I 4 o DEER-STALKING 



not told in racy language or interspersed with anec- 

 dotes, to command the attention of his employer. 



Then I used to find that, when stalking for myself, 

 I lost too much time. It is impossible for any amateur 

 to make good his ground as easily or as quickly as 

 one who by long practice has acquired the necessary 

 confidence in himself. When you have found deer 

 and made up your mind how they are to be approached, 

 the chief point which should occupy the stalker's 

 attention is to take his marks that is, to make a note 

 of any prominent features of the ground which he has 

 to traverse, and the nearer such marks are to the place 

 where the deer are lying, the more important do they 

 become. Now in most cases the appearance of these 

 marks, which are generally stones, is very different 

 when you get close to them from what was presented 

 to you when looking at them through the glass ; and 

 if, as is often necessary, you crawl up to them from the 

 other side, they are simply unrecognisable. In such 

 a position the amateur is helpless. He gets no 

 consolation from the gillie, as he was too proud to 

 confide in him when he first spied the deer. The 

 forester knows exactly when to come down on to his 

 marks, and to hit off the exact spot where it is safe to 

 leave the ridge and seek the shelter of the * knobby ' 

 or boulder stone from which he expects to get the 



