68 HUNTING TRIPS 



that is written about the distances at which 

 game is killed. Rifles now carry with deadly 

 effect the distance of a mile, and most mid- 

 dle-range hunting-rifles would at least kill at 

 half a mile ; and in war firing is often begun 

 at these ranges. But in war there is very 

 little accurate aiming, and the fact that there 

 is a variation of thirty or forty feet in the 

 flight of the ball makes no difference; and, 

 finally, a thousand bullets are fired for every 

 man that is killed and usually many more 

 than a thousand. How would that serve for 

 a record on game? The truth is that three 

 hundred yards is a very long shot, and that 

 even two hundred yards is a long shot. On 

 looking over my game-book I find that the 

 average distance at which I have killed game 

 on the plains is less than a hundred and 

 fifty yards. A few years ago, when the buf- 

 falo would stand still in great herds, half a 

 mile from the hunter, the latter, using a 

 long-range Sharp's rifle, would often, by 

 firing a number of shots into the herd at 

 that distance, knock over two or three btif- 



