The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-16 00:00:00

Stalking a Deer.

In the new number of the North British Review
is an article on Highland sport, suggested by Mr.
Russell's work on the Salmon—a work, as the re-
viewer says, "full of spirit and life "—the following
extract is given from the private journal of a sports-
man, " who has stalked and shot more deer than
most in• Scotland, and who thinks no more of the
public when he is writing his memorandum of his
day's sport than when he is creeping to his stag."
The date is the 19th September :
" I started at ten, and looked the whole Glut Forest to
the head—blank : lunched at 1.80 in the Glut Water half a
mile above Glenmore (lunch, the heel of a loaf and some
weak brandy and water, followed.by the never-failing des-
sert, a pipe) ; we then crossed the flow in for the head of
Glenbaun, and on to the °remit burns, which we looked
and double looked, but in vain—then had another nip of B.
and W. and another pipe, and a long look at the country in
general, and Orkney in particular, where we could dis-
tinctly see the waves breaking upon Hoy (it was very clear),
then up and off home, via Glenbaun, Liavid, &c. ; when we
got near Liavid burn (downwind, could not help it) we
noticed two or three ravens working pretty high up the
burn—(since I found the dead hind last Wednesday through
the assistance of the ravens, I have a sort of respect for
them ; in fact, they seem to follow me, and to-day I may
say they found for me a living stag)—at same moment got
a very fresh track going up the burn ; next moment saw a
whole flight of ravens get up off something, so I went up
the burn to see, still getting the fresh track. Robert at
once said, A deer has just got our wind, Sir, and gone up
the burn and put up the ravens (and ho was right), so I
went cautiously up the burn, looking very sharp. Pre-
sently we came to an old dead sheep ; I said, This is all,
Bob." No, Sir,' said he 'go on, I am sure a doer is on
before us,' so we went on about 200 yards, when Robert,
who was close to .me, touched me, and pointed silently, and
by Jove ! there were a pair of horns lying in some deep
heather, about 80 or 90 yards from me ! I down at once
and proceeded to creep in, knowing very well his head
would be sure to be looking down the burn. After creep-
ing a while I raised myself a little to get his horns again,
to make sure of my cover ; and as I was creeping on very
gently (for now I was only about 50 or 60 yards from him),
from some cause or other which I can't make out, up he
got and cantered up the burn end on,' and up got I,
cocked, and shot him dead—at any rate he came down on
his nose, and could not rise—with the first barrel ; then in
I ran, but he was so violent, kicking and tearing, that I
did not dare to go near him. He then struggled till he fell
over a bank into the burn, and 1 let him have his own way
for a minute ; then when he was lying a little quiet, I saw
the main jugular throbbing, so I made a rapid plunge at it
with my knife, and ran out of the way ; however, the deed
was done, and he fairly pumped the blood out of 'his body,
and made the little burn red, till at last nature had to give
way, and he died, but not before ho had wriggled and
struggled about 20 yards down the channel of the burn
from the place where he first fell. We then grealloched
him, and covered him up in a bank with heather, and went
home, arriving at 7 p.m., very delighted and very hungry,
so I enjoyed my dinner, consisting of soup made from his
predecessor (the stag of last Wednesday), &c. Now, for
the cause of all this struggling and kicking and subse-
quent death : the little leaden messenger had gone right
along his back, cutting the hair in a line exactly parallel
to, and about one inch from the black lino of his back,
and then through the neck, touching, but not breaking
the bone. Perhaps a learned physician would call it an
abrasion, and subsequent concussion of the cervical verte-
, broa of the spine."