HUNTING IN THE MOUNTAINS 



is not in the immediate vicinity of man, it emerges 

 from its shelter to feed. 



Where numerous warnings have taught it prudence, 

 it will not leave its retreat until the evening twilight. 

 It will then wander about all night, sniffing the wind 

 so as to be warned of the presence of the leopard. 

 Dawn finds it still browsing greedily on the young 

 shoots covered with dew, and the sun rising over the 

 mountains will not disturb it. But when the piercing 

 rays have dispelled the morning mist the bushbuck 

 will retire to the thicket to digest its food. 



Knowing its habits, it is easy to hunt this ante- 

 lope. Early in the mornings or late in the evenings 

 it must be looked for cautiously, with a favourable 

 wind, at the edge of the thickets. If one does not 

 desire the toil of repeated climbs and difficult descents, 

 one must wait for it. In the shades of evening one 

 must then take up a position where the animals have 

 been seen to return, and be on the look-out and ready 

 to act, being on the alert at the breaking of the 

 smallest branch or the slightest leap of the monkeys 

 at play. 



If, on the contrary, one happens to be a keen sports- 

 man, regardless of thorns, and the treacherous beans, 

 the bristly pods of which hang over the path, one 

 must endeavour to distinguish the fugitive silhouette 

 of the surprised bushbuck in the depth of the ravines, 

 as it hastily springs through the broken branches. 

 When shooting this creature in covert, I cannot too 



(7) 



