lo6 RED DEER. 



cannot be put in a pocket like a hare, nor 

 cooked and eaten at once. The skin and 

 antlers, slot and head, are not to be easily 

 destroyed. No one would buy a stolen deer, 

 knowing the inevitable consequences ; and 

 as there are no receivers as there are of 

 poached pheasants there are no thieves. 

 Even the labouring classes have not the least 

 desire to destroy them ; on the contrary, 

 they know full well that the stag-hunting 

 is profitable to them, causing, as it does, 

 so much money to circulate in innumerable 

 ways. Without stag-hunting there would be 

 absolutely nothing doing about Exmoor no 

 life, no movement so that it proves of the 

 greatest value to all. The cottager, as well 

 as the sportsman, drinks the toast inscribed 

 on the silver buttons worn on the scarlet 

 coats of the hunt, " Prosperity to Stag- 

 Hunting." 



Poaching, however, did not quite die out 



