THE RED DEER 
Ben Toig itself without moving the large parties of stags and hinds to be 
seen in all directions. Of course we spied everything as we advanced but 
could see nothing of a kind that ought to be shot at this season until mid- 
day, when we found five stags, one of which was a fair one, on the hill 
above the Lodge. Somehow they got our wind when we were still far 
distant, but luckily circled and passed away to the west without disturb- 
ing Ben Toig, where we expected to find something desirable. After lun- 
cheon in the very welcome sunshine we turned round the hill and care- 
fully spied Ben Toig itself, and here found no fewer than five big stags 
with hinds and several parties of unattached bachelors. The best stag of 
all, a huge fellow, he must have been at least eighteen stone, lay on the 
steep hill of Ben Toig, and we at once marked him as our lawful prey. 
The green little terrace on which the stag and his hinds rested was 
just a buttress in the centre of a very sharp descent, and though we got 
above him and literally let ourselves down yard by yard, some noise, 
or perhaps a curling eddy of wind, caused the deer to rise and travel by 
zigzag paths to the bottom of the hill, where they were joined by some 
twenty unattached stags of various ages. This involved a new movement 
on our part, for to continue the descent meant that they would get the 
wind to a certainty. Accordingly we retreated up hill and so back to our 
first position, essaying a stalk from the west with a gentle wind in our 
faces. 
All went well until within 300 yards of the deer, who were unsettled and 
watchful, when we suddenly felt a puff behind the ears, and retreat was 
again the order of the day. A long wait of two hours now ensued in the 
hope that the herd should move its position, and this at last happened. 
First an old hind led the way up wind on to the foothills below where 
the wind was excellent for us, and then all the others slowly followed, the 
big stag bringing up the rear and roaring frequently. I thought my chance 
had at last come when we started after them, but not more than a few 
hundred yards had been traversed when McIntyre suddenly collapsed 
to the earth and pulled the rifle out of its case and pushed it into my hand. 
A beast was lying in some rocks not thirty yards away, and though he 
had neither seen nor smelt us he had certainly heard something. I looked 
over the rocks just as he sprang from his couch and trotted downhill 
directly towards “ our ” deer, which he was sure to send flying in all 
directions. I had to take him, and so got a quick half -quartering shot at 
sixty yards just as he vanished out of sight. At the sound of the shot five 
109 
