 occasions it is wonderful how the lordly bull, with 

 his grand horns, sneaks off, leaving to the baffled 

 hunter only a sight of the cows and calves forming 

 his harem. It is, indeed, marvellous how the koodoo, 

 encumbered as he is or ought to be by huge horns, 

 can slip through what looks like impenetrable bush. 

 Yet he does it, and does it easily and without effort, 

 laying his head well back so that his horns rest almost 

 upon his shoulders. 



Thanks to their bush -loving habits and great 

 watchfulness, koodoos are still common in many parts 

 of South Africa. Even in Cape Colony some hun- 

 dreds are to be found in the bush- veldt country of 

 Uitenhage and Zwart Ruggens. From Bechuana- 

 land and the Transvaal they are to be met with north, 

 east, and west, over much of the continent of Africa, 



