TO THE SHOE HILL COUNTRY 251 



and Mr. Littledale had all shot this country 

 with Steve, who certainly knew every inch of it, 

 but October is the month for the Shoe Hill 

 Ridge, when the sport must be grand, for all 

 the stags from the north as well as those from 

 the wooded country all round come up to these 

 barrens in the late autumn. The country was 

 cut up with deep trails, showing where the 

 stags passed on their annual migration south. 

 For pleasure I should choose the early 

 season, up to October 1st; the weather is 

 finer and some fishing is to be had, but for 

 good heads the late season is certainly the best, 

 for all the stags are out in the open during and 

 after the rut. In the end of October the 

 weather is sometimes fine, but sometimes very 

 broken, and Steve told me that he had more than 

 once hunted in heavy snow in that month. 



On our return to camp everything was most 

 comfortable benches, tables, shelves in the 

 tent, rests for the rifles ; only the big stag was 

 wanted to make the Shoe Hill Droke a hunter's 

 earthly paradise. 



On the morning of the 17th we struck east 

 and crossed two ridges till we got to a valley 

 between Shoe Hill Ridge and the hill on which 

 was the Kesoquit Droke, where Millais had 

 camped on his way up from the Long Harbour 

 River. 



