BISON SHOOTING 



As indicated above, body shots in the case of 

 bison must be well placed, otherwise the animals 

 are likely to escape ; but if a limb-bone be broken, 

 the animal cannot go very far, though he may travel 

 for some little distance before he pulls up. 



Having bagged his bull, the sportsman's next 

 care should be to preserve its trophies. Of these 

 the head is, of course, the chief. If this be a 

 fine specimen, it is well worth while to forward it 

 for preservation to a taxidermist, but, as the bull 

 may be shot at a distance of a week's or ten 

 days' journey from the nearest member of this 

 profession, much labour must be spent upon the 

 "mask," or it will go bad and become quite 

 useless. 



In the monsoon in Mysore, it is an exceedingly 

 difficult matter to preserve a bison's mask. Per- 

 sonally, I succeeded in saving but one head-skin 

 of a bull shot at that time, and in this case it was 

 owing entirely to my having bagged it at a 

 distance of only some forty miles across country 

 from the large town of Mysore, that I was able 

 to save the head-skin. I effected this in the 

 following manner. I had taken out men enough 

 to carry in the head of a bull in case I should bag 

 one (four men are required solely for this purpose), 

 and the head was brought straight into camp 

 directly after the bull had been shot. I kept men 

 at work skinning it from about seven o'clock 

 (when it reached camp) till midnight, supervising 

 the operation myself to prevent any punctures 

 being made in the skin round the eyes, nose, crest, 



39 



