FEALAR 291 



October 9th. — ^To shoot an ordinary stag at this 

 season of the year in a good Highland forest is an 

 easy matter, but to secure a really good specimen 

 with a good head often requires hard physical 

 exercise and some patience. Somehow I expected 

 to find that good one to-day at the head of the big 

 corrie on Dualter, where there was splendid grazing, 

 for from here into Mar there was a regular road 

 made by the big fellows as they came to look for 

 Fealar's hinds at this season. A walk of about 

 two miles brought me to the shoulder, which 

 viewed this large punchbowl, and I was not dis- 

 appointed when I heard a perfect chorus of roars 

 proceeding from the high, grassy slopes close to the 

 Mar march. For two days the wind had been 

 right — south-west — and had brought the best stags 

 in. The glass revealed five good stags striving 

 for the possession of the hinds and creating the 

 usual turmoil and constant watchfulness on the 

 part of one who appeared to be the master stag — 

 a big black fellow with at least eleven or twelve 

 points. He was worth going to some trouble for, 

 so I made light of the long circuit and stiff climb 

 up the face of the mountain which it was necessary 

 to make to ensure a position down-wind and 

 above the herd. Having arrived near the summit, 

 I came suddenly on a fine stag with six hinds that 

 were just coming in from Mar, and which could not 

 have been viewed from below. It was a somewhat 

 unfortunate contretemps, as in their swift retreat 

 down-wind the deer I was stalking may have 

 caught a glimpse of them. At any rate, when after 

 an hour I arrived at the pass where I had hoped to 

 intercept the master stag, it was more than a little 



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