He does not have to think at all.
If he is crossing a field in which there is a savage bull, when carrying a gun, rifle, or pistol, his only anxiety is not to be compelled to shoot. It might get him into trouble with the farmer. Any danger to himself from the bull he knows does not exist.
A man who knows nothing about shooting, even if given a loaded pistol, gun, or rifle, before crossing the field, would be more afraid of the firearm going off than of the bull, and, if attacked, would club the gun or rifle to hit the bull with, or would throw the pistol at it.
Painters of battle pictures depict soldiers using their rifles as clubs or pikes, not as shooting with them.
As an artist myself, I know one excuse for this.
You need a model who is a shooting man, to pose correctly for a soldier shooting. Such a model is expensive, but you can get any one to pose as a man clubbing with the butt end of his rifle.
When I say that every able-bodied man should know how to shoot, and that it is a disgrace if a man cannot both shoot and ride, I am answered: “Shooting is a gift, I could not learn to shoot if I tried all my life.” This is nonsense. A man may be more apt for it, which generally means that he has a liking for it; and this enables him to learn to shoot sooner and to become a better shot. But any normal man, and with even moderately good sight, can learn to shoot well enough to make of himself a very dangerous opponent.
It is the way shooting competitions are conducted (as I will explain later), which makes shooting so uninteresting to the average man.
It is to him like having to take a black draught of medicine.
I confess the usual shooting gallery has the same effect on me; I always pass by on the other side when I see the notice “Shooting Gallery.”