86 DEER-STALKING 



light, or is a jealous sportsman, he may cause much 

 annoyance either by the drastic method of running 

 up a deer fence all along your march, or by walking a 

 man up and down throughout the stalking season. 



If possible, it is very desirable in forming a new 

 forest to be reasonably assured that it will not develop 

 into a ' hind ' forest. This assurance is, however, not 

 always to be obtained, and one is very apt to be 

 deceived. Deer are curious beasts : the ground 

 which one fancies must prove attractive to stags some- 

 times becomes a favourite resort of hinds, and is thus 

 useful for stalking only towards the end of the season. 



A striking instance of the extreme difficulty of 

 ascertaining with certainty whether a tract of ground 

 which it is proposed to clear for deer will prove to be 

 the resort of stags or hinds, occurred in a case of my 

 own some years ago. A large tract of land, occupied 

 by one of the large farmers from the south to whom 

 allusion has been made, fell out of lease. I had no 

 option but to let it as a forest to a neighbour, and it 

 was so let. It carried a stock of about 8,000 sheep, 

 and consisted of four very large conies on the one 

 side, with the face of a long glen on the other the 

 ridge of the latter, which formed the head of the 

 corries, having an altitude of nearly 3,000 feet above 

 sea-level. A more perfect place for the formation of 



