THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Toledo, forms a main stronghold of the Spanish red deer, and herein the 
stags attain a magnificent development of horn, rarely surpassed in 
Europe, many heads measuring over 40 inches in length. Practically the 
whole of these vast mountain ranges are preserved by the various land- 
owners. Only amidst the intricate wilds of northern Estremadura can red 
deer be found on unpreserved ground. Here, on unknown and abandoned 
hills, the stags, though few in numbers, carry good heads unharmed by a 
primitive or degraded peasantry strangely oblivious of the hunters’ craft. 
Here, too, the far -venturing sportsman would find wild boars and wolves 
— both, in certain ranges, numerous enough. 
Apart from the sierras, red deer are also occasionally found inhabiting 
lowland forests, the Goto Donana being the best known of such resorts. 
That famous hunting-ground (leased for many years by the present writer 
together with Mr Walter Buck and other friends) lies at the mouth of the 
Guadalquivir, forming a sort of delta to that great river. Its seaward 
extremity is covered with forests of stone-pine, while inland there stretch 
away continuous jungles of brushwood diversified by scattered clumps 
of cork-oak and ilex. Between is interposed a central region of desert 
sand-dunes inset with belts and strips of pine. Red deer, along with wild 
boar, lynx and other animals, abound in all three classes of country. The 
deer of Donana, however, belong to a distinctly smaller race than those 
of the sierras, average “Royal” heads measuring only 24 to 26 inches, 
while antlers approaching 30 inches are quite exceptional. Weights (clean) 
here rarely exceed 200 lb., whereas the best mountain stags reach 300 lb. 
Deer -stalking is not practised in Spain, “ driving ” being the system 
universally adopted with all big game. This fact, on first sight, may 
prejudice outside opinion against Spanish sportsmanship. Such prejudice 
would be entirely unjustified. The nature of each country must dictate its 
own appropriate method. We British prefer stalking or still -hunting 
largely because in most of the hunting -fields affected by our race those 
methods represent the most effective and, in some cases, the only course 
available. Such are the deer-forests of Scotland, the highlands of Norway, 
of the Caucasus, or of India, the Himalayas and Rockies, together with a 
big proportion of the whole vast veld of Africa. The barer the ground, the 
greater the advantage to the stalker. On naked hill or open plain animals 
can be descried miles away. A stag lying up in heather can be “ spied ” — 
if only by the tip of a horn — though the heather be two feet high. But in 
Spain, heather {Erica arborea) grows to six or eight feet; while a tangled 
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