58 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



his siesta^ is very hard to distinguish from the red rocks 

 amongst which he hes, and even when you have found one or 

 more of the really big fellows the probability is that they will 

 be lying in some spot to which it is impossible to approach 

 unseen. 



By sleeping, as suggested, at the top of your ground, or 

 near it, you avoid the necessity of rising at midnight ; of forcing 

 your way in the dark through thickets of tall weeds, which 

 soak you with rain or dew ; you are sure of being at your look- 

 out station in time ; you can examine several faces of the 

 range at once, and choose that on which you see game in the 

 most approachable position ; you begin your day's work 

 fairly fresh, instead of being dead beaten by a stiff climb before 

 dawn; you get a chance of stalking your game from the only 

 point from which it can be stalked with any reasonable hope 

 of success, and all at the price of a somewhat uncomfortable 

 and chilly night's rest. 



There is one other point worth noticing before I tell the 

 story of a day's stalk as illustrating tClr-hunting generally, and 

 my last point is this : Having fired your shot, lie still until you 

 know certainly what the result of it has been. If you have 

 missed, you may, if you do not show yourself, get a second 

 shot, and this is especially the case with mountain beasts like 

 the tlir, which do not seem to ' locate ' sound as accurately or 

 quickly as lowland beasts. 



If the animals fired at move oft' at a run, wait a few moments 

 before firing again, and you will be rewarded by seeing them 

 pull up and stand at least once more before they are out of 

 range. Unless you are a very first-class performer, one chance 

 at standing game is worth a dozen at game ' on the jump.* 

 Again, in any case lie still at first, for if your beast is wounded 

 he may either lie down before going very far, or even come 

 towards you if he has not seen you. I have had a brown bear 

 blunder almost over me when wounded, and that not because 

 he meant mischief, but because he had not seen me and did 

 not know where the shot came from. Even when badly scared. 



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