HIGHLAND POACHERS OF OLDEN TIMES 337 



have said, must be brought up to it, and ' fit ' to go, 

 as far as his own bodily condition is concerned ; and 

 he must be able to act independently ; and surely it is 

 a double satisfaction when, after having stalked a deer 

 unaided, he can truthfully say, as he stands over the 

 prostrate body of some ' monarch of the glen,' ' Solus 

 fecir 



Perhaps the finest sportsmen ever known were the 

 Highland poachers of olden days. They went out for 

 sport, and had to go through all the intricacies of 

 stalking ; and, since there was no sale for venison in 

 those days — at least, not in sufficient quantity to repay 

 them for the risk of being captured and shot them- 

 selves, it was all for sport, and sport alone. 



The old breed of collie the poacher used in those 

 days partook more of the character of the deerhound 

 — a rough-coated sagacious brute — and besides being 

 very fast and wonderfully fine-nosed, they were quite 

 strong enough to hold a badly-wounded hind, or even 

 stag. I once used such a dog as a tracker for a week, 

 and he most certainly appeared to be more of a deer- 

 hound than a collie. The cross is a common one. I 

 often see these dogs bring deer to bay as well as any 

 pure-bred deerhounds, and they seem to be more 

 sagacious in standing aside, etc., when the rifle is 

 brought to play on a stag at bay. 



The old-fashioned poachers were gentlemen of the 

 very highest quality compared to those of modern 

 times. I am at this moment acquainted with an old 

 poacher who shot from off his bed with his old flint 

 gun ; he is a very old man now, but loves to tell 

 everyone his long and interesting yarns of stalks, his 

 escapes from the keepers, and the number of times 



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