THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
point which the young stalker can only learn from experience and observa- 
tion is the degree of timidity on the part of the deer when he is about to 
take his shot. If the deer have not seen him, all is easy; but, if on poking 
his rifle into a shooting position, the deer have seen him, and made a short 
start, he has to choose between taking a running shot, or allowing the 
deer to go a short distance on the chance of their “standing at gaze.’’ Now, 
if there is a shoulder below the deer over which they can dip and disappear, 
he would do well to take the running shot, but if there is a small flat, or 
any obstacle of landscape which may cause them to halt or hesitate within 
shot, it is well to let them run a little, and the chance of a stationary shot 
is good; though it will never be quite so good as that at an unalarmed 
animal. In such a case the chief difficulty is that the stag may be sur- 
rounded or cover ed.by hinds, in which case there is probably only his neck 
to fire at. Such a shot, however, must be taken, as none other will offer. 
Immediately after firing a shot, the rifle should be reloaded, and if the 
stag is not obviously killed, it should be fired at again. If the stag falls 
to the shot and struggles to regain its feet the young stalker should run 
up, so as to give it another shot in case it recovers. There is hardly a stalker 
living who at some time in his youth has not undergone the miserable 
experience, after seeing his stag fall to what he thought was a good shot, 
of seeing it suddenly rise and gallop away apparently untouched. A graze 
on the back of the neck, withers or backbone will cause the sudden collapse, 
and the stag will completely recover from it. 
“ Stag fever ’’ is a disease which is, as a rule, cured only by practice; 
but intermittent attacks are liable to occur at any time in a man’s life. 
It is a trouble which, after all, we need not be ashamed of, for it arises 
from an excess of keenness and imagination, and is due to the effect of 
seeing horns — and horns alone! The bigger the horns the worse the fever. 
Wherefore it behoves a man who is subject to it not to look at horns until 
they are lying on the heather, but to treat his quarry as if it were a hummel. 
It is extraordinary what good shots we make at hummels and bad headed 
stags. We seem to be able to kill them at almost impossible distances, 
simply because we do not care whether we hit them or not. Some of the 
keenest and most experienced stalkers are subject to stag fever, and are 
naturally very bad shots; but they get an intense amount of pleasure 
out of their sport. Yet I think their lot is to be preferred to that of the 
callow youth who is a good shot and never feels a stirring of the blood. 
To have “ no nerves ’’ may be an advantage, but it shows a cold and 
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