364 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
true ; not that it matters much to the hunter, as anyone will 
allow who gets his friend to give him 100 or 150 yards’ start 
and then tries to ‘tree’ in time to escape him. The right tree 
never grows in the right place, and climbing in a hurry sounds 
easier than it is. It will be found that most men can run 
too yards in less time than they-can choose their tree and 
climb it to such a height that their fee¢ are ten feet above the 
ground. A bear, too, travels faster even than a frightened 
man on the flat. If you are charged, the best thing you can 
do is to stand fast and go on shooting ; and if there are two of 
you, and both of one mind, and mot standing too close together, 
there should not be much danger ; but better than that is to 
take pains about your first shot : or go close to your bear and 
shoot him in the head or neck, as the natives do. If you hit 
him in either of these places, you can kill him at once with 
an ordinary Winchester (45°90) ; whilst if you are using a 
Paradox or a big English Express, a shot ranging forward 
from behind the shoulder or (with a solid bullet) er the 
shoulder is good enough. 
Don’t shoot at a bear above you unless you are sure of 
killing him ; a wounded beast will almost always come down 
hill and may take you on the way ; and don’t shoot at a bear 
in the brush as if you were ‘browning’ a-covey of partridges ; 
nor follow a wounded bear into thick covert unless you are 
well insured, about to be married, or at the end of your sek 
nary resources for supporting your family. 
- Opinions vary as to the comparative ferocity and vitality of 
the different species, but perhaps individuals vary at least as 
much as species. I have known a black bear take a bullet from 
an English rifle fired by me point blank into her chest at ten 
paces, and then turn and gad/op uphill for 200 yards before — 
dying ; and I have known a two-year-old black bear ‘take 
three bullets, scattered indiscriminately over his back by my — 
friend’s Paradox (12-bore), and then turn and charge like a 
hero. He charged the wrong man, Agere as and eS ~~ in the 4 
head for his imipudence. 
ae ee ne eee 
