CHAPTER XXV 



HUNTING ACCIDENTS 



No game was ever yet worth a rap, 



For a rational man to play, 

 Into which no accident or mishap 



Could possibly find its way. 



Adam Lindsay Gordon. 



When the history of a season comes to be written, 

 and its excellences and its shortcomings reckoned 

 up, amongst other things that will come in for notice 

 are accidents. For from all parts of the country, 

 north, south, east, and west, in the shires and in 

 the provinces, comes the same tale. There are 

 accidents which have terminated fatally, and more 

 which have entailed considerable suffering on those 

 to whom they happened, combined with being 

 crippled for a longer or shorter period. Some 

 of these accidents have been occasioned by wire, 

 but not so many as one would think when one 

 comes to consider the many miles of wire fencing 

 which exist throughout the length and breadth of 

 the land. But to their credit, be it said, the great 

 majority of farmers are willing to have their wire 

 taken down. For some reason with which wire 

 has nothing to do, hunting accidents are becoming 

 more numerous, and it behoves hunting men to 

 look into the matter and endeavour to find the 



