

Reminiscences of Jungly pnr. 123 



The extremely white and polished tips of his tines pro- 

 claimed that he could not have dropped his antlers last 

 season, and, although nothing is more deceptive at a distance 

 than the apparent size of the horns of the rusine type of 

 the Cervidce, I put him down mentally as carrying a 

 38-inch head at least, for it is only fully-grown stags which 

 have attained to their prime that throw their horns 

 irregularly. 



I thoroughly appreciated the good fortune which had, at 

 the very outset of the day, thrown him in my way. For 

 every good stag seen in those regions a surprising amount 

 of hard work and frequent blank days have to be undergone. 



I was using a '303 Lee- Met ford carbine, which had not 

 long been in my possession ; and I had not yet learnt that 

 with this and similar weapons, it is usually far the better 

 plan to take a long and steady shot in the sitting or prone 

 position than to endeavour to work close up to one's game, 

 and then probably get a snapshot at an animal bolting 

 away or past one in a maze of tree trunks and jungle. So 

 instead of stalking up the spur, which, at a distance of 

 about 200 yards, faced that up which the deer were 

 climbing, I made the mistake of trying to work up the 

 ravine separating them, in order to cut them off or get 

 close in on them. Of course I left the men behind. 



It was stiff work, and although I " glimpsed " my game 

 once about 80 yards oif, I could not tell which was the stag 

 until they had again moved off and out of sight. 



By this time they were evidently uneasy, and were 

 steadily albeit easily climbing, instead of loitering on 

 their way. Shortly afterwards, reaching the top of the 

 ridge above us, they disappeared over its brow. " Now," 

 thought I, and a heart-breaking clambering run up an 

 extremely slippery declivity took me to where they had 



