THE VULNERABLE SPOT. 



J. N. Hall, M. D. 



In the use of the rifle, the object 

 should be to cripple the animal 

 shot at to the greatest degree possible, 

 with the least injury to the flesh and 

 other parts of which we wish to make 

 use. I have known a hunting party to 

 take into the mountains, for use on big 

 game, arms of the latest patterns used 

 in warfare. The members of the party 

 did not appreciate the fact that in war 

 the object is very different from that 

 desired in shooting game. The guns 

 which these sportsmen took were made 

 especially with the object of inflicting a 

 wound which should cripple the man 

 receiving it, rather than one which 

 should cause death. Of course the 

 weapon capable of producing one of 

 these effects must be capable of produc- 

 ing the other, but the prime object in 

 the military arm is to render the enemy 

 unfit for service, not to kill him ; for the 

 wounded man must be cared for, and 

 thus embarrasses his own party, while 

 the dead one is beyond that necessity. 



But the hunter wishes to kill his game 

 outright, or cripple it so that it cannot 

 escape. Hence the rifle used should be 

 one of such calibre and weight of ball 

 that, with its proper charge of powder, 

 it may be most destructive to the game 

 hunted. In a general way this means 

 that we should use a larger ball in hunt- 

 ing than in the military service, and not 

 a jacketed projectile. The larger ball 

 has more " stopping power," inasmuch 

 as more resistance is offered to its pas- 

 sage through the body, so that more of 

 its force is expended upon the tissues of 

 the body. We do not wish to shoot a 

 hole through the animal, but to have the 

 ball enter and expend its full destructive 

 power on him, — rather than on the hill- 

 side beyond. 



Inasmuch as the jacketed projectile, 

 with its core of lead and its jacket of 

 steel, or other firm metal, is meant to 

 pass through the body without battering 

 or " upsetting," it is better in war, as it 

 cripples the first man struck, and is still 

 in effective shape for wounding any yet 



in range. But commonly in the field we 

 shoot at a single animal, and do not 

 wish to strike a second one unless after 

 mortally wounding the first. Hence 

 battering of the ball is desirable rather 

 than otherwise. In fact, w r e use ex- 

 plosive and hollow-pointed bullets for 

 this very reason, or make them of soft 

 lead that may more easily be deformed, 

 and thus produce greater destruction. 



We may thus conclude, in a general 

 way, that, while it is possible to kill game 

 nicely with a gun of small calibre, one 

 must do better shooting comparatively 

 to secure such a result than with a heavy 

 arm. With the latter he need not be so 

 particular to strike the most vulnerable 

 point. It is really much more merciful 

 to use a weapon of fair size, and con- 

 sequent good killing power ; for many 

 animals receiving mortal wounds with a 

 lighter ball escape and die in the wilder- 

 ness, when they might have been secur- 

 ed and used, if shot with a heavy ball in 

 the same manner. 



If the view be unobstructed and 

 the animal standing sidewise to the 

 shooter, excepting under the circum- 

 stances noted below, the best shot is at 

 the centre of a line from the withers to 

 the origin of the foreleg, or the 

 " shoulder line," as the hunters term it. 

 The reason is that here we have the 

 greatest opportunity for a killing shot, 

 and in such a place that an error of 

 several inches in any direction will be 

 of little consequence. Should the ball 

 go too high, it would break the upper 

 part of the shoulders rather than the 

 central parts at which we have aimed, 

 or would cut the spinal cord ; or, if still 

 higher, would break the spines of the 

 vertebrae, and by the shock imparted to 

 the cord, crease the animal, which may 

 then be killed by another shot. If too 

 low, probably the most common error of 

 all in such shooting, from the fact that 

 we are all prone to under estimate dis- 

 tance, it might break a foreleg, or pos- 

 sibly — and better — both of them. The 

 injury to the foreleg is much more 



