DIFFICULTY IN KILLING SOME WILD 

 ANIMALS. 



In reading the endless accounts given by sportsmen of 

 their successes and failures in hunting wild animals, it is 

 often a matter of surprise that a powerful animal should 

 drop dead on receiving the first bullet; it also seems 

 absurd to read of an enormous expenditure of ammunition 

 without any fatal consequences. It is not difficult to 

 understand the cause of these different results, if we con- 

 sider how frequently the bull's-eye is missed by a very 

 good shot, although he takes a deliberate aim at an im- 

 movable target. In shooting wild animals no dependence 

 can be placed upon the movements of the beast, no time 

 must be lost, and what may be termed the bull's-eye in 

 the animal is concealed inside the body. It becomes a 

 matter of chance that the exact vital spot is hit, therefore 

 it is only by a lucky accident should the animal fall to the 

 first bullet. Of course much depends upon the knowledge 

 and skill of the sportsman who knows the most vulnerable 

 part, hence we find a powerful beast sometimes killed by 

 a single shot, while, on the other hand, an equally fine 

 animal is riddled with bullets without being at once dis- 

 abled ; although it generally gets away and most assuredly 

 dies a lingering and miserable death. 



I give here an illustration of how a round hole can 



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