SPORTING RIFLES AND THEIR USE 363 



business, in which all the actions are mainly instinc- 

 tive, and there is little time for taking thought. 

 Success must chiefly depend, under such circum- 

 stances, on previous practice with the weapon used, 

 for want of which no concentration of thought or 

 exercise of will-power at the moment can possibly 

 make up. 



It is extraordinary how some men who shoot well at 

 winged game with a shot-gun, or with a rifle at a 

 target or other inanimate object, will occasionally 

 miss the easiest possible chances at big-game. 



A young relative of mine was with me one year on 

 Hitteren. He was an exceptionally fine performer 

 with the shot-gun, but, mainly from want of experi- 

 ence, and also, possibly, on account of temperament, 

 had no confidence in himself with the rifle. One day 

 we were driving Ram Fjeld, and he was posted on 

 the flank of the drive, at the end of a point of pine- 

 wood where good stags frequently broke. One of the 

 finest royal stags I have ever seen on Hitteren trotted 

 by this young man on that occasion within five-and- 

 twenty yards, and was clean missed with both barrels. 



Here was no real question of marksmanship. The 

 stag was missed probably because the chance was so 

 easy, and thus the rifleman was induced to snap at 

 the deer, without aligning the sights at all, as if it 

 were a woodcock in cover. 



Another friend of mine, an excellent rifle-shot at 

 a mark, could never rely on himself in woodland deer- 

 shooting, mainly owing to chronic and persistent 

 ' buck-fever/ The difficulty in these cases was not 

 the absence of marksmanship, but the inability to 

 command it when actually and quickly required for 

 use. 



