BATTLEFIELD SPORT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 238, 26 June 1918, Page 5

BATTLEFIELD SPORT

HARES AND OTHER GAME. (From Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces.) April 12. The tow kind of fighting in this : beautiful countrv, with its little woods and villages - and rolling . downs, appealed greatly to tho- overseas, men. After Flanders, it is certainly a great change to be fighting here.,-, Our soldiers can sea (ho big game they arc out to kill, and thereMs no longer the dreary monotony that was so often conveyed in tiio intelligence report that "our snipers claimed'two hits." After all, that was only a claim, and the enemy may.havo simply ducked and may not have, been hit at all.*• -Hero'there...is-.no. mistake about it. You see your man in the open; you take leisurely aim; and you see him drop. All that is so much to the good. ■ .' But, apart from.the big game, the countrv abounds with other game, such us hares and partridge. Tho New /ealamlers and tho Australians lost liltlo time in getting on to tho now game. In the dusk of early evening it was no uncommon sight to see. a couple of infantrvmen, with their rifles at the carry, dhpui'tti'd araunt the tvening sky, on the lnok-out for some startled hare, that would run a couple of hundred yards and then stop to have a look round. When tho prohibition order mm .published one original infantryman obtained in one of the semi-deserted villages a irevlroiind, and 'continued to get even het'ter sport than with the rifle. Iho General, galloping homo one fine afternoon across country from tho front, un-. wittingly came between the hound ana tho liiirb in what promised to be a buceessful courso, and in this instance the quarry escaped •destruction. But tho stalwart Huortsman had already a very fine specimen strapped across his back, and was no doubt looking forward to an appetising change in his menu on tho following day. ' . On too first day of our advance, into fiio great battle, some of our battalions were resting after their long march on the hills near Hedauville, when sudden-, lv there arose n terrific shout. A hare liad been started from cover, and immediately hundreds of riflemen wereoff he it pack of hounds m full cry. Iho unfortunate hare ran from hill to hill, momentarily escaping from one lot of veiling "diggers" only lo run into another crowd, equally determined, and even more hilarious. Here it was that a now use was found fcr tho steel hel- ■ mot. Poor puss had an exciting (en minutes dodging tho barrage of helmets that "lifted" with almost every leap -forward that he made. At length a direct hit was registered, and tho lucky "di«gcr" marched off in triumph with his" prize. The cheer that went up when the capture was made must have been heard in Ifunland.