Big Game Shooting 



they are as wild as hawks. They stare at one 

 seemingly stupidly for a time, but they have got 

 all their wits about them, and long before you 

 have taken them in thoroughly, they are off at 

 a gallop, whisking their tails, and, what is more, 

 they then disappear, and there is seldom the 

 chance of a second shot. Beware of taking on 

 a bull mixed up with zebra. He will lead you a 

 nice dance, and then you won't get him. 



I have shot them in Somaliland, where the 

 horns run bigger than in East Africa ; but at the 

 right time of the year, when the rains have made 

 the grass grow down the Guaso Nyiro, they are 

 to be found there in their hundreds. 



I was there in November and saw a quantity, 

 so what must they be like when there is plenty of 

 pasture ? 



In Somaliland the Midgans (hunter class) 

 pursue them with dogs. The skin on the withers 

 is a good inch thick, and is greatly prized by them 

 for shields. 



They are striking-looking beasts. It is very hard 

 indeed to pick the best head out of the forest of 

 horns that show up in the herd. A single oryx 

 will be a bull, and usually one worth shooting. 



If badly wounded, they will stand at bay with 

 tails to a bush, and, on one's getting close, will 

 lunge out with their long pointed horns in a very 

 nasty way. 



An average head would be thirty- four inches. 



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