THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
various features of the ground which you have to traverse. The sort of 
spots that outlying beasts may be concealed in, which, if undetected, will 
spoil your stalk, and the depressions on the hillside along which you can 
crawl, and which to you at this distance seem to be no depressions at all. 
One of the most essential things in going to your particular stag or 
herd is to spy every bit of ground in the vicinity before attempting the 
stalk — as disaster nearly always comes not from the object of your pur- 
suit, but from some wretched hind or knobber that has escaped your 
eye. It is seldom, too, when looking from below, from which position 
deer are generally first found, that you can see behind the knolls, hags, 
and rocks and into little basins that lie above your deer, and so, when 
going uphill in your preliminary advance, your steps must be taken 
slowly, and the eyes and glass kept in constant use, to avoid any mishaps. 
This is a bit of a strain, but it is one of the points which makes the game 
interesting. A really good stalker never misses anything that should be 
seen, and is rarely taken by surprise, unless fresh deer move in from above 
or on the flanks. 
The question of greatest importance is the direction of the wind and 
its steadiness. At first the clouds will give you the general direction, 
and if your beat is an open hill face or flats, there is not much to be feared 
from eddying currents ; but in the high broken corries of the best forests 
you never know what the wind is until you get to your ground and the 
neighbourhood of the deer, and even then, unless you have perfect local 
knowledge, appearances are apt to be deceitful. I have known the wind 
on the west side of Ben Starab blowing due north along the top and half 
way down, then, for a space of several hundred yards it was due south, 
below that it was due north again, and in the corrie at the bottom it was 
whirling round and round! Old Macleish, the stalker, knew it exactly, 
but what chance would anyone else have had, if they had gone for a stag 
either on the hillside or at the bottom ? Few places are as bad as this, 
though I know of one corrie on Fannich when, if you look into it with a 
certain wind, your scent travels right away round the whole amphitheatre, 
and the deer come galloping by on the green slope a hundred yards away, 
on the opposite side of this bottle-neck. 
But wind, and all its vagaries, is a thing you will have to leave to the 
stalker. On your part it is only necessary to take into consideration the 
conformation of the hills and the lines and depressions of the landscape 
which produce wind movements. 
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