AUSTRIA 



Zl 



nature the chamois has about It a good deal of curiosity, and this 



shows itself if one sits quite motionless at one's stand, when chamois 



will occasionally approach quite close if the sportsman's whereabouts 



is not betrayed by the wind. Many a time wary old does have 



tiptoed up to within six or eight paces of me, the craning neck 



and steady gaze fixed upon the motionless apparition, showing how 



greatly their sense of curiosity had been aroused by the unwonted 



sight of "a thing they call a man," as probably they explained to 



their kids frisking about in perfect ignorance of the dangerous toy 



lying across the knees of that motionless figure. 



Chamois shoots are not as expensive to rent as deer forests, and 



the latter again are in Austria not as costly pleasures as they have 



become north of the Tweed. A good chamois ground, 



where fifty or sixty chamois can be killed, is obtainable ^, 



^ ^ Shoots. 



for ^400 or £^00 per annum, inclusive of the necessary 

 staff of keepers and the use of a lodge. The latter, compared to 

 Scotch shooting boxes, are very simply furnished. In deer preserves, 

 a more or less serious additional expense, from which chamois shoots 

 are free, has to be considered in the shape of Wildschaden, or damage 

 done by deer to the peasants' crops. For, when driven by hunger, 

 deer will leave their elevated haunts and descend to the upper fringe 

 of the inhabited region, where the frugal peasant makes a precarious 

 living by growing oats and the hardier roots. 



The weak "stake" fences, scarcely strong enough to keep cattle 

 out of the field, are no protection whatever against deer. To keep 

 them out an eight-foot wire fence is required, and even then this 

 does not insure immunity against the determined assault of starving 



