Even When Standing They Must
Be Struck Either Through The Head, Neck, Or Shoulder, Or They Will
Rarely Be Killed On The Spot; In Any Other Part, If Wounded, They Will
Escape As Though Untouched, And Die A Miserable Death In Solitude.
In narrating long shots that I have made, I recount them as bright
moments in the hours of sport; they are the exceptions and not the rule.
I consider a man a first-rate shot who can ALWAYS bag his deer standing
at eighty yards, or running at fifty.
HITTING and BAGGING are widely
different. If a man can always bag at the distance that I have named he
will constantly hit, and frequently bag, at extraordinary ranges, as
there is no doubt of his shooting, and, when he misses, the ball has
whizzed somewhere very close to the object; the chances are, therefore,
in favour of the rifle.
The deer differ in character in various parts of Ceylon. In some places
where they are rarely disturbed they can be approached to within thirty
or forty paces, in which case a very moderate shot can easily kill them;
but it is better sport when they are moderately wild. The greatest
number of deer that I ever saw was in the south-eastern part of Ceylon,
in the neighbourhood of Pontane and Yalle. The whole of this country is
almost uninhabited, and accordingly undisturbed. Yalle is the nearest
town of importance, from which a good road, lined on either side with
cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees, extends as far as Tangalle, fifty
miles.
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