THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
There are a few places in the British Islands where it is possible to stalk 
the Fallow buck, but, as a rule, this animal, when allowed its full liberty, 
is essentially a woodland creature, and does not give many chances for 
the sportsman, that is to say, the sportsman of a certain type who likes 
to have his game fully in the open in the middle of the day. But to the 
man who likes quiet prowling at dawn and sunset on the edges of woods 
and in little glades. Fallow buck stalking offers certain attractions that 
cannot be denied. I have heard stalkers familiar with these animals say 
that a wild Fallow buck requires a far greater exercise of skill and care 
to shoot with the rifle than any stag or Roe, for he becomes more cunning 
and less ready to trust himself in open spaces if once he is regularly 
hunted. I have had no experience of shooting these animals with the rifle 
except in parks, but for years I hunted them in the Dunkeld district 
with the shot gun, and here found them the sharpest sighted and more 
shy and sly of British deer to hunt. 
When persistently hunted in woods, the big bucks almost invariably 
crouched in fern banks, and broke back if a drive was attempted, and their 
skill and courage in overcoming obstacles was amazing. I have seen an 
adult Fallow buck jump on to a seven foot stone wall and force its way 
under a wire strand at the top, and so escape. Some years ago Mr Lucas 
asked me to kill all the fallow deer in Warnham Park, which I did — 
except one old white buck — which, as soon as the shooting began, jumped 
the seven foot iron park palings and escaped into the woods of Northlands 
where he remained until the end of November. The next year he did the 
same thing, but I saw him standing by a pond the day he returned, 
so getting inside a wood I stalked him from there, and shot him. I 
believe there is not a park in England that could hold Fallow deer if they 
really meant to get out. Some years ago a Fallow buck, hunted from 
Parham (Sussex), jumped into Denne Park, Horsham. The hounds 
followed its line right through the deer in the park and out through the 
other side. I saw the place where this buck, a young one, jumped out, 
and it measured nearly eight feet high from where the deer took off. 
J. G. MILLAIS. 
156 
