SPOTTED DEER 



probably torn the heart, whilst another portion of the 

 bullet had actually gone out at the chest, which rather 

 surprised me, as these bullets usually content themselves 

 with very excellent " mushrooming," and remain inside. 

 The head was a shapely one, and the steel tape gave the 

 measurement as 26-| inches. 



The men were loud in their expressions of surprise at 

 the power of the .303. 



After this occurrence I had more sport with some pigs 

 before we got to camp, which I give an account of in the 

 chapter on that subject. 



Two remarkable slices of luck with deer fell to my 

 share lately during a trip with H. D. Garrick. 



The day before we broke camp we each went an extra 

 long round to try and end up a fairly successful trip in good 

 style, having with us my favourite local guides and trackers, 

 two of whom were very good men. I had with me one of 

 the trackers and one of my coolies, and went south, whilst 

 Garrick with two local men went eastwards. 



I tramped 5 blessed miles, seeing nothing but a few 

 does, and at last, coming up to a sort of screen of bush 

 dividing a " park," I saw a doe on the other side feeding 

 unsuspiciously, which I watched, keeping an eye on the 

 open space in which she was feeding. Presently a doe 

 out of sight on my left began to bark, and shortly after 

 the herd began to stream slowly across the grassy glade in 

 which was the first doe, making for the jungle. Finally 

 the buck came in sight, with a poor head, but still a buck, 

 and I fired at him through the bush, distinctly hearing the 

 bullet strike with a " plop." 



Off they all went, however, and we started to track but 

 could find no trace of blood, nor that the buck had separated 

 from the herd, all having kept together in the forest. 



231 



