THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
head in other good company, it would be about the sixth best of the 
season, and that is as good a trophy as a mere guest can expect to gain 
in the north. 
We spent the rest of the morning looking for the wounded ten pointer, 
without success, and then made our way home, taking the Glencoe and 
Glen Etive roads. On the way we met the Glencoe forest ponies, bearing 
two small stags of about twelve and thirteen stone, and it was amusing 
to note the “ superior air ” of the Dalness stalker when our pony man 
produced the twenty stoner. 
So the end of the week and the season had come when I had expected 
no stalking and had enjoyed some of the best of the fun. More fully than 
ever did I realize that in this sport it is not “ stags ” that spell success, 
but “ The Stag.” Numbers killed in stalking mean nothing — they are 
soon forgotten, but not so the anticipation, deferred hope, and eventual 
triumph over the worthy quarry whose antlers live on our walls to remind 
us of thrilling moments enjoyed in pursuit of the ‘‘ Big Stag.” 
A FEW HINTS ON DEER -STALKING 
Every modern writer on the subject of deer -stalking finds himself faced 
with the same difficulty with regard to this sport: he may say either too 
little or too much. Too little, in the sense that he may possibly be in- 
structing beginners, and too much in the case of those who merely buy 
a book for its records of sport and pictures, and stand in no need of 
instruction. Like all the rest, I fear to be didactic, so that in this chapter 
I must beg the indulgence of the experienced stalker, whilst offering a 
few words of advice to those who have much to learn and all the mistakes 
yet to make. These remarks may, it is true, be superfluous, because 
every boy has to learn his practical stalking at the heels of some 
Gamaliel, but they will at least let him know what to look for, and what 
he must not do. 
First and foremost, he must be ” all eyes ” and watch and observe 
everything from the moment he leaves the house until he returns. To some 
this faculty of observation is an inherent instinct, whilst in others it must be 
cultivated. But that it can be acquired and enormously improved is shown 
by the success of young Englishmen in foreign lands, where, for the sake of 
their daily bread, they are forced to use observation and intelligence. 
Just look at any man who has been successful in life and you will see 
132 
