1 84 THE KASHMIR DEER. 



velvet, which hung from them in strips. I sat for some time waiting for the stag to rise ; at 

 last a fly got into my throat and I could not restrain a cough ; the horns moved quickly as the 

 stag started — another cough — and he sprang up and gazed beneath him, but only instantly to 

 fall dead with a bullet through his neck. Unfortunately the hill was very steep, and he rolled 

 down a long way, breaking off one of his horns at the base ; we clambered down to him and 

 found that he was a fine stag with ten points, but the horns were not very large. We found 

 the broken one without much difficulty, and then had a pretty stiff climb back to camp. 



I worked hard till the 31st, without seeing another stag; on that day I found three 

 lying down, and a Snow Bear feeding close to them. The stalk was an easy one, and I 

 reached a juniper bush about one hundred yards from, and straight above, the deer. All 

 had poor heads, so I chose the one that offered the best chance and shot him dead. A 

 fourth stag, which I had not previously seen, now jumped up with the other two, and I 

 should most certainly have got another, if my fools of Shikaris had not shown themselves 

 instead of lying still, so that the deer galloped off without stopping to gaze. 



I continued hunting until the 7th of September, frequently sleeping out on the hill- 

 side, so as to be on the ground by daylight ; but I only saw one other stag, who came out 



of the forest one morning at dawn, and commenced feeding on a grassy slope in company with 



a number of hinds. I succeeded in approaching to within range, but I miscalculated the 



distance and missed with my first barrel, and my second barrel missed fire. 



Until 1882, I never had another opportunity of hunting Bara Sing, but in September of 



that year I went to the hills which divide the province of Chamba from that of Badrawar. 



Here, in former years, many splendid heads were obtained, and, as I had detailed accounts 



and sketches of the ground, I anticipated good sport. 



To my great disgust, however, I found the hills overrun by innumerable herds of cattle, 



buffaloes, and sheep, with their attendant shepherds and dogs, which had utterly ruined one 



of the most perfect and beautiful deer forests imaginable. 



The villagers who accompanied me assured me that the deer would return as soon as 



the cattle went down the hill, and I therefore remained for a month, during which time I 



patiently hunted all the favorite haunts of the deer without ever getting a single chance. 



I once saw a small stag on the edge of the forest, and altogether I came across about 



half a dozen hinds, and heard another stag in the jungle, but I did not even find the tracks 



of any others. Not a single stag ' called,' and in fact the shooting on those hills is a thing 



of the past. 



It must not be supposed, however, that these grand deer are as yet nearly extinct : I 



believe that they are still tolerably abundant in certain places, but they must be sought far 



away from the beaten tracks. 



Although it is only during the rutting season, and again in March, that there is much 



hope of killing stags by legitimate stalking, the sportsman may chance to find them at other 



seasons ; but much time may be spent in searching for them without success, and even if one 



is found, either accidentally or by tracking it to its lair, probably a glimpse of the animal as 



he disappears in the forest, is all that is obtained. 



