The Washington times., 1901-09-29

is said to receive over $4,000 a year in
| rent In Sutherland the Duke of that
name is reputed to take more than ESQ.,
| 600 year for his various shootings If
| they are all let the Duke of Westminster
| being one of his chief tenants.
Shooting in Scotland has never been
| cheap, but rents have risen apace in the
| last few years. Every man who makes
| a fortune wants shooting estate north
| of the Tweed and is prepared to pay al
| most any price for it, with the result
| that grouse cost more to the sportsfheh
| than pheasants; and deer sometimes come
| out at a tlree-figure sum per heao. anu
| even now one is told that the top prices
| have not been reached, and that oooni
| in some new country or In west or oou'"
Africa will be followed by further rise
| in the price of sporting estates.
The cost of a grouse moor is very heavy.
| sore of the Scotch shootings run well into
four figures for rent alone. The ordina-
rv expenses of living have to be added.
and in considering them one must remem-
her that food and supplies cf every sort
r,ust come n long way by rail and road.
| Many good sporting estates are from ten
| TO twenty miles from the nearest rail-
way station, and a big house party Is ao-
solutely necessary il the members OF the
| family who do not shoot are not to ole
| of ennui
| At the same time small shootings can
| he picked up in the less fashionable coun-
ties. where decent accommodations can
| be secured at small cost in the local inn
or at a farmhouse; and the man who goes
down to shoot and has no other desires
can have a few weeks excellent sport.
| Last year party of four men known to
the writer rented a well-stocked shooting
in the northwest of Scotland, and had
nearly ten weeks of first-class sport. and
| the total cost of the holiday came out at
| s1OO apiece.
If grouse moors are costly. they are
cheap when compared with deer forests,
which are the most expensive sporting
luxury of Great Britain. In the first
place, there are comparatively few for
ests-considerably less than 2c0. believe,
all told-and they lie more or less togeth-
| er The best sport comes from Suther-
| land, Inverness, Ross, and Cromarty
shires. and there are some fine island for
ests in the neighborhood of Jura, Null.
| Harris. and Lewis.
Rents are enormous For example,
Messrs. Ludwig and Sigismund Neumann,
| the well-knov5n South African mine own
ers and financiers, are said to pay rent
of $500 for the great deer forest of In
yercauld, which belongs to Mr.. Haldane
Farquharson and extends from Perth
| shire into Aberdeensfire. This year the
forests seem to have, let as well as the
grouse moors, in spite Of the absence of
so many wealthy men IN South Africa,
commercial depression, and high taxes;
while, IL certain notable forests are un-
let. 1t is generally because owners are
shooting them. 1t is noticeable that few
! amateurs however wealthy, do much with
/ deer forests, and if they do rent one 1t
| Is generally for the benefit of their friends.
Funny stories come-to London from time
to time of deer shot by the stalker at the
request OF wealthy beginners, who could
not nit deer to save their bank balance;
and these stories would be multiplied but
for the discretion of men who quick
to reaiize that money-makng in big cities
is but poor preparation for the difficulties
of deer stalking.
Many of the forests include hundreds of
acres Of grouse moor and afford excel
lent fishing and cover shooting. They are
splendldly preserved, and of course the
bags are limited by arrangement In spite
of the thinning down that occurs annual
ly, the supply of deer remains constant
ana the IenueUcy Is TO Increase tHt
of forest land and break up some of the
big forests into two OF even three shoot
ings. The number of deer shot in Scot
land annually is said to reach the re-
spectacle number of 5000, and while the
forest country remains az sparsely ten
anted as it is today there is no reason
why the supply should diminish
Deer stalking has been discussed SO oft
en- that IL is late in the day to say any
thing about it. A man needs to be in the
pink of condition 20 meet with any sue
| cess, and to attempt the work without
previous preparation is to court a break
down. The strong limbed sound-winded.
keen-eyed. ,ievel-headed men get the
stays; the rest get more exercise than
they care about and an excellent oppor
tunity for the use Of profane language.
Naturally enough Scots are the best
deer stalkers in Great Britain, the number
of Engiishmen who shine at the sport be-
ing comparatively small. They do the
paying and we do the killing" said
young Scot to the writer couple of years
ago. taking from his pocket for Inspection
| a four-figure check received for rent of
his fathers deer forest from an English
manufacturer, who was notorious for his
| inability to kill his own hand-reared
pheasants early in October.-London Ex-