46 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



body ; but, although a charge of No. 5 shot 

 aimed well forward will roll one over like a 

 rabbit, young sportsmen are apt to get excited 

 when (the beaters shout "Deer forward!" and 

 many shots are fired when, owing to the thick- 

 ness of the cover or the distance of the object, 

 there is no reasonable chance of securing the 

 quarry. I believe that many carry away a few 

 pellets under such circumstances, and that if the 

 roe could be consulted in the matter they would 

 unhesitatingly express their preference for the 

 bullet. 



Perhaps the most amusing way of shooting 

 roe, when the ground is suitable, is for the guns 

 to take up positions on heights commanding 

 fairly open glades in the woods, where the cover 

 can be drawn by hounds. The scent is very 

 strong, and almost any kind of dogs take to it 

 kindly, but a scratch pack of otter-hounds, or 

 old or slow fox-hounds, are the best for the 

 purpose. A really fast pack would drive the 

 roe too quick and too far. The object should 

 be to get together a few steady hounds with 

 plenty of " tongue," resolute on the scent, with 

 perhaps some bustling terriers to start the buck 

 out of the thickets and bracken. Unless too 

 much pressed, roe are inclined to trust more to 

 cunning than to speed, while their habit of run- 

 ning in a circle and their disinclination to break 

 cover give the sportsmen every chance. But 



