80 ROOSEVELT HUNTING GROUNDS. 



the greatest fatality among hunters. Particular care is therefore exer- 

 cised in waiting for the opportunity to drive home the most fatal shot. 

 The point of the shoulder and the base of the neck are the localities to 

 be aimed for. Most of the fatal accidents have occurred when follow- 

 ing a wounded lion into grass. As to buck, the best spot to aim at is 

 the shoulder,, for if the heart is not struck the lungs may be, or the arteries 

 around the heart damaged, or the shoulders so shattered that the animal 

 will be unable to run. If facing, the hunter generally tries for the base 

 of the neck, so that the bullet will rake the vital organs from front to 

 rear. Some of the buck are the most difficult to kill in the whole ani- 

 mal kingdom, not only getting away with perforated lungs and shat- 

 tered limbs, but with their very entrails dragging on the ground. The 

 first shot is therefore the all-important one — in the case of the bigger 

 game because the life of the hunter may depend upon it, and of such as 

 the buck, because the game may escape the hunter. 



CHARMS OF THE LION CHASE. 



First, see your lion. The charms of the lion chase consist largely ir. 

 pitting human wit against animal instinct, and getting the beast in such 

 a position that he must either stand or run. With all the uncertainties 

 of his conduct, the general policy of the lion is to mind his own business 

 and especially to avoid trouble with man. Still, he sustains his reputa- 

 tion of being the most wise and uncertain of the big carnivora. He will 

 even go so far as to retire meekly from a freshly killed buffalo or zebra 

 upon the approach of the hunter; but if the sportsman be persistent, and 

 the beast makes a stand, it means a fight to the death. But often a 

 hunter may search for days without even getting a sight of His King- 

 ship, even though his spoor may be fresh and his killings on all sides. 

 One expert states that during his six months in British East Africa he 

 spent thirty days looking for lions in a country where they were thick 

 about his camp every night, often seeking entry to the tents, and twice 

 making kills within a few yards of where the safari slept. 



It is generally considered that the safest lion shooting is on foot and 

 the most faverable ground a naked plain. As was the rule in the Roose- 

 velt hunts, a pony man runs the lion to bay and the chief approaches 

 afoot from another direction. Under such circumstances the lion inva- 

 riably charges at the pony man — first, because he likes horseflesh and, 



