206 COYERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



Why, even I can't always tell ye were to vincl 'un, nor which 

 road he'll think well to travel, nor how fur he'll go. Them as 

 made 'un knows, I'll warrant ; but there's many a deer lies in 

 the forest as is one too many for Red Rube.' " 



jSTo man knew better what he was writing about than the 

 author of " Katerfelto," and many a day .have I seen him going 

 over the forest, as he goes everywhere, in front. Stag-hunting 

 is, in its incidents, in the way in Avliich it must be carried out, 

 essentially different from fox-hunting. There, " short, sharp, and 

 decisive" is and should be the motto. With the deer, deep 

 knowledge of woodcraft, great patience, and untiring energy 

 must be brought into play. A day's work is often done before 

 the right animal is unharboured, and then you may kill him 

 in half an hour. But let those inclined to grumble reflect, as 

 they look on the mighty antlers and form, large as a pony, 

 when the King of the Forest lies dead before them, on the 

 science and knowledge of hunting which has been brought-- 

 into play to kill an old hart, who for years has set the wood- 

 craft of the West at defiance, and ranged these wilds, most 

 probably unhunted, until, foiled in every shift, he at last 

 yielded, because through his own cunning he had lived a life 

 of ease until he was too fat to run. Why, he could have 

 given any fox that ever wore brush twenty-one pounds for 

 cunning. You may have lost your gallop for the day; but, 

 nevertheless, you have seen stag-hunting as much as you will 

 have when a '' warrantable deer " succumbs after a gallop of 

 two or three hours. By the way, I fancy people are most 

 unreasonable in regard to deer. Because they go out to hunt 

 a stag, they think a run must follow perforce. Let me ask 

 them how often are they disappointed with fox or hare 1 also, 

 why a wild deer should always be expected to show sport more 

 tlian any other beast of chase 1 



That they do so oftener than most is a fact I can vouch 

 for, as, out of a given number of days with hounds, I 

 have met with fewer disappointments in wild-deer hunting 



