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                         The Badminton Library

                                  OF

                          SPORTS AND PASTIMES

                               EDITED BY

                 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G.

                    ASSISTED BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON

                          _BIG GAME SHOOTING_

                                  II.




[Illustration: HAND TO HAND WORK]




                           BIG GAME SHOOTING

                                  BY
                        CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY

                         WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
              LIEUT.-COLONEL R. HEBER PERCY, ARNOLD PIKE,
         MAJOR ALGERNON C. HEBER PERCY, W. A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN,
      SIR HENRY POTTINGER, BART., EARL OF KILMOREY, ABEL CHAPMAN,
               WALTER J. BUCK, AND ST. GEORGE LITTLEDALE

                            [Illustration]

                               VOL. II.

                _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES WHYMPER
                         AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS_

                                LONDON
                       LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
                                 1894




CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE

       I. ARCTIC HUNTING
            _By Arnold Pike._                                            1

      II. THE CAUCASUS
           _By Clive Phillipps-Wolley._                                 22

     III. MOUNTAIN GAME OF THE CAUCASUS
           _By Clive Phillipps-Wolley._                                 48

      IV. CAUCASIAN AUROCHS
           _By St. G. Littledale._                                      65

       V. OVIS ARGALI OF MONGOLIA
           _By St. G. Littledale._                                      73

      VI. THE CHAMOIS
           _By W. A. Baillie-Grohman._                                  77

     VII. THE STAG OF THE ALPS
           _By W. A. Baillie-Grohman._                                 112

    VIII. THE SCANDINAVIAN ELK
           _By Sir Henry Potlinger, Bart._                             123

      IX. EUROPEAN BIG GAME
           _By Major Algernon Heber Percy, and the Earl of Kilmorey._  154

       X. THE LARGE GAME OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
           _By Abel Chapman and W. J. Buck._                           174

      XI. INDIAN SHOOTING
           _By Lieut.-Col. Reginald Heber Percy._                      182

     XII. THE OVIS POLI OF THE PAMIR
           _By St. G. Littledale._                                     363

    XIII. CAMPS, TRANSPORT, ETC.
           _By Clive Phillipps-Wolley._                                377

     XIV. A FEW NOTES ON RIFLES AND AMMUNITION
           _By H. W. H._                                               394

      XV. HINTS ON TAXIDERMY, ETC.
           _By Clive Phillipps-Wolley._                                413

          A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY                                         421

  INDEX                                                                425




ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME

(_Reproduced by Messrs. Walker & Boutall_)


                        FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

                                            ARTIST

  HAND TO HAND WORK                       _C. Whymper_   _Frontispiece_

  DEATH OF A POLAR BEAR                       ”         _to face p._ 16

  THE CORPSE ROCKS                        _C. Whymper_         ”     20

  MR. ST. G. LITTLEDALE’S CAUCASIAN }  _From a photograph_     ”     36
  BAG FOR THE SEASON OF 1887        }

  ‘STANDING LIKE STATUES’                 _C. Whymper_         ”     48

  IBEX (_Hircus ægagrus_)                     ”                ”     52

  THE SPECTRE                                 ”                ”     62

  CHAMOIS                           {_From an instantaneous_}  ”     80
                                    {_photograph_           }

  SPANISH IBEX                      {_C. W., after a sketch_}  ”    180
                                    {     _by A. Chapman_   }

  THE FIRST STALK OF THE SEASON              ”                 ”    184

  A FAIR CHANCE AT BLACK BEARS           _C. Whymper_          ”    186

  ‘THE FRONT RANK AND PART OF THE }          ”                 ”    208
      SECOND ALONE STOOD FIRM’    }

  A CHARGING GAUR                                              ”    242

  A SNAP-SHOT IN THE FOREST             _Major H. Jones_       ”    278

  ‘WITH CARTRIDGES HANDY AND STEADY }                          ”    322
  SHOOTING’                         }

  MR. ST. GEORGE LITTLEDALE’S BAG OF  }  _From a photograph_   ”    374
  OVIS POLI, 1888                     }

  THE CAMP                                _C. Whymper_         ”    378

                           WOODCUTS IN TEXT.

                                            ARTIST

  AMONG THE ICE                           _C. Whymper_                1

  A WALRUS’ HEAD                    { _From a photograph_ }           5
                                    { _after Mr. Lamont_  }

  WHERE TO SHOOT A WALRUS                                             7

  WAITING FOR THE DAWN                    _C. Whymper_               27

  THE BOAR’S CHARGE                                                  33

  A GUTTUROSA                                                        45

  DEAD AUROCHS                      {_After a photograph_}           65
                                    {_from Nature_       }

  THE SPY CHAMOIS                                                    79

  EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I. CHAMOIS }         _After Theuerdank_        110
  HUNTING, A.D. 1500            }

  ANTLERS OF STAGS KILLED AT RADAUC, }
  IN THE PILIS MOUNTAINS AND THE     }                              115
  JOLSVA ESTATES                     }

  SPECIMEN HEADS OF SCANDINAVIAN ELKS     _From a photograph_       129

  STALKING ELK                            _C. Whymper_              152

  ‘THIS TIME HIS SIDE WAS TOWARDS ME’        ”                      158

  GROUP OF AUROCHS                           ”                      168

  AUROCHS’ HEADS                        {_C. W., from a_}           171
                                        {_photograph_   }

  THE LYNX (_Felis pardina_)              _C. Whymper_              174

  SNOW-BEARS                              _Major H. Jones_          187

  A GLORIFIED COMET                 {_C. W., after sketches_}       189
                                    {_by Capt. Rawlinson_   }

  HOWDAH SHOOTING                                                   196

  LANDING A GHAYAL                                                  239

  ‘HE GAVE HIM A TREMENDOUS PUNISHING’                              255

  HOGDEER SHOOTING                                                  262

  RUCERVUS DUVAUCELLI                     _From a photograph_       266

  RUCERVUS SCHOMBURGKII                                             267

  PANOLIA ELDII                                                     269

  A STALK IN THE OPEN               {_C.W., after Major_}           281
                                    {_H. Jones_         }

  SPECIMEN HEADS OF OVIS POLI AND  }      _From photographs_        292
  OVIS KARELINI                    }

  SPECIMEN HEADS OF OVIS AMMON AND }                                293
  OVIS NIVICOLA                    }

  THE ASTOR MARKHOR                 {_C. W., after sketch_}         310
                                    {_by Capt. Rawlinson_ }

  VARIETIES OF MARKHOR                    _From photograph_         312

  IN HIS SUMMER COAT                      _C. Whymper_              318

  SPECIMEN HEADS OF CAPRA SIBIRICA, }     _From photograph_         322
  CAPRA ÆGAGRUS, AND CAPRA SINAITICA}

  A DREAM OF THER SHOOTING          {_C. W., after sketch_}         326
                                    {_by Capt. Rawlinson_ }

  THE SEROW GALLOPS DOWN HILL             _C. Whymper_              333

  BUDORCAS TAXICOLOR                      _From photograph_         335

  SAIGA TARTARICA                                                   345

  TAME DECOYS                             _C. Whymper_              351

  OVIS POLI                                   ”                     363

  OUR CAMP                                                          367

  DEAD OVIS POLI                                                    376

  CINCH HIM UP                                                      381

  KNIFE FASTENING                                                   388

  ‘GOOD-BYE TO THE GROCERIES’                                       391

  SPECIMENS OF 340, 360, 440, AND }     _From a photograph._        395
  460 GRAIN EXPRESS BULLETS       }

  SPECIMENS OF.500 AND.577 BORE EXPRESS BULLETS                   396

  SPECIMENS OF.450 AND.577 BORE EXPRESS BULLETS                   397

  SPECIMENS OF SOFT.577 BULLETS                                    398

  SPECIMENS OF 12-BORE ‘PARADOX’ BULLETS                            400

  DIAGRAM SHOWING SIX SHOTS WITH 10 BORE }
  AND 8-BORE ‘PARADOX’                   }                          400

  DIAGRAM OF 8-BORE ‘PARADOX’ BULLET                                401

  SIR SAMUEL BAKER’S STRENGTHENED STOCK                             406

  RIFLE LOOPS                                                       407

  ‘SHIKARI’ RIFLE CASE                                              408

  BACK SIGHTS                                                       408

  WHEN THE LIGHT WANES                    _C. Whymper._             414

  WAPITI HEAD                                                       419




BIG GAME SHOOTING




CHAPTER I

ARCTIC HUNTING

BY ARNOLD PIKE


[Illustration: Among the ice]

Arctic hunting embraces an enormous field, the extent of which is not
yet realised, and I should begin by remarking that my experience, as
here set forth, is limited to the seas around Spitzbergen, and that I
propose to confine myself to the pursuit of the walrus and the polar
bear.

Although the vast herds of walrus which formerly inhabited the
Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya seas have been sadly thinned by
persistent--and often wasteful--hunting, first by the English and Dutch
in the early part of the seventeenth century, then by the Russians,
and at the present day by the Norwegians, yet enough may still be
killed in a season’s hunting to satisfy most sportsmen. The fact that
the expeditions after walrus and polar bear which are made to these
waters are often partially, or wholly, unsuccessful is due not to the
scarcity of game but to the manner in which it is sought. The sportsman
usually sails in a yacht--a vessel totally unfit for the work before
her--and at Tromsö or Hammerfest picks up an ice pilot, who is also
supposed to show where sport is to be obtained, at a season of the year
when all the best men are engaged to, or have already sailed with, the
professional walrus hunters. The consequences are that the voyage is
confined to the open, and therefore easily navigated, waters of the
western coast of Spitzbergen, or else that if good hunting grounds are
visited much of the game is not seen; for no matter how keen a look-out
a man may keep, he is sure to pass over game if he is not used to
hunting, and does not know exactly what to look for and where to look
for it.

The best way, therefore, in the writer’s opinion, is for the sportsman
to hire one of the small vessels engaged in the trade, sailing either
from Hammerfest or Tromsö (preferably from the latter port). He
could hire a walrus sloop of about forty tons burden for the season,
completely fitted out with all the necessary gear and boats, and a
crew of nine men (seven before the mast) for about 450l. This amount
would cover everything except tinned soups, meat, &c., for his own
consumption; and the expenditure is not all dead loss, for if he allows
one boat’s crew to regularly hunt seal, whilst he devotes himself
principally to bear and walrus, he will probably realise a sum by the
sale of skins and blubber, at the conclusion of the voyage, which will
meet the greater portion, if not the whole, of the amount paid for the
hire of the vessel. There is no difficulty in disposing of the ‘catch.’
If, however, a sportsman decides to go in his own yacht, with an
English crew, he should engage during the winter, through the British
vice-consul at Tromsö, a good harpooner and three men used to arctic
work, and buy a hunting boat (fangstbaad), to the use of which they
are accustomed, together with the necessary harpoons, lines, lances,
knives, &c.

In either case he should sail from Tromsö early in May if bound for
Spitzbergen, where he would in ordinary seasons be able to hunt until
the middle of September. In that time, with fair luck, he may expect
to kill from five to ten bears, about twenty walrus, thirty reindeer,
and from three to four hundred seals. If only small attention is
paid to the seals, the number of walrus and bear obtained should be
considerably larger.

No especial personal outfit is necessary.

As most of the shooting will be done from a boat that is seldom
stationary, the rifle to which the sportsman is most accustomed is
the best. A.450 Express, with solid hardened bullet for walrus,
and ‘small-holed’ for bear, is a very good weapon. A fowling-piece
for geese and a small-bore rifle for practice at seals would also
be useful. Whatever weapons are taken, they should be of simple
construction and strongly made, for they are liable to receive hard
knocks in the rough, wet work incidental to walrus hunting.

As regards clothing, a light- stalking suit (the writer prefers
grey), underclothing of the same weight as the sportsman is accustomed
to wear during an English winter, and knee-boots, will answer every
purpose. For hand covering the mittens (‘vanter’) used by the Norwegian
fishermen are most suitable. The sportsman had better lay in his stock
of canned provisions and tea in