When you come back to judging how far off a man is you will underestimate the distance for the same reason.

Mist makes an object appear much further off than it really is; a sheep close by appears as large as a stag one hundred yards off.

Distance is very deceptive and if one is accustomed to judging the distance of an object of a certain size and then has to change to a similar looking object of a different size the difficulty is increased.

When I have been shooting at stags and judging their distance with fair accuracy and then change to roe deer shooting, the roe always seems much further off than the real distance, because a roe at one hundred yards looks the same size as a stag at two hundred yards off.

This difficulty is increased if the objects are mistaken for each other.

Suppose a river with steep banks, fifty yards broad, in a flat meadow, and you stand in clear atmosphere and full sunshine at a spot twenty yards from the nearest bank. From where you stand you cannot see the breadth of the river; the two banks looking like one line on the green of the meadow.

A faded, weatherbeaten, red fire bucket, is standing on the edge of the far bank, and a flower pot on the near bank.

Both objects look identical in size, shape, and colour because of the linear and aerial perspective at these distances, and it is impossible, unless they are studied very carefully with a telescope or field gla.s.s, to know which is which and therefore which is the further off. If you are accustomed to judging the distances of flower pots you would think the fire bucket was a flower pot and therefore only twenty yards off instead of seventy.

Be sure you know what the object is when using it as a means of judging distance, it may be something much larger or smaller of a similar appearance.

A pony, when seen through a thick haze, mistaken for a horse would entirely upset your calculations.

The use of being able to judge distances accurately is to enable you to decide how much to aim above a distant object to make up for the distance the bullet drops in going that distance.

The drop of the bullet increases rapidly as the distance increases.

Whilst at short range the drop is so slight that it does not signify except for extremely accurate shooting, the bullet does not drop in similar proportion at further range.

At two hundred it may not drop more than double what it does at one hundred, but the proportion of drop between two hundred and three hundred is still greater and so on; the flight of the bullet describing, not a section of the circ.u.mference of a circle, but a parabolic curve.

When shooting at a man standing upright this drop can be ignored up to four hundred yards with the Military Automatic pistol; as long as the aim is taken at the top of the chest it will hit him somewhere.

But if only a man's head shows it may be missed over or under according as the distance is misjudged, too far or too short.

If a puff of dust or a splash of water can be seen where the first bullet strikes it will serve to correct the aim for the next shot.

CHAPTER XLIX

GAME SHOOTING

The single shot .22 pistol is much used in the United States for small game shooting for the pot, when camping out after big game. It does not make much noise and also has the advantage of being very portable.

Game birds sometimes come close to a camp in the early morning or evening; and a sitting shot for the pot can be got at them without disturbing the ground, when a shotgun would clear all the ground for miles round.

I find a .22 pistol has not enough stopping power to prevent a wounded rabbit getting to ground and consequently lost. A great proportion of rabbits. .h.i.t with this bullet are lost.

I use a .44 duelling pistol for rabbit stalking when they are sitting outside their holes. If a rabbit is. .h.i.t by it he very seldom gets into his hole.

The big bullet does not spoil the rabbit as much as might be thought, the bullet being round and solid it only makes a hole of its own size and goes straight through the rabbit.

A .22 hollow pointed bullet makes much more mess and has the disadvantage often of not stopping the rabbit though it maims it. The duelling pistol would spoil a game bird if hit in the body but it is all right for a head shot.

It makes slightly more noise than a .22 pistol but it is a soft noise and does not travel far.

I think when game for the pot has to be shot that a ".22 short" cartridge out of a rifle with a telescope sight is best.

After all, hitting the bird at forty or fifty yards off with a pistol takes some doing, whereas with a telescopic sighted rifle the shot would be a certainty.

The pistol is very little used for what seems to me to be a very useful function.

When shooting big game there are many occasions when another shot has to be fired at wounded game unable to get away.

Say a wild boar for instance is brought to bay by the first shot.

He cannot be approached with safety to use the knife, he is killing the dogs, he has to be shot again.

Now you do not want to fire your rifle, which makes a boom like a cannon, as that would disturb the rest of the beat.

If you have a pistol which shoots a big .44 calibre ball with a reduced charge of powder you can go close up to the boar and kill him without making much noise.

If a wounded animal gets you down, a pistol which lies close to your hand may save your life, and if it shoots a heavy charge and is rapidly fired several times into his body, it would stop most animals except an elephant or rhinoceros.

A rifle can be lost in falling or lain on, the length of barrel prevents it being used at close quarters.

The objection to carrying a pistol in big-game shooting is that every possible ounce in weight has to be saved, especially in a hot climate. The pistol is so much extra weight and when climbing amongst rocks it is a great nuisance. To be of any use against dangerous game the pistol must shoot a big bullet.

In the instance of the wild boar, I mentioned a reduced charge but my idea is to carry the two sorts of cartridges and to have the automatic loaded with full charge cartridges, but if game has to be finished which is not endangering your life, I recommend putting in a gallery charge cartridge for this particular finishing shot so as not to make more noise than absolutely necessary, and not to disturb other game which may be near.

An automatic pistol built for a big charge will not function with a reduced charge. Such a charge does not give enough recoil to introduce the next cartridge and an automatic only works properly with the exact load it is designed for. With a reduced charge the automatic pistol, after the shot, remains half open.

If the magazine and also the cartridge which is in the barrel are first taken out, the gallery-load cartridge can be put in the barrel and fired.

Afterwards the loaded magazine can be put back again and the pistol is ready to shoot the heavy charge.

A single-shot .44 gallery ammunition pistol with very short barrel like the old-fashioned Derringer, could be carried without taking up any room or appreciable weight and be used for finishing deer, or other non-dangerous game.

The forester who goes with me moufflon shooting carries a 9 Millimetre Mauser Automatic pistol for self-defence against poachers and he shoots small game with it when he comes across it. It is, however, a noisy little pistol.

Do not take a smaller calibre pistol than a .38 for finishing big game. It does not kill them clear.

CHAPTER L

SHOOTING FROM HORSEBACK