Elands Shot. ig 



game is a more difficult matter, but the European can learn 

 to do this also if he only makes a proper study of the 

 subject. 



On seeing the elands I told the natives to lie down, and 

 I proceeded to stalk them, and after some difficulty I 

 got to within 150 yards, which is near enough to make good 

 shooting at animals of their size. 



The game was suspicious, so seeing a good bull that 

 presented a fair shot, I aimed at his shoulder and pressed 

 the trigger. He immediately gave a shiver and raised his 

 forelegs from the ground, as elands often do when hit well 

 forward, and dashed off with most of the herd, but another 

 bull was a bit slow in moving, and I immediately fired at 

 him also. The herd consisted of over thirty animals, and 

 the wounded beasts, were soon lost to sight, so I took the 

 spoor and soon found blood, and after tracking for a short 

 time I found the animal lying dead. This was the second 

 bull fired at, and as I could not find any more blood on the 

 tracks, and it was rapidly getting dark, I covered up the 

 dead eland and went back to the village, deciding to return 

 the next morning to look for the first animal I had hit. 

 After a wash and a good dinner, succeeded by several 

 pipes, I went to bed and was up at cock crow next morning. 

 As I can never eat much early in the morning, two cups of 

 tea and some toast was all I waited to dispose of, arid then 

 I started for the dead game, accompanied by over fifty 

 natives. We soon reached the eland and found it had not 

 been interfered with by carnivorous animals during the 

 night, although I noticed fresh hyena spoor in the sand 

 near it. I always hang my pocket handkerchief over game, 

 and this usually serves to keep off lions, leopards, or 

 hyenas. 



While I was measuring the horns of the eland and taking 

 a snapshot with my Kodak, a man who had wandered about 

 200 yards off called out that he had found the other eland 

 lying dead, and so it proved, and on following his tracks 

 backwards I found he had only run about 100 yards from 

 where he was hit and then fallen dead. He did not go off 



C 2 



