J 
SPRINGBOK AND BLESBOK SHOOTING 143 
ewe lying dead with her neck broken by the Martini-Henry 
bullet. 
When relating this killing of buck at long ranges to the 
uninitiated, I have often noticed a difficulty on the part of my 
hearers to credit such statements. Therefore let me try to 
explain as nearly as possible the conditions and facts of range 
shooting. Trained on the open flats in the Transvaal, a hunter 
by long experience will get at last to judge distance with a 
nicety quite astonishing. 
Springbok or blesbok, the inhabitants of these flats—not 
over large marks to shoot at—will generally only permit the 
hunter to approach within two hundred and fifty yards, 
unless there are unusual facilities for cover in stalking. Opening 
fire at this distance the hunter may perhaps miss the first shot 
by miscalculating the distance, but the dust raised by the bullet 
instantly shows him where the error lay, and hastily rectifying 
any mistake, and allowing for the distance gained by the fleeing 
game from shot to shot, he lets drive several bullets in quick 
succession, always watching when the herd has run together in a 
bunch, and probably will give the last shot at about eight hundred 
yards. If he is at all accustomed to this kind of sport there will 
probably be two or three buck lying hit in the trail of the troop. 
It is a peculiarity of game on the fiats that as they start running 
they spread out in their course, and then, as if seeking confidence 
by closer proximity, all huddle together, running with their sides 
touching for a second or two, and then spread out again. It is 
this moment of closer contact that the hunter selects for his 
bullet to strike the mob ; therefore judging the time it takes the 
shot to travel the distance, the experienced hunter generally 
manages to drop his bullet to a nicety at the proper moment, 
and makes a hit. Often a smaller troop, of blesbok especially, 
will run in line one after the other; then there is no other diffi¬ 
culty than to fire well ahead into the retreating line to make 
a hit. 
This constant wielding of the rifle and practical experience at 
estimating distance makes this hunter a very dangerous marks- 
