1B8 EEMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



distances. You can make no use of a change of eleva- 

 tion in your sights when deer are running. The best 

 way, therefore, is to have one sight alone slightly ele- 

 vated, the less the better, and to make the variation de- 

 pend upon your aim. Having once become a fair shot 

 at a target, I would advise no one to continue the prac- 

 tice. It is apt to make one slow and indecisive. One 

 step often brings you into sight of the deer, conse- 

 quently one spring makes them vanish from it, so that 

 you must frequently take snap shots. Indeed, it is 

 quite wonderful (as any experienced person can bear 

 witness) how suddenly and unexpectedly they disappear, 

 either by sinking under a hill or running amongst the 

 deep channels of a moss, or by a hundred means of 

 concealment that the rugged nature of the ground af- 

 fords them. 



" In faring down hill you must be very careful to keep 

 your face low down to the sight, which sportsmen do 

 not pay sufficient attention to, and think, therefore, that 

 the ball mounts, which is a great mistake. When your 

 head is too high, the line of vision does not follow the 

 line of the barrel, but crosses it, and has a downward 

 tendency, whilst the barrel perseveres in a more hori- 

 zontal direction; and this is the doctrine of elevated 

 sights. 



" You will often have to stop suddenly and fire in the 

 midst of a sharp run, or when you are dead blown ; 

 stand as steadily as you can, and be at once collected : 

 practice alone can give you this power, and it will give 

 it, for I myself was as sure at these sort of shots as at 

 any other, provided the deer were running. I found it 

 more difficult to take a quiet shot w^hile lying on my 

 stomach in the heather. Sometimes the wind is so 



