HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



sights, and we had the mortification of seeing a large herd 

 of spotted deer disappearing into the forest about 150 yards 

 away, the rear being brought up by two fine buck elk. 



What a disappointment this was ; but we could not get 

 near them, and it was no use risking a chance shot. We 

 then went on, crossed one park and entered a belt of forest 

 between us and the next park. I was lagging behind 

 somewhat, and just as I emerged from the forest into the 

 next park I saw Westland and the trackers signalling to 

 me, so looking about I perceived a nice herd streaming 

 across the grass towards the forest on my right, a fair buck 

 bringing up the rear. The distance was too far and the 

 light too poor to risk a running shot, but as the last doe 

 disappeared into the jungle the buck stopped some thirty 

 yards behind to have another look in our direction. 



This was too much for me after glancing at Westland 

 and seeing he was not making for a shot, so, getting a tree 

 in line as cover, I sprinted as hard as I could towards the 

 buck for about 40 yards, dropped on one knee, edged 

 sideways past my covering tree, and took the best aim at 

 the deer my throbbing lungs would allow. There was the 

 unmistakable thud of a hit when I fired ; but the deer 

 darted into the forest and we followed up, Westland telling 

 me he paced the distance of the shot to be 123 yards. He 

 had not fired, as he could not see well enough at the time 

 and preferred leaving the chance to me, for which I was 

 duly grateful. We got on the track very soon and found 

 it was hard hit, but not in the lungs, as the blood-track was 

 dark and not frothy, so we left it and went on for a round 

 in other parks, coming back to the place in about two 

 hours and taking up the track again. It did not take long 

 then to locate the animal, which was, as we expected, lying 

 down, and which I finished with another shot. The first 



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