Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1891 — A Kind-Hearted Hunter. [ARTICLE]

A Kind-Hearted Hunter.

I trust that I may not be considered hard-hearted in recounting such shots in detail and their results; I do so in the scientific interest of rifle practice, to produce examples of the actual, practical effects of certain weapons used against particular animals, writes Sir Samuel Baker in Wild Beasts and Their Ways. Had I been as I was in my younger days, without a life’s experience, I could have shot thirty or forty of these splendid aqimals with ease; but from the moi ment of this example I determined to kill no more, but only to admire. In accordance with this determination I took great pains upon many occasions to obtain a shot, and after long stalks, having obtained a magnificent position, I raised my rifle, took a most deadly aim, and touched the trigger, having carefully kept the rifle upon half-cock. Away went the buffalo, to live for another day, instead of being slaughtered uselessly to, rot upon the plains or to be devoured by wolves or buried in the soil by bears. This sort of stalking afforded me much pleasure, but it did not suit my American attendant. “Well, if you came all the way from the old country to shoot, and won’t shoot when you’ve got the chance, you’d have done better to stop at home.” This was the consolation I received for my self-denial when sparing buffaloes.