EUROPEAN GAME 
habitats with such care and skill that they are often unstalkable. Yet with 
patience and perseverance a good sportsman is sure to meet with one or 
two in time, for luck will one day turn in his favour and the great trophy is 
killed. The Danube shoots are rarely to let, but many forests in Galicia are 
always to be had, often at small rents. Here it is necessary for the 
sportsman to know both German and a little Ruthenian to ensure success, 
for stags are not numerous and poachers abundant. That is why these 
shoots are cheap. In Hungary the best shoots are seldom to let, but here 
stags are numerous and very well looked after. 
Red deer are widely distributed over the whole of Austria and its depen- 
dencies. In nearly every part of the dual monarchy they reach fine pro- 
portions. The rutting season commences at the end of August in the low- 
lands and ends in Galicia and the northern mountains about the 10th of 
October. The weight of a good stag will be over 500 lb. gralloched, but 
these weights are often much exceeded. The best antlers range from 46 in. 
to 50 in., but many have been killed over 50 in. and one of 53 in. The average 
alone of the Bellye stags on the Danube is nearly 49 in. 
Fallow deer are not indigenous to the country, but were imported 
at a remote date. They grow massive rather than long horns, for I saw no 
specimens in the Vienna Exhibition quite so good as British examples. 
Their record head was only 26| in., whilst English Petworth specimens 
reach 29 in. and 30 in., and are better palmated. 
Roe are plentiful throughout Austria wherever there is cover, and it is 
common to see them in numbers even in the open fields. The season for 
shooting opens on April 1 and ends only with the winter. In the month of 
April the roebuck is often stalked in the open fields by means of a carriage. 
In May and June he is stalked on foot, but in July and August, during the 
rutting season, he is called by means of the artificial lure which imitates 
the cry of the doe. In some parts of the country the roe is so abundant 
that large bags are sometimes made with the rifle. In the spring of 1899 
the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who, by the way, is one of the finest shots 
in Europe, killed no fewer than sixty -six selected old bucks in three days, 
and bags of twenty and more have often fallen to the rifle in a single day. 
Few Austrian roebuck horns exceed 12 in., and the largest I have seen was 
13 in. Modern Austrian heads are not as fine as those of Southern Sweden. 
The Sardinian moufflon was introduced at Gymes in 1868 by Count A. 
Forgach and has succeeded so well as now to be regarded as one of the 
game animals of the country. Some fine specimens were seen at the 
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