308 PLEASURE OF SELF-STALKING 



the ins and outs of the ground. Where men have to 

 stalk new ground every season there is every reason 

 why they should often fail in a stalk, unless the forest 

 is an easy one ; but there is no excuse whatever for the 

 individual who goes about with a whole retinue of 

 assistants, with hot water, air cushions, changes of 

 shoes, etc., and who has the deer turned to him. If 

 such men but once experienced the pleasure of self- 

 stalking they would willingly sacrifice half the heads 

 ingloriously obtained for those which they had secured 

 by their own prowess alone. If such a change for the 

 better takes place amongst our Highland sportsmen we 

 shall hear no more regarding the scarcity of good 

 heads. Every self-stalked head will be worth ten 

 obtained in an unsportsmanlike way. 



There are many of our Highland forests which 

 would well bear being divided into portions of two or 

 three smaller forests, and they would be better for self- 

 stalking. I am aware of some proprietors who have 

 trebled their incomes by so doing, and I cannot see 

 why this should not be carried out in the case of the 

 larger forests, and increased facilities would be afforded 

 to many men to obtain forests which the at present 

 very limited supply prevents, and the owners of forests 

 would very sensibly benefit by reason of the increased 

 rents. The usual limit as to the number of stags 

 allowed to be killed would prevent anything like over- 

 shooting, and it would take a man the whole season to 

 kill his number of stags if he stalked them alone, and 

 he would experience a pleasure he never felt before. 



I have known men stalk one particular stag for 

 years before they even got a chance at it, and this was 

 a by no means uncommon occurrence in former days 5 



