CHAPTER VI 



HUNTING ALONE 



My own experience of hunting alone has been an 

 odd pig in the Dekhan and Central India, a con- 

 siderable number wherever met during the time I 

 have been in Northern India, and two trips of a 

 fortnight each at certain places near the Terai, 

 where I had excellent sport. 



Hunting alone is a charming sport. You are 

 generally in unknown country, you have to study 

 the ground and use your utmost pig- craft to fore- 

 cast the hog's run and the point he will make. 

 There is the certainty of a fighting pig. In off days 

 there is a joy in reconnoitring the country, and in 

 studying beats, drinking-places, and tracks. 



I have, however, little faith in the tracking powers 

 of any white man. Even my friend Mr. Clutterbuck, 

 of the Imperial Forest Service, skilled tracker 

 though he be, would, I believe, be the last to claim 

 an equality with the Gonds and Bhils of Central 

 India, or the wild jungle men of the south. 



The great drawback to hunting alone is the 

 expense. This is inevitable, for it all falls on one 

 man. And I find myself slow in company after hunt- 

 ing alone. One has been doing careful, deliberate 

 hunting, pulling up to the hog's pace in any but 

 the lightest cover, and taking ample time to give 



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