ABOUT SOME DEER. 229 



form. All that has to he done, therefore, is to 

 obtain a sufficient number of beaters, and post the 

 guns accordingly. This method, however, is open 

 to the great objection of disturbing a large extent 

 of country, a great drawback in the eyes of sports- 

 men who are in pursuit of nobler game; and 

 besides, the shooting of such an animal driven up 

 to you, calls forth but little skill and ingenuity 

 on the part of the sportsman partaking of the 

 sport. 



Far different will be the feelings of the sports- 

 man who obtains a noble pair of antlers, without 

 the aid of beaters, and by exercising all his own 

 powers of endurance and skill in woodcraft. I 

 say antlers advisedly, for no one pretending to the 

 name of sportsman would disgrace himself by 

 shooting a hind, except when meat was urgently 

 required in his camp. Alas, though, I am afraid 

 there are many calling themselves sportsmen who 

 do resort to such vile practices, and prefer the 

 quantity to quality as far as their bag is concern- 

 ed. To such the best term that can be applied is 

 one used by my dear old friend the late General 

 McMaster, to whom I have alluded in a pre- 

 ceding page, who always called them 'fleshers/ 

 the Scotch term for butchers, and well it suits such 

 men. 



Stalking can be pursued by the sportsman go- 



