SELF-STALKING 305 



that they are to have the rifle put in their hands 

 at the right moment, they are then told which deer 

 to fire at, how to squeeze the trigger without a jerk, 

 and to take a fine or full sight as the case may be, and 

 this is called sport ! Shades of St. John and Scrope. 

 I should like to see one of these so-called stalkers put 

 to work to stalk a reindeer on a Norwegian Fjeld, or a 

 burhal on a Himalayan slope. 



There are men who do stalk alone, but how many ? 

 Not half-a-dozen in the Highlands, I should say, 

 though if I am wrong in my assertion I shall be only 

 too glad to hear so, and to render an apology for the 

 mistake. The rich merchants from the South take the 

 finest forests we have, and in one instance an American 

 millionaire took no less than nine forests, and knew 

 nothing whatever about stalking, but continued to 

 amuse himself with shootin^ driven deer, knowing: 

 full well that self-stalking was not a sport which could 

 be successfully learned and carried out late in life, and 

 he and his two sons derived infinitely more amusement 

 from shooting at the driven deer. The two sons did 

 well enough both at self-stalking and driving, and Mr. 

 Walter Winans, the elder son of the gentleman referred 

 to, was, while in the Highlands, one of the best rifle 

 shots ever seen by even the oldest keepers in Glen- 

 strath-farrar, and he is well known at Wimbledon for 

 his powers with a rifle ; he is also a wonderful shot 

 with a revolver. The average annual return of the 

 Messrs. Winans' three rifles was rather over a hundred 

 and sixty-five stags. 



As a rule, if a man does try to stalk his own deer it 

 generally ends in his resigning himself to his guide, 

 whether the ground be easy or otherwise. I never 



20 



