148 DEER-STALKING 



stalker in his attempt to approach a stag, yet the latter 

 occasionally also suffers from the same cause. It 

 must have happened to most of those of my readers 

 who have enjoyed the sport which we are discussing 

 to scent deer themselves. I have not infrequently 

 got a shot unexpectedly when coming suddenly on 

 fresh ground by observing the attitude of the dog that 

 is trotting by my side or being led by the gillie behind. 

 He will put up his head and sniff the air in an 

 unmistakable way. Then the rifle may be pulled 

 out of its case, and everything got ready for a snap 

 shot should a stag jump up in front of the party of 

 stalkers out of some hole in the bog where he was 

 quite concealed from view. As mentioned above, it is 

 not always the dog that puts you on the alert. The 

 smell of deer, especially at the end of the season, is 

 so strong that their presence can be detected by the 

 unaided and limited sense of smell possessed by the 

 owner of the dog. 



The mention of this leads to the consideration of 

 what is a very important branch of the science of 

 deer-stalking, Ought dogs to be used in a forest at all ? 

 if so, What is the best kind of dog ? If not, How are 

 you to get a wounded deer ? My answer to the latter 

 question is that on favourable ground you might expect 

 to get two out of three, while on unfavourable ground, 



