FEALAR 285 



Dougall. We found no good beast till midday, 

 when we discovered an excellent stag with a good 

 head close to the top of the Little Cairn, within 

 100 yards of the Mar march. Both he and his few 

 hinds seemed very kittle; they had doubtless only 

 just come in from Mar, and were anxious to return 

 there, but the stag kept roaring and rounding them 

 up, so that when a hind showed a disposition to 

 move he always headed her back. The wind was 

 good and steady, so we worked up from below, and 

 I knew I should have to shoot quickly as soon as 

 I came in view. The deer had already run together, 

 and were just about to go, whilst the stag himself 

 was more than half covered by a hind, when I took 

 a very quick shot. At any rate I thought I had 

 missed him, and as he galloped away, luckily clear 

 of hinds, I made a fortunate shot and knocked 

 him over stone dead. The first shot had hit rather 

 low, and doubtless he would not have gone far had 

 I not fired a second time. This stag carried a very 

 fine rough head of eleven points, 33J inches long, 

 which is good measurement for Scotland. In the 

 afternoon we found a desirable eleven-pointer just 

 over the Mar march, and as his hinds were working 

 in to Fealar, we made sure he would follow sooner 

 or later. From a high perch on the side of the 

 mountain we watched him lording it over an 

 immense concourse of deer on the flat below, but 

 after a three-hour wait he had not shifted his 

 position, so we went home cold and hungry. 



October 5th. — Off early this morning with a 

 shepherd boy to ascend Ben Ivan, where I hoped 

 to find a stag shot two days before in the mist by 

 Wedderburn, and to drag it down to the pony path. 



