DEER 



279 



Now was my chance, and I gave it to him a steady 

 kneeling shot. I heard the bullet "phut" into him. 

 Before I had time to give him the other barrel he 

 gave two convulsive bounds, and then dropped to rise 

 no more. How I gloated over my prize, the first 

 stag shot in the Altai by a white man. I sent off" for 

 the ponies, and set to work to skin him and break 

 him up, as he was too big to load in his entirety. 

 For weight I should say that he was quite as big as 

 a Wapiti, but the horns, although handsome, were 

 nothing like as fine. The coat was very good, of a 

 beautiful blue -roan colour with the yellow rump 

 patch. I hunted for some days after this, but never 

 got a chance at another stag. Neither did I hear 

 any roaring. The last day, however, 1 hunted from 

 this camp I came across an elk. The morning was 

 thick and foggy, and I could not make out whether 

 I hit him or not. As the fog drifted clear for 

 a second I just made him out. I followed his 

 slot for a little, but as there was no blood I con- 

 cluded that I had missed, and soon gave it up. 

 This interested me much, for I had never heard 

 of elk in the Altai, although they frequent the 

 plains of Siberia. My Kalmuck hunter called him 

 " botan," and said they were rare to meet in these 

 hills. 



I moved camp about ten miles on my road 

 towards the Katun, which was my objective. Here I 

 had another chance at a stag, but, alas ! I missed him. 

 I got on his trail early one morning, and as he was 

 alone I determined to stick to him as long as I could. 



