Deer Driving in Mull 



405 



only account for the mishap by that caprice 

 common to all living creatures as well as deer. 

 When groping our way home, we consoled 

 ourselves by the hope that we should cer- 

 tainly find these same harts next day in 

 Scalastal wood. 



When the wind is north, the south passes 

 of course guard the extensive oak copse of 

 Scalastal. They are four in number, nearly 

 in line. As the wood hangs on a hillside the 

 passes rise one above the other, and were 

 known to us as the high pass, the middle 

 pass, the low pass, and the lowest pass ! 

 Attended by the grieve, to point out the 

 ground, we scaled the hill, directing the 

 shepherds to allow us twenty minutes law, 

 before throwing the dogs into the low side of 

 the copsewood flanked by the burn. I pre- 

 fen-ed the middle pass {medio tut, <S>r.), my 

 eldest son the high one (excelsior), his brother 

 the highest he could get ! And the lowest was 

 left to itself and tlie deer. 



Both my sons had taken their ground, but 

 the overseer was in the act of pointing out 

 mine, when the lugubrious tones of the 

 ugly buck swelled out in the wood close 

 beneath. In an instant a hart burst from the 

 thicket, and ran past at a sling gallop. 

 " Noo, sir," from behind me — certainly a 

 thoughtless hint which has coaxed many a 

 young sportsman into a dead miss. Fortu- 

 nately, in this instance the shooter was old 

 and callous, so he took his time, and the hart 

 fell dead in the heather. " Look oot, sir, for 

 anither." The second warning fully atoned 

 for the first. It was scarcely given, when 

 another hart galloped fair across our path, and 

 he also rolled head over heels on the hillside. 

 My favourite "Henry" rifle was loaded again 

 in a twinkling, but no more deer turned out, 

 neither did any try my sons' ground ; but we 

 heard from a neighbouring shepherd that a 

 third hart had sneaked out at the rejected 

 pass. The two killed were exactly the same 

 weight, 15 stone, and both were shot through 

 the shoulder galloping, at 70 yards' distance. 



The turnip field was quiet enough to-night, 

 and not a roar heard far or near. Suspecting 

 that "the lowest pass" fugitive would return 

 in the night to Scalastal wood in search of 



his brethren, we arranged another drive for 

 next morning. At this hunt our posts were 

 the same, except that my second son was 

 now convinced that it is sometimes good 

 policy to choose the lowest place. The dogs 

 soon found a hot track, but the run was long 

 and the deer stubborn. For nearly two 

 hours they stuck to the scent, threading 

 their nimble quarry round every rugged 

 knoll and through many a tangled tliicket 

 At last, when least expected, and the cry of 

 the dogs at the furthest point of the covert, 

 the object of their pursuit, in the shape of an 

 old hind, quietly stole out of the wood and 

 stood opposite me listening — a fine broad- 

 side, though rather distant chance. I fired 

 and struck her hard ; she turned again for 

 hiding to the copse, but a shot from the 

 second barrel brought her down. There 

 were no more deer found all day, so the hart 

 had not returned. 



Our last Scalastal day was intended for 

 black game and grouse, and as the cutting of 

 Garmony wood (which had spoilt it for deer) 

 made fine open shooting at black game, we 

 gave it the first trial. Our bags were fast fill- 

 ing with young blackcocks, and old ones too, 

 before we got to the further end of the wood, 

 where the moor-ground of Garmony and 

 Fishness begins. Here we meant to range for 

 grouse, but to our surprise a deer was watch- 

 ing our motions on this open moor, distant 

 about half a-mile. As it was a very small 

 hind, we thought the No. 5, // near enojigh, 

 might possibly add her to the game list of the 

 day. Leaving my youngest son at the spot 

 where the deer was likely to enter the wood, 

 and sending my eldest round the knolls to 

 take post a little way above her, I coupled 

 up our brace of setters, making them and the 

 retriever follow me. The attention of the 

 deer was at once fixed on me and my dogs. 

 She never took her eye from us, until, having 

 got fairly in her rear, I began to whistle and 

 draw up. As I hoped, she went away at a 

 walk, looking now and then over her shoulder 

 to see if she was pursued. The marksman 

 above had thus ample time to shift his ground, 

 so as to meet her at the nearest point among 

 the heights. She never detected the ambus- 



