2 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
interest — of trying to outwit — in other words 
trying to get within shot of the particular stag 
one is after — go to make up the attractions of 
what some of us think is the very best of true 
sport. 
I well remember a famous statesman, who 
had himself owned one of the best deer forests in 
the Highlands, saying to me that the greatest 
attraction of stalking is that it takes one to places 
where otherwise one would never go, and enables 
one to see the most wonderful things which 
otherwise one would never see. Further, there 
is probably no form of sport where less pain and 
suffering are inflicted, assuming that any one 
who stalks will take the trouble to know his rifle 
well, and will not take a long or risky shot. The 
shot itself after all plays only a small part in the 
pleasure of a day's stalking. I have friends, 
first-class rifle shots, w^ho delight in stalking, 
and who, when they have arrived within shot of 
the stag they have stalked, will sometimes not 
shoot at him at all. This would not always be 
easily accomplished by those who have strongly 
implanted within them the instincts of the hunter, 
or perhaps I should say the primitive man. 
Again, to pass from stalking, what is the real 
