DEER. 199* 



to the flat open ground they frequent, are difficult to stalk. 

 Driving is usually resorted to, the preliminary stalking 

 operations having failed. The best specimen I ever saw 

 was shot by Captain Croker of my regiment, on an occasion 

 when we were both nearly bagged by one of the sportsmen,, 

 who enfiladed the line of guns. On that memorable day 

 we got a stag and a hind, both fine animals, nearly as large 

 as red deer, but lighter in colour. The venison tasted like 

 goose. I have a good head now in my possession, which 

 was shot sometime after in the same tract. 



The daray, also a Burmese deer, much resembling a roe,, 

 were very abundant in the large grassy plains thereabouts. 

 They were invariably driven by beaters and dogs, the sport 

 being a combination of coursing and shooting and not of 

 a particularly exciting description. 



The first shot I ever tired with an Express rifle was at 

 one of these small deer not sixty yards off, a particularly 

 small one he was too. The bullet struck him in the neck,, 

 none of the fragments emerging on the opposite side, 

 although there was not more than 3^ inches to be pene- 

 trated. This was with a '500 rifle, and its performance 

 made me sceptical about its powers if used against 

 dangerous game. 



It is very doubtful whether the older sambur stags 

 shed their horns annually. Some sportsmen assert that 

 they do so ; others that it only occurs every third year. 

 A sambur stag is not fully developed till he has reached 

 the age of eight years. His antlers then are very massive, 

 and it is unlikely that the reproduction of so much 

 bony tissue should be thrown every year on the animal's 

 system. 



The horns are at their best in the cold weather, and at 

 that time I have never met a sambur stag in velvet ; but 



