Antlers 



These tunnels are far too small for the elephant 

 to make use of, and he simply forges straight 

 ahead beating out a broad furrow in the dense 

 grass. Suddenly a dark, yellowish, brownish 

 shape emerges from the grass and goes skipping 

 away in front or to the right or left rear. 



It is a para, and before one has had time to 

 focus the sight upon it, it has dropped into one 

 of the tunnel runs and disappeared. 



The whole thing is over in less than half a 

 minute, and one realizes that one has seen one's 

 first para, and that para-shooting from an ele- 

 phant's back in grass may not be quite so easy as 

 we first supposed. 



One often sees it stated that hog deer cannot be 

 stalked. I have not found this to be so. The 

 tracks as shown here are easily decipherable from 

 the sambhar, chitul and barasingha by their 

 smaller size, and are easily distinguishable from 

 those of the kakar. I have found that on the 

 grassy plains one finds interspersed with the sal 

 forests in the Terai it is quite possible to stalk 

 these little animals in the early morning and even- 

 ing. At such times they are to be found out in the 

 open close to the edges of the forest in the grass 

 areas, and by carefully choosing the direction 

 of approach and making use of all available cover, 

 one can often advance to within 30 or 40 yards 

 and secure an easy shot. 



I remember one such morning in May. I was 



77 



