58 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



before it is lying up. This means that he will 

 either blunder on to it, and put it up without 

 getting a shot, or else that he will have to wait 

 till the evening, with no certainty when he 

 resumes the trail as to the animal's where- 

 abouts. It may still be resting, or it may have 

 gone several miles. If he gets a shot under the 

 circumstances he may consider himself lucky. 



Bison shooting may be divided into three 

 phases. First, there is the walk or ride to the 

 ground. Then comes the hunting for tracks. 

 Some men profess to enjoy this. To the writer 

 it always seems the dreariest part of the whole 

 game. There is nothing particularly enlivening 

 about trudging up and down hill, wet from knee 

 to waist from the dripping undergrowth, and 

 from the waist upwards from perspiration. And 

 as the hours go by your hopes sink lower and 

 lower as the chances in your favour visibly 

 decline. Finally, there is the following of tracks 

 when found. This is most interesting when 

 your trackers are good and circumstances are 

 in your favour ; that is, when the ground is 

 sufficiently soft for straightforward tracking 

 and the hour is early. But with bad trackers 

 it is a most disheartening business, and after 

 several lengthy checks and much ' scratching 

 about,' it is advisable to close the proceedings 

 and march home. Some men make a point of 

 wandering all day in the jungle searching for 



