104 DEER-STALKING 



it used to cause many a laugh among my friends who 

 visited Achnacarry habitually, when some new hand 

 came in from the hill in the middle of dinner, and 

 said very gravely that he was afraid he had killed 

 rather a small beast, but that the stalker had begged 

 him to tell me that it was well out of the way, as it 

 was an ' old deer that was going back.' This familiar 

 and oft-used explanation was supposed by the 'old 

 hands ' to contain more of the elements of consolation 

 than of natural history, and was provocative of mirth 

 rather than credence. 



Hardly less important for the well-being of a 

 deer forest than the number and quality of the stags 

 killed during the season, is the question of when 

 the season itself ought to end. There is no close 

 time for deer fixed by statute, and the determina- 

 tion of how late stalking should be allowed in the 

 case of stags must be left to the judgment of the 

 owner of the forest. This is somewhat unfortunate. 

 It leaves the responsibility of deciding on a subject 

 which affects others besides the individual immediately 

 concerned. Thus, supposing one man allows no stag 

 to be shot after October 10, but the owner of a neigh- 

 bouring forest continues to stalk up to the 2oth, it is 

 clear that, having in view the roving propensities of 

 stags at that period, some of the best deer which fre- 



