10 DEER-STALKING. 



time for aiming very short, and except the stalk has 

 been made on a side wind, it is blowing straight into 

 the eyes, and if any rain is falling, that is also following 

 the wind and meeting the shooter's face. Given a dull 

 grey light, a mark to shoot at almost indistinguishable 

 from the background, plenty of ups and downs across 

 which to judge the distance, and it is far easier to make 

 a miss than a kill. To a marksman who is able, with 

 the sun at his back, on a nice fine day to place every 

 shot in the bullseye of a clear white target with a jet- 

 black centre this may seem almost past belief. 



All sights for sporting purposes should be made 

 " thick " : the cut A will show what is meant by a thick 

 sight set exactly right for a shot at a hundred yards 



(A) I &S I Cut B is a fine sight, set right to 

 ensure a hit at a similar distance- 

 Now nine shooters out of ten will find it much 

 easier to shoot with the thick sight than the fine sight, 

 and especially in quick and running shots. With 

 a rifle sighted as in cut A, it will be a good sight 

 from eighty to one hundred and twenty yards, and 

 between these distances the greater number of shots 

 at deer take place. At close quarters, from sixty to 

 thirty yards, the A sight must either be taken much 

 finer if aiming at the heart, or kept as in the cut 

 and held well underneath the heart ; for longer ranges 

 a little more of it must be seen. In the B sight, though 

 equally good at eighty to a hundred and twenty yards 

 if held as in the cut, in taking a shot at thirty yards, the 



