XIX DIFFICULTY IN FINDING SHOOTABLE BUCKS 337 



possible against further accidents, I carried it myself all 

 day. The pony-men took us to a plain which lay to 

 the north of our camp, and about a mile off We soon 

 saw a few gazelles wandering about the plain, and then 

 descried a large herd at the edge of a nala which lay 

 immediately to the north. We decided to try and stalk 

 the last if possible. Leaving the ponies on the hillside, 

 Abdulla and I made a detour, and succeeded in arriving 

 within about 400 yards ; but there was no means of 

 getting any closer, as the ground between and around 

 the animals was quite open. 



I thought at that distance I ought to be able to dis- 

 tinguish which had decent horns, at any rate with the 

 long telescope, but I could see no horns at all, and my 

 shikari, who knew nothing about this sort of game, said 

 the horns were too small to see. As a matter of fact this 

 was not the case, and the only reason I saw no horns 

 was, as I afterwards learned, that there were no decent 

 bucks in the herd. I did not then know, and the 

 Kashmiri did not know, that bucks with good heads are 

 seldom, at any rate in September, found with the females. 

 So I wasted my time lying within 400 yards of the herd, 

 trying to make out the bucks, and endeavouring to see 

 how I could get nearer, thinking that if I could get 

 closer I should see which were the shootable heads. 

 Presently the antelope got up, and began grazing their 

 way towards the plain. We followed crouching, and 

 finally lay down and endeavoured to worm our way up to 

 them — a perfectly hopeless attempt, as any one with any 

 experience of these beasts would have known. Soon, of 

 course, we were seen, and the antelope scampered off to 



