270 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



And they then make their way back to the forest 

 region. 



These fine stags, like many other of the fauna of 

 Cashmere, are not so plentiful as they were. For one 

 sportsman (British) that used to hunt thirty years 

 ago you may now number a dozen. Many of them 

 have not an idea beyond killing something ; they do 

 not hunt for specimens, but shoot for the bag. If a 

 head is not worth taking they throw it away. 

 Fortunately, now game laws and game licenses have 

 been brought into force, limiting the number of heads 

 to be killed by each sportsman. 



Natives are prohibited from selling specimens, and 

 in certain valleys which have been absolutely closed 

 not a shot is allowed to be fired at big game. These 

 laws if properly carried out will do some good in 

 time. The hunting of stags in the winter, running 

 them to a standstill in the snow, is also now pro- 

 hibited. In days gone by many a good beast was so 

 killed. 



Early in March 1888, I pitched my camp in a 

 small valley about fourteen miles from the Wullar 

 Lake. The snow was still on the ground, soft and 

 deep, which made mountain climbing very hard work ; 

 the crust was rotten, and every now and again in the 

 drifts I sunk up to the waist. For three days this 

 hard work was not repaid by a single shot, but on 

 the fourth I found the slot of a good stag which led 

 me a long chase up one spur and down another. 

 When we had followed about an hour a snow flurry 

 came on pretty thick. My shikari slipped my rifle 



