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CHAPTER II 
COLLECTING MAMMALS 
SHOOTING 
The larger mammals are almost invariably taken by shooting, and 
some of the smaller species, such as squirrels and rabbits, are more often 
shot than trapped. Thousands of pages in books of travel and sportsmen’s 
journals have been devoted to the merits of various makes and calibres of 
rifles, and in general it may be said that high-powered rifles of flat 
trajectory and soft-point bullets are now almost universally used for big 
game. The calibre is not so important, as any good sporting rifle will 
do for most animals in this country. The hunter of lions or tigers is 
justified in wanting a bullet with a terrific smashing power, but a judicious 
collector does not want an animal with the skull shattered to bits, or with 
a great hole blown out of the side. The collector will find a few solid, 
steel-jacketed bullets useful for shooting smaller specimens, or finishing a 
wounded animal. The best finishing shot for a large mammal is gener- 
ally one through the neck vertebrae. If the bullet does not break the neck 
it will usually sever some of the large blood vessels. 
A deer or caribou that is brought down wounded may be cleanly 
killed as follows. Approach cautiously from one side and grasp the tip 
of antlers wdth the left hand. This give a tremendous leverage on the 
head and prevents injury from a swinging antler. Bend the head sharply 
downwards. This leaves an unprotected opening in the back of the neck 
between the atlas and axis (the first and second cervical vertebrae), and by 
thrusting the tip of a slender-pointed skinning knife through the skin just 
behind the bony ridge forming the posterior edge of the occipital bone, and 
down into the spinal cord near the point where it merges into the medulla 
oblongata of the brain, the animal will be killed instantly. As with many 
surgical operations, the procedure is simple, but is apt to work more 
smoothly if preceded by a careful study of the structure of a dead deer. 
This method is preferable to tearing the animal up with mushroom bullets, 
or to a slow death by thro at- cutting, a method which most sportsmen seem 
to follow as a tradition of the butcher’s trade. If the animal is skinned 
at once, sufficient bleeding will be done while disembowelling and dis- 
membering, and the animal will be perfectly good for food. 
The rifle is not ideal for collecting the smaller mammals as the rifle 
bullet tears them up too much. A shotgun is indispensable for general 
collecting of both mammals and birds. A double-barrelled gun is prefer- 
able, and shells loaded with different-sized shot, Nos. 10, 6, 4, 2, and BB. 
A few shells may be carried loaded with a single round ball that will pass 
freely through choke-bore barrel. This will shoot with fair accuracy for 
50 or 60 yards and the writer has killed caribou with ball in 20-gauge 
shotgun. 
When only one weapon is used, the double-barrelled, 20-gauge shotgun 
is generally the most useful, partly on account of the convenience of 
reduced charges of shot for small specimens, and above all for less weight 
(particularly of ammunition) on long trips far from base of supplies. A 
