ROE-HUNTING. 45 



party of this kind succeed much better than when one or two 

 experienced roe-hunters had the whole sport to themselves. 1 



A description of one of these noisy parties will, with a few 

 exceptions, apply to all. We will suppose the sportsmen 

 snugly in their passes, while the beaters and dogs are in full 

 hoot and howl in the wood below : one man allows the roe to 

 slip by unobserved, until it is almost out of reach, then fires 

 his buck-shot, perhaps wounding his game, which the dogs are 

 unable to run down ; another never sees it at all ; a third 

 shows himself in the pass, and so throws away his chance ; 

 and I have even known two instances of our brethren from the 

 south leaving their posts for a time to take a comfortable 

 luncheon their love of a roe-pasty prevailing over their love 

 of the chase. One of them was only detected by the hounds 

 and roe having run right through his pass during his absence. 

 Although a man should not be so churlish as to refuse joining 

 a party of this kind, yet I could excuse any knowing roe- 

 hunter for anticipating with greater pleasure and hope of 

 success the day when he may take the field alone. 



Such a one will always prefer a day with scarcely a breath 

 of air, high wind being destruction to his sport first, from 

 the difficulty of hearing the hound ; and next, from the cur- 

 rents of air which he will be obliged to avoid, lest the roe 

 should wind him. His only companion is a very slow and 



1 The roe is occasionally stalked, and shot with the rifle, and I have heard it 

 alleged that it is thus raised to the dignity of a deer, whereas the common 

 method of buck-shot degrades it to the level of a hare. Having several times 

 tried this experiment, I may safely pronounce it a most wretched burlesque upon 

 deer- stalking. Roes almost always confine themselves to the woods ; and 

 although, by peeping round corners and openings in the plantations, you may 

 sometimes get a good rifle-shot, yet you are much more apt to come upon them 

 quite within range of buck-shot, especially if the cover is not very thin, which, 

 when a good haunt of roes, it seldom is. They are thus almost sure to see and 

 hear you, and steal away unperceived ; but should you succeed in getting the 

 shot, it is pretty certain to be a running one, and you will stand but a poor 

 chance with a rifle at a roe bounding among thick plantations. The great ex- 

 citement of deer-stalking consists in seeing your game from a distance without 

 being yourself perceived, which affords ample scope for skill and tact in 

 approaching it. 



