THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
The rutting season of the markhor takes place in the winter. He then 
comes quite low down, and is said to be comparatively easy to get, but I 
have never hunted him at this time of year. Although not a graceful -looking 
animal, he is wonderfully active over bad ground, and the only beast I have 
seen on worse places is the tahr. Care must be taken not to fire the shot 
when he is on a spot where a long fall is likely, as the horns may be seriously 
damaged. There is no more awful moment for the hunter than when he 
hears his beast go crashing down the mountain side after the shot which 
perhaps he has waited days for. 
The best head of this animal I ever secured was in the neighbourhood 
of Chilas, where hunting is only possible by special permit, as this portion 
of the country is under the Gilgit regime. Here I had an example of a 
peculiarity of the markhor which I had heard of before, but had not met 
with in my previous experiences: this is the circumstance that he seems 
to be very little alarmed by the sight of a fire at night. I had been 
stalking all day on the opposite side of the nullah to where my camp 
was, and although I had sighted a good head, I was unable to get a shot 
that evening. I therefore determined to spend the night under a rock and 
not return to camp. As I had not contemplated this contingency, I was 
unprovided with extra clothing, and before dawn endured such agony 
from the cold that I resolved to light a fire even if I scared every markhor 
out of the country. 
I was agreeably surprised to find that my shikari raised no great objec- 
tion to this, and we cowered together over the tiny fire till dawn broke, 
when we sighted our beast quite unalarmed only a few hundred yards 
away, and managed to secure him within an hour. The only conclusion I 
can come to on the subject is that they are so accustomed to seeing the 
fires of goatherds who camp on the hill with their flocks, that they do not 
connect the sight of them with the likely presence of the hunter; but this, 
of course, occurred in a country where the goatherd is not allowed to carry 
arms. 
To the east of Gilgit, near the great peak of Haramosh, which stands 
over 24,000 feet, there is some good markhor ground, and opposite this 
mountain, on the south side of the Indus, there are two or three nullahs 
where these animals are to be found. To reach this locality from the Skardu 
side involves some strenuous marching, as the road is very bad and is 
frequently built out over the river on logs driven into the side of the 
precipice, while sometimes a piece of it is missing. 
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