WAYS OF RED DEER. 105 



of the above anecdote, generally by small 

 farmers into whose fields they had strayed 

 and committed serious damage. A farmer 

 who had shot a deer put the animal as 

 soon as possible into the salter out of sight. 

 There are people here and there still to be 

 found who have eaten poached venison, but 

 there is not one now to be found who will 

 confess to having shot a deer. So greatly 

 has popular opinion changed during the last 

 seven-and-twenty years on Exmoor that at 

 the present day were a man to shoot a stag 

 he would be utterly sent to Coventry. No 

 one would speak or deal with him or ac- 

 knowledge his existence. He would be 

 utterly cut off from society of every class, 

 not only the upper but the lower classes 

 being equally imbued with the sporting 

 feeling. 



Nor, indeed, is there any possibility of 

 poaching. A stag is a large animal which 



