MY FIRST STAG AND SOME OTHERS 7 



burns. The feeding was good, and these Els Fjeld 

 woods always harboured good stags, and were con- 

 sidered to be among the best of the stalking-grounds 

 of Hitteren. One afternoon I had crossed the open 

 heather-covered top of the f jeld with the intention of 

 stalking back against a favouring wind along the 

 wooded slope of the hill. I was alone. It was one 

 of my earliest efforts at a solitary stalk. Presently I 

 arrived at the edge of the fjeld, whence I could see 

 into the pine-forest below me, and advanced with 

 rifle at the trail in the slow and stealthy conspirator's 

 crawl that is so necessary for successful woodland 

 hunting. In this sort of work, when, owing to the 

 cover and the broken nature of the ground, the deer 

 are usually sighted only when well within shot, it 

 is necessary to have eye and ear alert for first glimpse 

 or sound of deer, to take every advantage of cover, 

 and, as an obvious elementary rule of the game, to 

 advance with noiseless step. A careless slip or a 

 cracking twig has spoilt many a woodland chance, 

 and saved the life of numerous woodland stags. It 

 is, in fact, a highly nervous, jumpy business, in cases 

 where the hunter is keen and the game not too plenti- 

 ful ; but it possesses withal a peculiar fascination that 

 only those who have experienced it can fully realize. 



It is only through constant failures that the diffi- 

 culties of sighting a woodland stag at close quarters, 

 and before he has seen or heard you, are quite appre- 

 ciated and to some extent overcome, while thorough 

 knowledge of the ground is an essential condition of 

 success. At best this kind of hunting can never be 

 reduced to an exact science. I have known the most 

 experienced native hunters make frequent mistakes. 

 When luck was against one, everything appeared to 



