Deer -Stalking in Kashmir 283 



the rifle of the Maharajah's brother, the late Sir 

 Amar Singh, and there is no doubt that stags with 

 big heads are getting more numerous every year. 



That winter I did come across one very fine 

 stag. This was towards the end of March, a 

 good month for stalking, as the deer come out 

 into the open after the young grass and crocuses, 

 and the history of my meetings with that slippery 

 beast must conclude this sketch. His haunt was a 

 steep forest, extending for a mile or so below a 

 high hog's-back, the top of which was serrated in 

 such a way that from no point on it could more 

 than a few yards of the ridge be watched. The 

 other side of the hog's-back a number of deep, 

 grassy ravines fell steeply down to the plain a 

 couple of thousand feet below. 



We first spied the royal, for such he was, ac- 

 companied by a small ten-pointer, below us in the 

 forest, but the snow, which lay deep on this, the 

 north side, was crisp and difficult to get over 

 silently; dry branches cracked with a terrible 

 noise, while others, bent down with the weight 

 of snow, sprang suddenly up as we crawled 

 through them. Of course, the stalk was a failure. 

 When next we saw them, a couple of days later, 

 they were in the same place. This time we de- 

 cided on a drive, and having collected my baggage 

 porters, the shikari took them into one end of the 



