Guns and gunning . ot, and countson his accuracy with the small rifle doing the workinstead of its smashing power. The only draw-back to this calibre is that in unskilled hands itwould cause much suffering among the animals hit,as the shot must be admirably placed to causeinstant death or disablement. The most distressing part of hunting is thatoccasionally a wounded animal escapes and dies alingering death. The hunter should never allowan animal to die in this manner. I have seen anuneducated Indian travel mile after mile in pursuitof a wounded animal for no other reason than toend its sutfer
Guns and gunning . ot, and countson his accuracy with the small rifle doing the workinstead of its smashing power. The only draw-back to this calibre is that in unskilled hands itwould cause much suffering among the animals hit,as the shot must be admirably placed to causeinstant death or disablement. The most distressing part of hunting is thatoccasionally a wounded animal escapes and dies alingering death. The hunter should never allowan animal to die in this manner. I have seen anuneducated Indian travel mile after mile in pursuitof a wounded animal for no other reason than toend its sutferings. This crime happens less among real wildernesshunters than among sportsmen; and it should becarefully guarded against. When the hunting days are over, and the old gunis resting above the fireplace, our ideas on huntingchange. The successful kill becomes merely anincident of the hunt; not a lasting pleasure. Theliving memories are of the long, wild days in theopen, the glare of the Northern sun on ice-coated 31. mountains, and the sound of rushing camp we have made comes backto us; once more we hear the pack-horsesfeeding in the dusk, and the trout brookrippling among the cotton-woods. Thefaces of old camp companions are faces of friends grown rough, / from the wild life; others, narrow-eyed and bronzed, are the faces of wilder-7» ness men—low-voiced Indians, andtfhZ% whites with no home but the more we feel the pack andtump-line, and stagger weary into camp as thesun dips beyond the ranges. But there is no sting in an arduous task welldone, and the memory of cold and sleet-numbedbodies brings no suffering. The man who has never pressed a rifle-butt tohis cheek, does not know himself. Our wald side,handed down to us from the stone age, can only bearoused by warfare or the excitement of the in the wilderness is arduous, savage, and hard;but it is free as the mountain wind, and as open as thesky. The vsalderness man is rough
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