THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 299 



to even scratch one running deer out of fifty except 

 by accident. 



The sights must therefore be seen as plainly and 

 taken with the same degree of fineness as in a fine 

 shot at game standing. A certain amount of time 

 must be lost in doing this. It might better be lost 

 while raising the rifle than at any other time. For it 

 must be lost anyhow, and during that time the game 

 is getting farther away. Now if you jerk the rifle 

 hastily to the mark you will find the temptation to 

 fire when the sight first glimmers on the mark almost 

 irresistible; and if you do fire it will almost certainly 

 be with too coarse or vague a sight. But if you raise 

 the rifle deliberately, looking for the sights as it comes 

 up and holding your eye firmly upon them, this danger 

 will not be half so great. You will have no trouble in 

 keeping sight of the game all this time, whereas if 

 you make the game the first object of vision you will 

 find it very hard to catch a clear sight. And if you 

 toss up the rifle as you would a shot-gun, it will 

 actually take longer to find the sight afterward than 

 when raising it slowly and running your eye along it 

 as it comes up. Moreover, when raising it slowly you 

 are much more apt to raise it directly into the spot at 

 which it is to be fired, so as to require no adjustment 

 or shifting afterward; a thing which is the very 

 essence of all good shooting with either shot-gun or 

 rifle. 



In the next place, if the game is running across the 

 line of fire even at a very acute angle the rifle should 

 be raised ahead of the point you wish to hit. In ac- 

 cordance with the principle above stated (if the ball is 

 to be fired ahead of the mark at all) it is much better 

 to raise the rifle at once to the point at which it is to 



