222 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



by the bush, a single creeper, like so much packthread to a 

 buffalo and yet quite strong enough to hold the stalker fast or 

 trip him up, that he may be unable to get out of the way. 

 Following buffaloes into bush sufficiently open to enable the 

 stalker to see and get a shot at them at a range of 30 or 40 

 yards is not attended with nearly so much danger as following 

 them into dense bush, where, owing to the dark shadows, it is 

 almost impossible to distinguish a beast from its surroundings. 

 Although the spoor of a beast may be seen leading directly 

 up to a bush, which looks a likely spot for a buffalo to lie down 

 in, the stalker may not be able to discover whether the beast 

 is there or not, and if it is there, he may be quite sure that the 

 buffalo, as it is standing or lying down in the shade, has a far 

 better chance of seeing him, as he stands more or less in the 

 open, than he has of seeing it. As the chances are so much 

 against the stalker seeing the beast until he gets within a few 

 yards of it ; as the difficulties of stopping it should it charge are 

 so great ; and as, if it misses him in the first charge, it will hunt 

 him, I repeat, as a terrier does a rabbit, it remains for the sports- 

 man, however keen he may be, to consider whether these risks 

 are worth running, even on the chance of being rewarded by an 

 exceptionally fine trophy. In any case he should not attempt 

 to follow up a buffalo unless he is properly armed with a heavy 

 rifle. 



Again, such sport is unsatisfactory, because in thick covert 

 the wind is very changeable, and is apt to chop round when 

 least expected. Such a change in the wind, even though quite 

 imperceptible to the stalker, is quite enough to reveal his 

 presence to the buffaloes, and away they will crash with- 

 out giving him a chance, just at the critical moment when 

 he is close up and expecting to see one of them at any 

 moment. As a buffalo is a very difficult beast to see when 

 standing or lying in the dark shade, the stalker has in most cases 

 to fire as soon as he sees it, and even though he kills it, it may 

 as often as not turn out that the beast is only a cow or a young 

 bull, with a head not worth keeping as a trophy. 



