16 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



rains, it would hardly be worth while making 

 a long journey — possibly of several weeks — 

 into independent territory, when permission to 

 shoot one or more close at hand could probably 

 be obtained without difficulty. In the rains 

 elephants wander into the dry zone, finding 

 sufficient cover in the thick scrub which grows 

 in certain tracts, and are often to be found 

 within a few miles of villages, too close to be 

 pleasant to the unfortunate cultivators, whose 

 crops they ravage during the night. 



As regards the pursuit of elephants, the 

 writer's experience differs from that of many 

 sportsmen. So far from having to cover huge 

 distances after elephants, he has almost invari- 

 ably found them easier to locate, 1 and easier to 

 come up with, than any other species of heavy 

 game. Of course, if one particular beast is the 

 object of pursuit, and if tracks are followed 

 which are perhaps two days old, a long, stern 

 chase may be expected. But where elephants 

 are plentiful it is rarely long before fresh traces 

 are found, or the animals themselves are met 

 with. Indeed, the difficulty very often is to 

 avoid them when after .bison or tsaing, and 

 elephants are in the neighbourhood. Sooner 

 or later you are bound to run up against them, 



1 Locate here refers to the approximate marking down of 

 animals in a particular jungle or area after tracks have been 

 found, and does not include the journey from village to village 

 in quest of information. 



