Daly, M., 1937. Big game hunting and adventure 1887-1936. London, MacMillan, pp. i-xi, 1-322
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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Kenya |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Hunting |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
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Elephant, rhino and buffalo in this short scrub bush would be easy to meet and beat, but here even a good hunter gives away points to the lion, which may charge him straight or swerve; and its pace is always faster than it appears to be. In the Tsavo country, while after a very big bull elephant, I happened to come across a well-known white hunter from Nairobi after the same elephant, and carrying a big double .577. As our safaris were both moving up along the Tsavo River to a point where each would turn his own way according to his individual judgment, we just strolled along together through the bush for half an hour or more. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, a black rhino shot out and, ears pitched forward, came straight for my companion. Bang! bang! roared his big double, and, seeing the rhino unchecked, I sent in a 10.75 Mauser bullet through the rhino's shoulder. The rhino swerved a foot or two and dropped. On examination there was only one shot found in it; bang! bang! had missed both shots at less than ten yards.
To keep the safety button off through the thousands of thorn-trees and bush is dangerous, and to slip the low, small, slippery safety off at the moment of the charge, only a few feet away, is often very difficult, requiring great pressure of the right thumb, which is apt to slip over and pass the safety without shifting it. I have been up against it under those conditions often, and once with a rhino which I saw coming. I experienced such difficulty and delay in my exhausted condition in getting the safety forward that I only got my shot off as the rhino hit the muzzle of my big double.
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Big game hunting and adventure 1887-1936
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