134 STALKS ABROAD 



By this Machiavellian scheme the Society pocketed 

 an extra pound per licence and got stalkers to do 

 their dirty work for them for nothing. 



A storm of protest was raised and men were en- 

 gaged to shoot the malforms. I have their diaries 



o o 



before me as I write. Buckley, my old guide, shot 

 thirty-nine malforms and inferior rubbish ; Conrad 

 Hodgkinson, another practical and experienced stalker, 

 eighteen. I append an extract from his diary. 



" So far as I have seen, the deer are far too thick 

 on all the country I went over, and I would advise 

 a severe thinning out of hinds and weedy stags, of 

 which latter there are a great number. On more 

 than one occasion I saw malforms in places where it 

 was impossible to stalk them owing to the number 

 of deer surrounding them. I fully believe, if this 

 country is not shot out severely, that in a few years 

 it will be as bad as Timaru Creek (the locality 

 where malforms are most in evidence). 



" Had I been lucky with weather, my bag of 

 malforms would have been nearer forty than twenty. 



" In conclusion, I can only say that I was 

 astonished at the alarming increase of deformed and 

 weedy stags on this country since last I was on it 

 some two years ago." 



In Oamaru the men sent out to kill malforms did 

 not apparently know where to look for them and 

 only obtained five, although they admitted seeing 

 a number which they did not get. Of course this 

 furnished the anti-malform brigade with a splendid 



