RED DEER, FALLOW DEER & ROE 
Except where the chase is made easy, as it is in many of the Hungarian 
forests by cutting immense rides along which carriages are constantly 
driven, to which the deer get accustomed and from which they are even- 
tually shot, the sport of hunting the large red stag is one of the finest, as it 
is one of the most difficult in Europe. This I hope to show in the following 
pages. Centuries of hunting have made this fine animal extremely cautious, 
both in the choice of its habitat and in the use of its voice, and so the chances 
of success are reduced to a minimum unless Fortune and the conditions of 
the weather favour the hunter as it does in some seasons. It may be said, 
however, that perseverance and a knowledge of woodcraft will always win 
in the long run, for man is cleverer than any beast. 
The common fallow deer ( cervus dama) is naturalized or kept in large 
parks or park enclosures in many parts of France, Germany and Austria. 
Its general character and habits are similar to the animal now existing 
in the British Islands, which I have already described in a previous volume. 
The bucks grow to their largest size in Southern Austria and many of 
them in the districts of Southern Hungary attain great weight and carry 
fine palmated antlers. These are not, however, superior to the best British 
in this respect, the biggest shown in the Vienna Exhibition of 1910 being 
only 26£ inches. Enormous bags of fallow deer are shot annually by the 
German Emperor and his friends in large enclosed forests; but the sport 
is not of such a character as to appear attractive to British sportsmen, who 
love to pursue an animal in its unrestrained freedom. In Northern Palestine 
and Northern Asia Minor fallow deer grow to a large size and probably 
would afford excellent still -hunting to any sportsman who feels inclined 
to try his luck with them; but so far I have not heard of any hunters who 
have been there in pursuit of these animals. In a wild state the fallow deer, 
especially the old bucks, are full of cunning and resource. In a bush country 
they are quite the equal of their large cousins, the red deer, and a man 
must hunt early and late to surprise them in the little clearings where 
they feed at dawn and sunset. I think the species is extinct in North Africa, 
but a few are still to be found in Southern Sweden, Italy, Spain and Portu- 
gal, in a semi -domesticated state, and wild in Rhodes and Sardinia. They 
are probably extinct in Greece, where they existed until 1880. 
Whilst the fallow deer can hardly be accounted an important beast 
of the chase in Europe, the European roe, Capreolus capreolus , may be 
considered one of the best of the smaller mammals that afford sport 
with the rifle. It is found in great numbers in some parts of Germany 
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