THE SHOT. 43 



very careful to take the sight extremely fine, much finer 

 than if firing a shot at a hundred yards or thereabouts ; 

 or take the sight as if firing at that distance, but keep 

 it just on the outline of the deer, directly under the 

 heart. 



One of these two shots must be tried ; a little practise 

 with the rifle will soon tell which comes the easiest and 

 most natural. The writer, for his part, prefers the last 

 mentioned method. Directly a beast drops to shot, no 

 matter whether near or far off, run up to him at once, 

 and as fast as possible. If the ball has gone high and 

 just grazed the spine without breaking it, the shock will 

 cause a deer to lie helpless for a few minutes, but if the 

 shooter be not up to him at once, he will quickly recover 

 and be gone. In any case get up to him as fast as you 

 can ; nothing is more vexatious than to wound a stag, and 

 then to see him rise and trot away while the pursuers are 

 yet a good way off. He will be pretty sure to give a 

 poor second chance, and you are probably so disconcerted 

 by his unexpected resurrection and evident strength, 

 that a hurried shot is followed by a miss. 



Now and then it happens, if stalking near the march, 

 that when spying, the glass will wander across it to explore 

 Naboth's vineyard, and in so doing will discover Naboth 

 himself in pursuit of his deer. In this case, if he has not 

 seen you first, it is as well to sit down and watch his pro- 

 ceedings for a while. If there are deer in front of him, 

 it is possible that his misfortune may become your good 

 luck, for any mistake on his part may send the deer 

 to you. The writer remembers a bit of friendly chaff 

 which occurred to himself in this very way. He had 



