HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



shoot to kill, and take every care to make your shot fatal. 

 That is where the humane part of sport, if there is any 

 such thing, comes in. 



Off-hand shots, however, have often to be taken, so it 

 is just as well to be able to bring them off, and nothing but 

 practice will insure this. 



This is a most important point ; unless you are a com- 

 petent and practised rifle shot, do not think of going a 

 shooting trip without as much preliminary rifle practice as 

 you can put in. You must know your rifle and your own 

 ability to use it, or your " bag " will be a very poor one, 

 for you will suffer from "nerves," and shrink at the shot 

 or jerk the trigger, neither case tending to improve your 

 shooting. 



Speaking of nerves, can any sportsman say that his heart 

 does not beat quicker, and his whole frame tingle with 

 excitement, when his chance comes to take a shot at a fine 

 buck, or indeed at game of any sort ? I hope not I hope 

 not ! 



The confident shot and good sportsman can steady 

 himself down when the times comes, but the incompetent 

 novice cannot, and the result is a miss. 



Practice and experience will, however, soon change all 

 that, as I found out when I went in seriously for rifle- 

 shooting ; and I look back with sorrow and regret to the 

 days when I used to go out merely armed with a "Paradox" 

 12-bore and no preliminary practice, expecting to make a 

 decent bag not that I used to come back empty-handed, 

 but oh ! what chances I missed that I could now make 

 certain of with a rifle! My old "Paradox" is a deadly 

 weapon, and I have used it, and still use it, with great effect 

 for close-quarter shooting on big game, and especially for 

 night work on bears ; but I used to funk the recoil when 



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