ON SHOOTING. 195 



VI. 



THE WOULD-BE STALKER. 



MANY books have been written on deer-stalking ; one or 

 two of them excellent and worth your perusal. My recollec- 

 tion of them as a whole is that all pre-suppose not only total 

 ignorance on the part of the would-be stalker (in which 

 they are possibly right), but also his inability to master 

 the rudiments of the art or science, or combination of both ; 

 and in this the various authors seem to take too much for 

 granted, for there is no reason why any boy who begins 

 early and under the best tuition should not ultimately 

 develop into a passable amateur stalker, provided — with 

 a big " P " — that he is reasonably endowed with powers 

 of observation, activity — physical and mental — eyesight, 

 patience, and that indefinable " sense of locality." 



It is of no use going to the forest to practise rifle shooting. 

 The foundation of proficiency must be laid where mistakes do 

 less harm. There are several types of weapon in the market, 

 each as near perfection as possible ; but as finality is not yet 

 in sight, any recommendation of a particular pattern might 

 be put out of date at short notice. Meanwhile it would be 

 difficult to improve on the Mauser .276, with soft-nosed, 

 split-cased bullet. Incidentally, it seems a pity that British 

 makers do not devote some of their skill to evolving a 

 satisfactory single-shot weapon of this class, i.e., minus the 

 cumbrous magazine, pregnant with temptation. But, what- 

 ever the rifle selected, the importance of accuracy and 

 familiarity with your weapon before going to the hill cannot 

 be too strongly emphasised. However perfect your per- 

 formances at the target may be, your first few attempts at 

 the real thing will be handicapped by such considerations 

 as light, position (the former of which is always, and the 



