The big buffalo bass

[jiang]

Dear teachers,
Have you ever read the story "The big buffalo bass" by Weldon Stone?
I found the last two paragraphs extremely difficult to understand:
"But that man on the bluff will shoot him (fish) ." I groaned.
"Since I worked on the sights of that gun the other day Pa couldn't hit a hog with it."

Could you please kindly explain it to me?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

[Ouisch]

I've never read the story, but it sounds like the man on the bluff is shooting at a fish with a gun. (A bluff is a cliff or a hill.)

Since I worked on the sights of that gun the other day Pa couldn't hit a hog with it

The "sights" on a gun are the part that you look through in order to line up your target before shooting. If the sight is bent or out of alignment, the shooter will miss his target. This child did something to the sights of his father's rifle so that he wouldn't be able to hit a large target like a hog, much less a fish.

[jiang]

Dear Quisch,
Thank you very much for your explanation.
There are four people in the story--- the narator, the boy, a game warden and the man on the bluff. The man on the bluff has tried all the time to catch the fish. The game warden has followed him all the time to prevent him from catching the fish. The boy did catch the fish but set it free. The story didn't tell us who is the Pa, the man on the bluff or the game warden. Now after your explanation I can see the man on the bluff is the Pa.

Jiang

I've never read the story, but it sounds like the man on the bluff is shooting at a fish with a gun. (A bluff is a cliff or a hill.)

Since I worked on the sights of that gun the other day Pa couldn't hit a hog with it

The "sights" on a gun are the part that you look through in order to line up your target before shooting. If the sight is bent or out of alignment, the shooter will miss his target. This child did something to the sights of his father's rifle so that he wouldn't be able to hit a large target like a hog, much less a fish.