INDIAN SHOOTING 277 



" roaring " is much louder than would be imagined, and can be 

 heard at a great distance ; but very often, when the animal is 

 lying down, he only utters a prolonged moaning sound, which 

 is very deceptive, and unless frequently repeated, it is difficult 

 to find out the exact direction to follow.' 



In the winter nearly all the barasingh are congregated in 

 the Cashmere Valley, but though the smaller stags come down 

 and are pretty easily found, the big ones will not leave the high 

 ground, where it is impossible to follow them (unless they are 

 driven down by an early fall of snow), until the young grass 

 begins to grow in March, which is the best month to get heads, 

 though of course the deer are then in poor condition. Ward 

 writes about winter shooting : 



If it could be done, the plan would be not to decide to enter the 

 valley (i.e. Cashmere) until information of a really heavy fall in De- 

 cember or early in January had been obtained. The late falls of snow 

 do not drive the deer down. The hazel buds are swelling, and they 

 can graze on them ; the sap is rising in various bushes and trees, 

 and the deer can eat the smaller twigs, but an early fall forces the 

 animals into the valleys.. ... In the spring, when the snow is 

 melting, is, to my idea, far the best time, and I would sooner have 

 from February 20 to March 20 after the stags than all the rest of 

 the year. They are then down on the young green grass, and are 

 busily devouring the crocuses. 



By the end of March all the big stags and most of the 

 smaller ones have shed their horns, and the deer collect into 

 large herds and begin moving off to their summer quarters, 

 those in the western corner of the valley going to the banks of 

 the Kishengunga river. The herds which strike the river at its 

 nearest point below Gurais cross it, and retire to the range of 

 hills on the southern border of Astor. Only a very few stags 

 cross this range, the bulk of the deer remaining on the Cash- 

 mere side. The deer on the northern and eastern sides of the 

 valley retire to the slopes of Haramook and the high ground 

 south of the range which separates Cashmere from Dras and 

 Sooroo, but do not appear to cross it. The farther east one goes 

 from Srinugger the less the deer appear to migrate, merely 



