Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-21
COST OF BIG CANE SHOOTING
Effective Work in African Wilds Re-
quires a Small Arsenal.
Also NERVE AND TRUE AIM
some Of the Conditions Roosevelt Will
EneosRter in the JungIe-Tksiu-
ing Experience with an
Elephant.

hunter, whose years nave been spent In
the search for ivory over the veldts and
jungies Of East Africa, relates in Hamp-
tons Magazine some experiences In the
wilds, with special reference to President
Roosevelt's hunt. The captain says. in
part;
The experience President Roosevelt has
gained hunting game on the North Ameri-
can continent will be OF little use to him
on his expedition into the wllds Of East
Africa Hunting In America is a sport,
something to be played at; hunting in
Africa IL a trade. almost a profession. In
America one merely takes a rifle and goes
out TO shoot. In Africa, TO hunt a la
mode. one takes a battery OF arms, usually
three and sometimes four. high power
rifles OF different caliber. ranging from six
and five-tenths millimeter TO a 600 cordite
express. The cartridges for these rifles
are charged with various bullets, solid
nickel. steel. soft nose long. soft nose short
and split.
Specially Designed Bullets.
Each of these bullets was designed by
experts for a special use, and on the way
they are used depends the success of ones
shot Often the use OF the unsuitable bull
let ends on the hunters death. On small
game the light callber arm. six five-tenths
~mlllimeter. is used. and on large end dan
gerous game the nine millimeter Mauser
and 600 caliber cordite express give the best
results. The last named rifle strikes the
enormous blow of 500 pounds. and has a
recoii OF close on 100 weight. That the
man whose hunting experiences has been
confined to bird shooting with %shotguns,
or small game, with, say, a thirty-two
csliber rife. may understand the meaning
of tbeaa fiQrfraq LAT na state that tho
ordinary thirty-two caliber rifle had a
recoil OF perhaps ten to twelve pounds.
The double-barrel shotgun. which to the
ordinary hunter seems to have all the
Kicking capacity any weapon needs, has
a recoil Of from twenty-five to thirty
pounds.
The GOO caliber cordite express is the most
deadly hand arm made.
Notwithstanding the terrific force of this
600 express bullet II must be placed in the
correct part of an elephants or a rhinoc-
eros anatomy to bring him down. The
hunter must put the shot into the animals
head or heart. or he must face a charge
that will probably end in his destruction.
Rifles OF various caliber are carried for
economy. 1t is cheaper to use a small six
f~lve-tenths millimeter rifle on small game,
a nine millimeter on m edium game, and a
six hundred express on big game, than to
carry one weapon for all-Tound work.
which would have to be big enough at
least for the largest game. Nothing smaller
than a four hundred and fifty express
would do for that. and 1t would be dis
tlnctly uneconomical. not to say foolish, to
shoot a small antelope, the size of a goat,
with a six hundred EXPRESS. It would be
like using a pile driver to kill a mosquito.
Again. cartridges become very costly by
the time they reach the interior of Africa.
A cartridge for a six hundred express rifle,
for instance, costing 6-pence, az cents) In
London, reaches an enormous price by the
time It gets into the hunting grounds of
Africa I nave seen them bring 8 shillings.
Elephant Hunting.
Most gam drops at the first shot from
the rifle Of an experienced hunter. THE
game that makes the story is the game
that's missed" as the Swahili (East coast
n~atives) say. and there is nothing truer
than that saying, as far as my expert
nnces 60. for a bad shot nearly ended my
trek a little while ago in the lake coun-
try. I was treking between Lake Albert
Edward N'Yanza and Lake Kivu, the
greatest stretch of hunting ground in the
world. with a caravan of a hundred men.
We had marched steadily through the early
part Of the day and. now that the merci-
less white-hot sun was directly overhead,
/ called q halt. Each member of the
caravan threw himself down In the shade.
excepting my shikaree Nick, a boy from
the other side Of the continent. a native of
Senegal. He never rested, and as he got
a percentage of the ivory we secured. he
never let the soles of his feet grow soft
for want OF exercise. About an hour passed
before Nick came swinging Into camp with
his white teeth cleaning like new swords.
I knew by his smile that there was some
thing afoot. He walked straight to my
elephant guns and beckoned me. I knew
he had struck a fresh spoor (traiD. Selling
my arms. / signaled my gun bearer and
struck out. Nick leading.
II there are any elephants about at mid
day. the hunter is pretty sure to make a
good bag. for at that time they rest out
Of the direct rays OF the sun. doing the
hot hours away. and are easily approached.
sighting he Game.
After half an hours walk through grass
that was at least twenty feet high. we
came across a herd Of about twenty ele-
plants. among which there were some fine
bull tuskers. AS 1 expected, they were all
resting out OF the sun. They were diff
cult to get at on account of the thickness
OF the underground. II meant a long, pa
tient crawl 10 a good shooting position.
for to shoot at anything but close quarters
In such country meant that the bullet
would be DETECTED by the bush. I put a
solid nickel ball In the night barrel OF my
six-hundred ealiber express rifle for a head
shot. and a soft nose split In the left
barrel for a body shot With the shikaree
At my side and the gun bearer at my
back. We crept silently. inch by inch, foot
by foot. through the huge tufts OF grass
TN a good view of the game presented IT.
self.
/ took off my coat and hat. hung them
on q low limb and crawled a few yards
farther on. AsI could not get a vital shot
~ any OF the elephants In their lying
position. I gave a sharp whistle In an In
slant they were upon their feet. thrusting
their trunks up in the air 70 get a scent
Of their enemies and holding out their
enormous ears 10 catch the slightest sound.