ONE DELIRIOUS DAY 87 



and Herbert had a better week than most of us as 

 he got four stags a 7-pointer on the West Hill 

 on the 9th, weighing 14 stone 4 pounds, with a 

 poor head but a fair spread of 29 inches; a 7-pointer 

 also on the West Hill on the 14th, weighing 

 15 stone 2 pounds (the heaviest stag of the season !), 

 and two wee staggies in the wood on the 15th, one 

 of which weighed 13 stone so he was fairly lucky, 

 but, oh, the sighing and the sueing over such rotten 

 heads and poor bodies ! 



I had one delirious day, and only one, needless 

 to say the 13th, in this heartbreaking season. The 

 weather was wild and wintry, with a piercing 

 wind from the north-west and a snow blizzard 

 every few minutes ; but, nothing daunted and with 

 an extra woolley or two, we sallied forth, and from 

 the spying rock we found some deer on the North 

 Hill opposite the ravine; we had no difficulty in 

 getting near them as they were in a very favourable 

 position, and found that the stag had quite a 

 decent head, and there were about nine or ten 

 hinds with him. We crawled on till we got to 

 about 150 yards from them, and then they began 

 to get suspicious, and finally I had to take the shot 

 with a not very comfortable rest and the stag 

 standing three-quarters on, and the light very bad 

 as a blizzard was just beginning. Consequently 

 I was not surprised when he dashed off seemingly 

 unhurt; but John thought it sounded like a hit, 

 though the stag did not kick or lift to the shot. 



13 



