SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF DEER. 141 



therefore, is to have one sight alone slightly elevated, the 

 less the better, and to make the variation depend upon 

 your aim. Having once become a fair shot at the target, 

 I would advise no one to continue the practice. It is apt 

 to make one slow and indecisive. One step often brings 

 you into sight of the deer, consequently 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 

 affords them. 



In firing 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 horizontal 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 while lying on my stomach in the 

 heather. 



Sometimes the wind is so tempestuous that you have 

 no power over the direction of your rifle. There are no 



