52 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



rifle, the first some of them had ever seen. Along- 

 side the ' gammel Norske rifler ' it looked a mere toy. 

 It was only by practical proof of its effect on the 

 body of a stag, and by showing its trajectory on the 

 fjord, that I finally succeeded in dispelling this con- 

 tempt. The more experienced Hitteren native has 

 the greatest respect for English express rifles, and the 

 value of their handiness and low trajectory in the case 

 of moving or running shots. 



A favourite native method of procedure is, at early 

 dawn or in the evening, in the rutting season when 

 stags are belling, to imitate the bellow of a stag. 

 The better, and therefore more bellicose, the stag, the 

 easier he falls a victim to this deception. I will not 

 discuss the ethical question as to whether or not this 

 is a depraved form of sport, and the perpetration of 

 a low and shameful fraud on a noble animal. It is 

 certainly practised in most woodland countries, and 

 I have occasionally on Hitteren participated in and 

 enjoyed the process. From a breeding point of view, 

 moreover, it is obviously better to kill a master stag 

 after, rather than before, the commencement of the 

 rut. Beguiled, possibly, to his death, he will, at all 

 events, have first begotten his kind. In my opinion, 

 if it is right to kill a stag at all, the hunter is justified 

 in practising every form of deception in order to 

 attain his end. A royal woodland stag is an exceed- 

 ingly wily animal, well fitted by nature, and in his 

 native country, to look after himself. Even in the 

 rutting season he is difficult to get at, and generally 

 comes round to get the wind of the belling sportsman, 

 and seldom, if ever, rushes blindly on his fate. The 

 ruse is most successful when it is nearly dark, and 

 therefore most difficult to shoot. I once had three 



