SPORT IN THE TEKKES: WAPITI 79 



thought it better to follow at a respectful distance, 

 and trust to there being more open ground in front, 

 than to spoil the whole thing by rashly hurrying on. 

 What wind there was was luckily in the right direc- 

 tion, and quite steady. Patience was rewarded, for 

 when I finally arrived at a small hollow the stag 

 called in the bottom of it quite close by. I im- 

 mediately obliterated myself behind a tree trunk 

 and awaited developments. My side of the hollow 

 was covered with pine trees, the bottom was full of 

 high, thick bushes ; the other side was littered with 

 a confused mass of dead timber lying in all direc- 

 tions, a secondary growth of bushes between it, and 

 one narrow strip of still living pines running up the 

 slope opposite me. To my intense disgust the stag 

 began to go up this strip ; of course, he was quite 

 invisible, and I feared he would cross the next ridge 

 without showing. I couldn't help it if he did, so I 

 crept a little way down my side till I could get a 

 fair view, and sat tight. Up he went, calling all the 

 time, till he reached the top, and then his evil genius 

 prompted him to come out and look back. He was 

 about 1 20 yards off, and standing three-quarters 

 face to me. The shot hit him between neck and 

 shoulder, and he came staggering down and along 

 the hill ; but I was not going to run any risks, so 

 gave him the other barrel behind the shoulder. 

 This was a finisher ; down he came, rolling and 

 sliding like a small avalanche, till he finally pitched 



