THE FOREST AND THE PLAINS. 357 
shot be lodged here, it will infallibly strike the heart. 
The head should never be aimed at unless in a standing 
shot, by a certain and steady marksman with a ball in his 
gun. : 
For large game shooting, the rifle should not carry a 
smaller ball than 32, and I greatly prefer 16 to the lb. A 
deer which will carry off a bullet of 60 or less to the 
pound, apparently unharmed, and die of it in a week after- 
ward in misery, and unprofitably in the lonely wilderness, 
will either fall to the shot with broken bones, or bleed 
to death in a few leaps, more or less, from the large wound 
inflicted by an ounce ball. 
For buffalo hunting on horseback, the new breech-load- 
ing carbine, described at page 121, is the implement of all 
others, for ease of loading, quickness of firing, and the 
tremendous penetration of its large acorn-shaped ball. 
All sporting rifles should be fitted with fowling-piece 
stocks, and back-sights moderately open at the top, for 
catching rapid aim in snap shots, though at the bottom 
they should be filed into mere hair-line clefts, for the 
purpose of drawing a fine bead, when desirable. 
Remember, after firing, the first thing to be done is 
always to reload. No practice is so bad as to go up toa 
beast, when it has fallen, with an unloaded weapon. If 
the animal be of a dangerous nature, it is doubly perilous 
so to approach him, even if he appear to be dead. The 
first infliction of a wound often produces a stunning sensa- 
tion, and a sort of stupefaction, which passes away on the 
fear or rage produced by the sudden advance of an enemy. 
I have more than once seen deer spring up, go away, as if 
