INCIDENTS OF STILL-HUNTING 245 



swirling about in a disheartening fashion, so we ran as noise- 

 lessly as possible for a short distance on our back tracks, and 

 I then saw the stag walking slowly forward amongst the trees 

 with his ears set at an attentive cock. He had obtained 

 a puff from our tracks and was going to examine them. 

 Suddenly he stopped and started, so I sat down immediately 

 with my back against Joe's shoulders. At this moment his 

 fears seemed to be realised, and he swung round to gallop 

 across the open space about lo yards broad. As he did so, 

 I fired and broke his back, giving a second shot as he tried 

 to recover. This stag carried a beautiful set of antlers with 

 thirty-four points, and was by far the best I secured in 1905. 

 The bays were exceptionally fine and the beam very long 

 (46 inches) and very broad in the centre. What made it 

 to me a fine trophy was its wild nature, as it had extra 

 points sticking out of the main beam just above the bays. 

 The whole head seemed to carry a little forest of antlers all 

 the way up the horns, making it very attractive. Like so 

 many caribou heads, it had, however, only one good brow ; 

 the other, though long, being of the scraggy order. I went 

 to camp for my camera, but it came on to rain hard, so after 

 skinning off the head, we had to return to camp, and waited 

 till it became clearer. 



" Kesculah " (the closing shower), said Joe, surveying the 

 heavens as we made a start into the country, and kept 

 working the timber steadily till sunset. We had many more 

 "Kesculahs" that day, and, having tramped about 10 miles 

 towards Great Rattling Brook, sat down to rest on the edge 

 of a great open barren surrounded by dense timber. " A 

 good place to watch," suggested Joe, so we made a fire and 

 were refreshing ourselves with tea and meat when a stag 

 appeared on the edge of the woods behind us. He was a very 



