The forest. iS 



i»i 



To locate them quickly you must always be listening for them. When they are 

 feeding they can be heard breaking branches, and when standing still they may be 

 heard blowing, stamping, and rumbling. Whenever the spoor leads you down a 

 valley, pause before descending and try to hear them below you or on the opposite 

 side. Then, once you hear the crack of a branch or the unmistakable scrunch of 

 a bamboo, all precautions should be redoubled. Having located an elephant by 

 sound, if he is feeding do not be in a hurry, but try to locate all the rest of the 

 party. If they are on the opposite side of a valley you may be able to catch 

 a glimpse of a tusk. After you have located your elephants you must approach 

 slowly, listening from time to time to learn of their movements, and testing the wind 

 carefully at intervals. 



So you gradually draw nearer, taking care that you do not pass any one of them 

 which might get your wind. If, when at last they come into sight, the nearest one is 

 a small tusker, and a big tusker is farther away, you have to decide whether you will 

 wait in the hopes of getting a chance later or see if you can get round the nearer one 

 without giving him your wind. Sometimes, when they are restless, and show signs of 

 going off, desperate measures have to be resorted to, such as running past the nearer 

 one and taking a rapid shot at the farther before he has time to get the alarm, or as 

 he is just preparing to bolt. Even as he goes off, sometimes a deadly shot may be 

 had from a little to one side at the back of the head near the earhole, glancing 

 forward into the brain. More usually, however, a broad expanse of rump is all 

 that offers itself as a target. 



As to the question of shots ; with a small bore the brain-shot is more effective, 

 but for this, the position of the brain must be known exactly. One advantage of 

 a small bore is that it disturbs the animals less, and so often allows one to have 

 a steady second and even third shot. If the animal falls to the brain-shot in any 

 other posture than a collapse into a kneeling position, make certain of him by 

 putting a shot into his brain at close range. To do this, however, approach him 

 from behind — not round by his trunk — and shoot at the back of his head, raking 

 forward into the brain. Very often one is compelled to forego this chance of 

 finishing him through the kindly offices of his friends, who gather round him 

 directly he falls, effectively blocking the view till they have helped him to rise. 

 They lift him to his feet, and he goes off, never to be again seen by you ; 

 for a shot which just misses the brain, as a rule, only stuns the animal for 

 about twenty seconds, and once he has regained consciousness he goes off 

 little the worse for the small bullet-hole in the massive bone of his skull. 

 If you could see the tusks of those helping him up you might shoot another, but, as 



