The Washington herald., 1913-04-27

| Buck fever means a state of intense
nervous excitement which may be en-
tirely divorced from timidity. II may
| affect man the first time he has to
speak to large audience just as il af-
| fects him the first time he sees buck
| or goes into battle. What such a man
needs is not courage but nerve control.
cool-headedness. This he can get only
| by actual practice. He must, by custom
! and repeated exercise of self-mastery,
| get his nerves thoroughly under control.
| This Is largely matter of habit. in
/ the sense of repeated effort and repeated
exercise of will power. If the man has
| the right stuff in him, his will grows
| stronger and stronger with each exer-
| else of it-and If he has not the right
| stuff in him he had better keep clear
of dangerous game hunting, or indeed
of any other form of sport or work in
| which there is bodily peril.
After he has achieved the ability to
| exercise wariness and judgments ani the
icontrol over his nerves which will mako
A., him shoot as well at the game as at a
target, he can begin his essays at dan
gerous game hunting, and he will then
| find that il does not demand such alb
| normal prowess as the outsider is apt
4
water bottle at the distance of a few
yards can brain lion or a bear or an
elephant at that distance, and if he can
not brain it when it charges he can at
least bring it to a standstil. All he has
to do is to shoot as accurately as he
would at a soda water bottle: and to do
this requires nerve, at least as much as
| it does physical address. Having reached
this point, the hunter must not imagine
4 q l.
chances. There are degrees in proficien-
cy; and what is a warrantable and legit-
innate risk for a man to take when he
has reached certain grade of efficiency
may be a foolish risk for him to take
before he has reached that grade.
Facing Rig Game.
man who has reached the degree of
proficiency indicated above is quite war
ranted in walking in at a lion at bay,
in an open plain, to, say, within a hun
dred yards If the lion has not charged,
the man ought at that distance to knock
him over and prevent his charging; and
if the lion is already charging, the man
ought at that distance to be able to
stop him. But the amount of prowess
which warrants a man in relying on his
ability to perform this feat does not by
any means justify him in thinking that,
for instance. he can crawl after a wound
ed lion into thick cover.
1 have knoYn men of Indifferent Prov
ess to perform this latter feat success
fully. but at least as often they have
been unsuccessful, and in these cases the
result has been unpleasant. The man
who habitually follows wounded loins in
to- thick cover must be a hunter of the
highest skill, or he can count with GER
tainty or an ultimate mauling.
The first two or three bucks ever saw
gave me buck fever badly, but after l had
gained experience with ordinary game 1
never had buck fever at all with danger
Gus game. In my case the overcoming
Of buck fever was the result of conscious
effort and deliberate determination to
overcome it. More happily constituted
men never have to made this determined
effort at all-which may. perhaps, show
that the averge men can profit more
from my experiences than he can from
those of the exceptional man.
1 have shot only five kinds Of animals
which could fairly be called dangerous
is. the lion, elephants rhino-
ceros, and buffalo in Africa, and the big
grizzly bear a quarter of century ago In
the Rockies. Taking into account not
only my own personal experience, but the
experiences of many veteran hunters, i
regard all the four African animals but
the lion, elephant, and buffalo,
as much more dangerous than the grizzly
AS it happened, however, the only mar
row escape / personally ever had was
from a grizzly, and in Africa the animal
killed closest to me as 1t was charging
was a rhinoceros-al of which goes to
show that a man must not generalize |
too broadly from his own personal ex-
periences. On the whole, think the lion |
the most dangerous of all these five ami |
mails; that is. think that, if fairly hunt
ed. there is larger percentage of hunters |
killed or mauled for a given number of |
lions killed than for given number Of |
any one of the other animals. Yet 1 per- |
sonally had no difficulties with lions.
Kermit Helps Stop Elephant.
] twice killed lions which were at bay |
and just starting to charge, and killed |
\ heavy-naned male while it was in full |
,harge. But in each instance had plenty |
Of leeway, the animal being so far off |
hat even IL my bullet had not been fatal
should have had time for couple more
shots. The African buffalo is undoubtedly |
| dangerous beast. but it happened that |
he few that I shot did not charge A I
,uii elephant. vicious rogue" which