Red Deer 
53 
the deer flourished as they had never done before both in horn and body, while at Black 
Mount and other forests farther south, where hardly any rain fell during the summer, the 
heads were of the poorest description, though in other respects the condition of the animals 
was fairly good. 
In a thunderstorm deer are apt to be stricken with panic, when they will rush madly 
about, running together in little groups as if for mutual comfort and counsel in their 
HINDS COMING INTO SHELTER BEFORE A STORM 
desperation at finding no means of escape. In gusty weather, too, with frequent squalls, they 
are often unapproachable, keeping constantly on the move. 
The first severe weather of winter will move the entire stock of deer from the outlying 
beats in a forest into some big corrie or wood where there is shelter. Such a sight was 
witnessed by my friend, Mr. Sydney Steel, whilst hind-stalking in Glentilt in November 
1892. Several hundreds of deer were already there, and when the snowstorm commenced, 
the passes leading into the great corrie were being used all day by long strings of hinds 
seeking shelter. By the evening the stalkers who were with him (and these men are not 
commonly given to exaggeration) estimated that there were not less than 3000 deer in the 
valley, which probably constituted pretty nearly the whole stock of deer in Blair-Athole. 
It will be noticed too that when suffering from bad weather deer generally vary their 
altitude in proportion to its severity, as was seen in the severe winter of 1893, when many 
