324 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Van Dyke. I agree with him that the larger the bullet the 

 harder it hits, and so long as the trajectory remains as flat 

 as may be, up to two hundred yards, I am willing to sacri- 

 fice a trifle in accuracy if I can thereby add somewhat to 

 the striking-force. I used a double rifle, of sixteen-gauge, 

 for some time on Deer, and I can't remember ever losing an 

 animal fairly hit with it. 



It is absurd to taunt a man with using a rifle of large cali- 

 ber, and for such critic to consider himself more of a 

 sportsman in that he uses a pea-shooter, for the greatest 

 desideratum of any humane man ought to be to kill his game 

 as quickly as possible, and not inflict hours, and perhaps 

 days, of unnecessary suffering on a poor, inoffensive beast. 

 A small bullet certainly will kill a Deer or Antelope if it 

 hits him in a vital spot and with sufficient force; but as 

 such shots are the exception rather than the rule, when 

 taking all chances that present themselves, the use of any- 

 thing smaller than a forty caliber is, to my mind, unsports- 

 manlike. 



So long as nothing larger than a Deer is to be met with, 

 the forty caliber may do very well. It is never as good, how- 

 ever, as the forty-live or fifty. If an occasional Elk or 

 Bear is to be encountered, then the 50-110-300 repeater 

 is the proper arm. A large bullet, striking an animal 

 spot for spot (in other than vital places), is always much 

 more effective, for the simple reasons that it strikes a 

 greater surface, is going with much greater force, crushes 

 bones more effectively, bleeds the animal more rapidly, and 

 hence lets the vitality out of it sooner. 



I have not taken into consideration the far greater degree 

 of danger attending the use of the small-bore rifle; for if a 

 man chooses to attack a Grizzly with a 32-100 caliber, that 

 is his own affair, and he alone is taking the chances; but I 

 claim that it is wanton cruelty to habitually shoot at large 

 game with a small-bore rifle, since none but center-shots 

 kill on the spot, while all. or nearly all, wounded animals 

 wander oil' to die a lingering death, especially where they 

 ran not be tracked or run down with dogs. 



