THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
I have never seen a red deer head to surpass this one, which has been 
recently acquired by the King of Saxony, nor could I obtain any further 
particulars about it. Two gorgeous creatures in blue and gold stood 
guard in the Moritzburg Court, and when I sat down to draw they firmly 
but politely obstructed my view of the great head. Bribery and persuasion 
being useless, I tried stratagem, and found that the good fellows had to 
eat like other people, and both went off guard one day at the same time. A 
policeman came and only regarded my efforts with superior amusement 
and left me just enough time to do my work, so I got a very fair picture of 
this head, which I present to my readers. 
Apart from the so-called sixty-two pointer, whose points are I think 
over-rated, the most wonderful head in the Moritzburg collection is the 
twenty-four pointer, with a span of 6ft. 3 in. This is wider than any known 
wapiti, whilst the head and frontlet must weigh at least 42 lb. In this col- 
lection are several with twenty-two to thirty-eight points, and full par- 
ticulars and pictures are given in the fine monograph by Dr A. B. Meyer, 
so I need not particularize. 
All the other red deer heads, even the best in the Galician and Hungarian 
Courts, were just a little inferior to these noble examples, yet both Galician 
and Hungarian exhibits showed three wonderful heads recently killed. 
The first prize of the Exhibition was given to a twenty -two pointer belong- 
ing to Prince Montennovo and shot in the Danube Marshes. 
It was difficult to accept that this head was superior to a twenty -pointer 
from Hungary shown by Count Andrassy, and to two heads, one measuring 
51 inches, shot by Prince Henry of Liechtenstein at Tartar ow in Galicia. 
There was also the 49 -inch eighteen -pointer shot by Mr Pick at the same 
place, a head of wonderful size and quality. Taken on the average, the 
best lot of heads at the same exhibition were those shown by the Archduke 
Frederick, shot at Bellye on the Danube. The stags of these marshes 
grow to a great size, with very thick and long antlers, though not with 
many points. The longest was 51 inches, but the average length would 
be about 46 inches, whilst many were over 48 inches. 
It has, I think unfortunately, been the practice of recent years to intro- 
duce male wapiti as stock sires into many of the best Austrian forests 
and preserves, and this I think a great mistake when the deer were so 
good already. The result has been to improve the size of heads but to 
lose the great beauty of the red deer type of crown. So many of the Vienna 
exhibits had undoubted wapiti crosses that one had to exercise the greatest 
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