Roe-Stalking and Roe Heads 207 
Beaufort is simply ideal ground for roe-stalking, and from a mound close to Ross’s house 
you can spy one great valley which embraces all sorts of broken country, and then, by 
walking to a mound only a short distance away, another large extent can be run over 
with the glass. 
Nearly everything in this sport consists in patience and sitting still if you have a 
good vantage ground to look from, for roe, being small, are not easy to pick out amongst 
trees and bushes, and when they lie down they are still more difficult to see. It was from 
the first of the two mounds that we expected to spot “ Queer Head. We had been looking 
for him intently most of the morning, when suddenly he walked out of a little copse and 
disappeared over a rise. The distance was not more than 200 yards, and making sure he 
had not seen us, we ran down a hollow and looked carefully over a ridge commanding a 
clear view in every direction, but could see no buck—only his doe, who was quietly feeding 
ROEBUCK FINISHING THE FRAYING OF HIS HORNS WITH HIS HIND FOOT 
within 50 yards. There we lay more than an hour, thinking that he would show near her, 
but this he never did. To make a long story short, we saw him twice again in the evening, 
and were again defeated. However, Ross spotted him for the last time just as the trap came 
to the door to take me back to Beauly. “ Queer Head ” was feeding on a hill-side covered 
with small firs and deep heather, and there was no chance of a shot except from below. 
x\fter we had worked carefully towards the spot where he was last seen, he suddenly sprang 
up within 50 yards and galloped up the hill as hard as he could tear, and knowing I should 
probably never have another chance, I took a snap at him just as he entered the bushes. 
Ross said he was hit, but I thought not, and overruled his wish that we should get the dog 
and have a look for him. A short time afterwards I received a letter from Ross saying that 
I was very foolish not to have searched for the buck that morning, as he had just been found 
2 D 
