HEAVY RIFLES INDISPENSABLE. 255 



for long distances and take many shots. When one or more in a herd are 

 wounded, and the herd makes off, it is very difficult to follow the wounded 

 animals if the herd scatters, unless there is a strong blood-trail — wliich there 

 seldom is with bison wounded with small -bores, as their thick hide closes 

 over the wound. With an 8 -bore a decided effect is soon produced, and the 

 wounded beast will probably be found lagging behind before he has gone 

 far. The chagrin and disappointment of the young sportsman who has 

 worked for hours to get a shot at bison, and then sees them go off when 

 wounded with small-bores, as little damaged apparently as if he had l)een 

 using a pea-shooter at them, may be imagined. To give an idea of how a 

 wounded bison will hold out sometimes I will relate a single instance, out 

 of many similar ones I have seen. I wounded a solitary bull with my 

 12-bore spherical-ball rifle and 6 drams, hitting him rather too far back 

 behind the shoulder, one evening. Next morning we found a large quantity 

 of coagulated blood where he had lain down during the night, and we put 

 him up in thick cover a mile further on. We thought he would not go far, 

 seeing how much blood he was losing, and how soon he had lain down after 

 being wounded ; but we followed at a rapid pace from 8 a.m. till 2 p.m., 

 when I gave in, and the trackers kept on till dusk, without catching him 

 up, and we never saw him again. On this occasion the wound bled freely, 

 and I think I am within the mark when I say I saw more than a gallon of 

 blood from first to last on his trail. 



When the bison are ascertained to be near, the sportsman should ad- 

 vance with one or two good trackers and one gun-bearer only. The herd 

 may be found grazing unsuspectingly, if the advance has been carefully 

 managed, or a huge head and horns suddenly come into view, staring with 

 a pair of startled eyes at the intruders, and the next moment a loud snort 

 alarms the herd and they dash away. In any case, whether a shot has been 

 fired or not, the sportsman should run after bison without delay. Per- 

 haps only one animal has seen the danger, and the others often go but a 

 few yards before they pull up in hesitation. Bison have a formidable 

 appearance when thus roused, but they are not dangerous in reality. They 

 do not travel as fast as they appear to do from the noise they make, and 

 several shots may almost always be obtained by a good runner. 



An old solitary bull is always to me such a treasure that I take great 

 pains after it, and with such keen trackers as Gorrava and Bommay Gouda 

 it is seldom one escapes ; for a long time I have not lost one that we have 

 been after, I will commence the two or three incidents I shall relate in 

 bison-shooting with an account of one of my first attempts. 



In May 1870, when the young grass was springing after the early rains, 



