356 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



Deer stalking is a young man's sport, except where the hills 

 and hill paths enable deer ponies to go almost anywhere. 

 But stalking, and not driving, is the sport of the Highlands, 

 probably as much because driving deer is helping one's 

 neighbours as for any other reason. The paintings of deer 

 drives that one still sees many engravings of are for the most 

 part fancy affairs. Deer generally move slowly, and not like 

 race-horses. In going through a pass they usually travel at 

 a pace they intend to keep up for five or ten miles. They may 

 rush sometimes, but the author believes that this artistic idea 

 had its origin in the time of the deerhound. The Scotch 

 manner of finding deer is by "spying" with the telescope. 

 The Continental manner is by listening for the " roar," or 

 love challenge, of the stags in the deep woodlands where 

 "spying" would be impossible. Consequently, the woodland 

 deer of the Continent is shot in the rutting season, unless he 

 is driven. In Scotland, leases make the season terminate by 

 the end of the first or second week in October. 



The sight of deer is remarkably sharp, but they trust 

 much more to their olfactory powers for protection, and they 

 generally take a couch where their eyes prote .t them from the 

 down-wind enemy and their noses from the up-wind approach 

 of a foe. Then they prefer to travel up wind. A novice may 

 succeed as well as an old hand if he can shoot and judge 

 distances, because as a novice he will never try to stalk a stag 

 for .himself. That higher sportsmanship is to be learnt with 

 years, but at the beginning the professional stalker is as 

 necessary as the rifle itself. To protect him, it has been said 

 that the deer trusts most of all to his sense of smell, next to 

 that of sight, and lastly to that of hearing. Probably at the 

 same stalk it is not very uncommon to observe both sight and 

 hearing mislead the stag into danger, and smell to put him 

 right. The author has fired at and missed a stag, which 

 started away from the sound, saw the splash of the bullet 

 beyond him, and, trusting his sight before his hearing, rushed 

 back towards the shooter; then he has got the scent of the 

 latter, and thus known all about the situation in an instant. 



