THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
ficial environment as much as possible. “ It seems a work of supererogation 
to encompass the death of a creature that has already been surrounded 
by a seven-strand wire fence,” writes E. N. Buxton. That also may be so, 
but Mr Buxton took a deer forest after that, which proves that it still had 
some attraction for him. 
So it is best to be illogical as it is best to retain our sense of romance, and 
rather to pity those who make a mockery of a gallant sport than to blame 
them. Such men have their uses, as they make wealth circulate, and 
doubtless bring happiness to poor homes by employing the men, whilst 
if their ways are not ours we are indeed fallacious if we imagine 
that all men enjoy doing things in the same way, even if that way is the 
right one. 
Perhaps it is fortunate that tastes so widely differ. Rather let us try to 
form our sport to the views of old Horatio Ross, who said before the Com- 
mittee appointed to discuss the Game Laws (1872-1873), ” I have had 
the happiness of being a deer -stalker for more than half a century.” 
External influences did not hamper him, and I do not doubt that were he 
alive to-day he would enjoy the fun as much as ever he did. I have had the 
pleasure of stalking deer regularly for twenty -eight years, and it is now 
pain and grief to me that I am writing these lines in the last fortnight 
of the stalking season, when I have an invitation to stalk for ten days in 
one of the most charming little forests in Ross -shire. We cannot always do 
as we wish, though hope gives us the encouragement that it will mean a 
longer time spent amongst the deer next year. 
All forms of sport have their disappointment; the fox -hunter has to 
contend with frost, the grouse -shooter with heavy rain, the salmon and 
trout fisher with bright sun, but no sport except when exercised on bad 
ground, or sheep ground, has so few real drawbacks to a man in good health 
as deer -stalking. Except in heavy mist, when stalking is out of the question, 
on high ground, there is no form of sport that is more interesting, for 
the ways of the deer are of every changing variety even if a shot is not 
obtained, whilst often the best days for stalking are in the worst possible 
weather. That good sportsman, the late Cameron of Lochiel, briefly 
summed up its pleasures in the following words: 
” The deer -stalker, according to my own experience, starts in the 
morning always in a cheerful frame of mind. His cares and troubles, 
if he has any, are left at home. He anticipates a delightful day whether 
he has luck or not, and he is rarely disappointed. He gets plenty of the 
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