244 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



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as thick as your finger, growing about six inches apart and eight ! 

 feet high, you will find it exciting enough. The bull will | 

 probably turn short off at an angle just before he lies down, j 

 and if he means mischief will be watching his trail ; you will i 

 then probably get within ten yards of him before you see him, in ^ 

 which case you wall be able to realise the sensations of a valiant | 

 mouse hunting a man in a stubble-field. At this period in the | 

 chase you will naturally have the 8-bore in hand again. | 

 Presently the bull will either start up close to you, or you willi 

 perceive a black mass on the ground. Your only course then is I 

 to fire and lie down on the ground at once ; the smoke will 

 prevent your getting in a second barrel, and if the bull charges 

 the smoke he will gallop over you without seeing you. It is not 

 a bad plan to leave a man permanently up the first tree you 

 reach to watch till you have quite done with the cover, as he 

 will probably be able to see where the bull goes if he moves. 

 If the bull is wounded again in thick stuff and again lies down in 

 it, he is probably past doing harm ; but still it is advisable to 

 give him the time of another pipe. A man up a tree who can 

 watch the exact place he is lying in is invaluable. Natives at this 

 period of the chase, more particularly the inexperienced ones, 

 invariably get excited and lose their heads, offering to go in 

 and pull the bull out by the tail, and looking upon any precau- 

 tion taken as a sign of faint-heartedness on the part of the- fl 

 sportsman. If the sportsman gives way to them and allows i 

 them to accompany him in the final stalk, he will probably ] 

 get some fool hurt through disobedience of orders. The last ■; 

 approach to a wounded bull in thick cover should invariably \ 

 be made alone, or with one gun-bearer, the rest of the men being -j 

 put up trees. ■■ 



Solitary bulls, Sanderson declares, are not a bit more savage ' ■ 

 by disposition than herd bulls, and the instances of their attack- i 

 ing natives when unwounded are almost invariably due to the ;{ 

 bull being approached unawares within striking distance in the • ' 

 midst of thick cover. 



He narrates a case of a gentleman being killed on the : : 



