38 ERCHLESS AND FARLEY, 1917 



three or four other stags about half a mile to our 

 left, and in a very easy spot to get at. We did 

 not want a long crawl through the snow. The 

 stalk was easy and without incident, and the stag 

 fell dead to the shot. He had quite a good head 

 of 8 points with very symmetrical horns, and 

 weighed 13 stone 8 pounds. Fraser asked me 

 if I had ever shot a beast in the snow, and I said 

 only my wee staggie yesterday. He told me to be 

 very careful, as one was very likely to miss on 

 account of the glare, and also because the snow 

 made them seem to be much nearer than they 

 really were; so, having plenty of time for the shot, 

 I took extra pains, and all was well. We did not 

 stalk after lunch, as the snow was too deep to get 

 anything in that night unless it was very near the 

 wood, and my shot had moved all the deer farther 

 into the forest. 



As we were sadly behind our number on Farley, 

 I sent Roy up to see what he could do, and he 

 succeeded late in the afternoon in getting a small 

 stag on the West Hill, a 6-pointer, 11 stone 10 

 pounds, which, of course, they could not get in 

 that evening, so we had three beasts lying out 

 over the week-end. It sounds bad, but there was 

 really no help for it, and everyone who tasted the 

 venison agreed that it was none the worse for it. 

 They got them in all right on the Monday, but it 

 was no easy job on Erchless, and they had to bring 

 the ponies right round ib n West Hill and all along 



