H4 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



behind, and I once hit a warthog in the stomach with 

 a soft-nosed bullet, and the stomach fell out of the exit hole 

 and I picked it up on the spoor. I naturally thought the 

 warthog would be lying dead; but it jumped up when 

 approached, and I killed it with another bullet. This is 

 not nice reading, and I will not mention other cases ; I 

 only state these to show how tenacious game is at 

 times. Of course such incidents are exceptions, and not 

 the rule ; and they are the result of bad shooting in the 

 hind quarters. With experience one learns to aim coolly 

 and not to fire uncertain long shots at animals standing at 

 unknown angles. After seeing the pain caused by 

 indifferent shooting, the humane-minded sportsman will 

 take greater care in aligning the sights of his weapon, and 

 he will take greater pains to get within a good sporting 

 distance. 



Personally, I find the best position for a standing shot is 

 a rest against a tree, taking care that the barrel does not 

 touch the wood, as the jar w r ill cause the bullet to fly wide. 

 When the grass is long it is impossible to sit down and 

 expect to see the game, unless one is perched on an anthill 

 or rock ; but in the dry season, when the grass is burnt 

 and the leaves withered, I find that the steadiest position 

 is to sit down and put an elbow on each knee, which is a 

 favourite position among the deerstalkers in the forests of 

 Scotland. I seldom lie down unless I get on an anthill, as 

 even in the dry season there is usually too much vegetation 

 in the way. A strong reed or twig is enough to turn 

 aside a bullet, and it is sometimes very difficult to find a 

 path for the bullet in thick bush, where the stems of the 

 trees are closely grouped together. 



The object of the sportsman is to bag males, as a rule ; 

 but many of the antelope cows carry good horns, and, to 

 mention the principal, there are eland, sable, roan, and 

 hartebeest ; though none of them carry such fine heads as 

 the bulls, for they are thinner and shorter, except in the 

 case of the eland cow, which often grows horns as long 

 as those of the bull. 



