Page:The Hare.djvu/117

Rh sportsman. The gun should be aimed well up, above the black tip of the ears; the least dwelling on the aim, or failure to keep the gun well up, will result in broken backs or smashed hind legs, and a series of those piteous screams that give such a sickening feeling to every good sportsman, no matter how old, or how well accustomed to such scenes he may have become. When the hare is crossing the gun she may easily be killed ten yards further off than when going directly away. In this case the gun must be held well forward and slightly 'swung,' or kept moving in the direction in which the hare is running. Nothing should be looked at except the head; indeed, for shooting purposes rabbits and hares should be regarded as consisting of their heads alone—all the rest is of no account. Few men have ever yet missed ground game by shooting too far in front of it, and my advice to a novice who found himself frequently 'tailoring' and maiming his hares, or missing them altogether, would be to try if for a few shots he could not succeed in putting the charge into the ground one yard in front of the hare's nose. A few experiments of this kind would soon show him where he was in the habit of shooting, and if he were a pupil capable of reflection, and willing to be instructed, it would not be long before he began, not only to kill ground game,