HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



I have never watched over a " kill " or a live bait ; 

 for one thing, " kills " in the jungle are few and far 

 between at least they are not often come across by 

 the sportsman fresh enough to be watched over, though 

 " Spots " is a pretty foul feeder ; and again, if a kill of 

 a cow or bullock is reported on a main road as I pass 

 along, I have usually no time or inclination to lose a day 

 and night for the off-chance of a shot. When camping 

 in the jungle it is often advisable to visit the remains of 

 an animal you may have shot for at least two following 

 days after the event. You may by chance catch a leopard 

 at it ; but, again, more often than not you will find the 

 remains untouched. I have never caught a leopard on 

 the feed, though I have been too late or too early more 

 than once by a few moments, and I have known remains 

 of deer, pigs, and bears carried away altogether by leopards 

 during the night. We have few isolated patches of jungle 

 which could or can be beaten out, as is done in some parts 

 of India, and I doubt if our natives would beat for a 

 leopard. The whole jungle country is so hopelessly 

 " jungle " that a shot, as I said before, can only be got 

 by accidental meeting, by watching a kill or a live bait, 

 or by watching at a water-hole. The range of these 

 animals in Ceylon is so wide that no amount of certainty 

 can be attached to any one of these methods except the 

 water-hole, and even that is by no means to be relied on. 

 Though I have watched at very many water-holes, and 

 been fairly successful with bears at that game, I have only 

 thrice seen leopards come to holes I have been watching 

 over, though they seemed to have visited every other hole 

 but the one I happened to be at. This was sheer ill-luck 

 and not caution on the part of the leopard, for he stalks up 

 to a water-hole as though the whole jungle belonged to him. 



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