BISON SHOOTING 



Native servants cannot be trusted to boil water 

 for drinking purposes, unless the sportsman should 

 personally see it done, and few will take this 

 trouble. 



I have shot bison with a 4-bore, an 8-bore, a '577 

 express, and a '500 express. On the whole, for 

 work upon this game in fairly open forests and in 

 hilly country, I consider a powerful '577, with a 

 charge of 6^ drachms of powder, as the best weapon 

 for the sport, the bullets used being either solid, or 

 with only a very small, short hollow filled by a 

 wooden plug. 



Its accuracy and handiness are great advantages 

 in favour of the '577, and my experience of the 

 weapon is that a bull hit fairly accurately with it is 

 as good as bagged, though he may, and probably 

 will, unless shot through the heart, require some 

 more shooting before he is laid low. 



In very dense cover however, in which following 

 up a wounded bison is dangerous work, I should 

 prefer the 4-bore, as it has great knocking-down 

 power, and a bison hit at all accurately with it either 

 drops at once, or stands helpless. 



An 8-bore is also a capital weapon for bison 

 shooting, and I have shot many with this bore, 

 though I have also hit and lost a good number 

 with it. 



The '500 is not to be recommended for use upon 

 bison, though they can be killed with it if solid 

 bullets be used, and it is certainly useful for braining 

 a bull at the end of a hunt. 



The number of bullets occasionally found in an 



31 



