i590 WIND SANCTUARIES 



remain to the very last in these eddies of wind, and 

 generally contrive to bolt the wrong way for the guns. 

 The best plan is to leave such ground perfectly quiet, 

 and thereby afford the deer such a feeling of security 

 that the best stags from the neighbouring forests may 

 draw into such safe hiding ; and when they take to the 

 hinds in October, some easy stalks at the best heads 

 may be secured without disturbing the sanctuary at all. 

 Anything is better than to disturb such places of refuge, 

 as such disturbance will only tend to send the deer all 

 over the country, the big stags perhaps never to 

 return. 



In stalking, the stalker should watch the movements 

 of the leading hind or sentinel in every difficult stalk, 

 and if he succeeds in out-manoeuvring her, the rest of 

 the herd, whose attention is generally fixed on her, 

 require little further attention, and the stag which it is 

 desired to obtain can generally be reached. As a rule 

 there should be no excuse for other deer being in the 

 way, for such should by right be spied with the glass 

 when the ground is being examined previous to the 

 stalk. In thick covert, of course, if a roe or any other 

 deer jumps up it cannot be helped ; but where the 

 ground is open, and can be thoroughly spied, failure 

 should not happen, certainly from such a cause as the 

 above. When stags are below the hinds, as they 

 usually are in wild weather, it is safer to stalk them by 

 working from above and under the wind of the hinds as 

 the hill is descended. 



On one occasion I succeeded in stalking a fine stag, 

 it having taken me two hours to crawl three hundred 

 yards, and just before I fired the other deer were 

 round him in the form of a horseshoe, and a few 



