28 



50 to 55 sta g s m whole Forest then he thinks, and he added that 

 Tarbert was the best ground, said to hold 70 stags at that date. 



Considerable F rom I 8 5 o to 1852, inclusive, the late laird rested Jura, 

 slaughter, J 



15 years ago. and shot in Harris. Towards 1870, it seems the laird was 



killing 40 stags a year, 10 of them off Tarbert, and a few 

 hinds. Very severe mortality for two years, 1869 and 1870 

 chiefly calves, I am told. He. seems to have increased his kill 

 up to 60 stags a year, and about 12 hinds, up to year 1875 ; in 

 Worn stags not 187^-6-7, the number killed was reduced by about half. He often 



shot formerly. . ' J 



said he shot only fresh stags, leaving worn old stags, he has told 

 me so many times. This method of selection would somewhat 

 impede the rate of progress, and would unfavourably influence 

 Reduced the death rate for a long time, after beginning a change of policy. 

 For the year 1875-6-7, the laird shot about 30 stags a year, and 

 very few hinds. 



In 1878, the demands on the ground were again expanded, as 



to stags, but reduced as to hinds ; about 70 fairly fresh stags have 



been shot and hit, yearly, since 1878 (including that year) on the 



Many wasters wno ^ e ground, including Ardfin and Tarbert. A number of wasted 



shot. old stags besides the above 70 have been killed, some of them 



left on the hill because not worth taking home. 



From 1878 to 1884 inclusive, as we have already seen, the 

 Large destruction of stags with shooting, deaths of stags and of 



for knobbers ( manv wa sters being shot), was about 105 per year. 

 For the last six years the destruction has been far less and the. 

 number bred much greater. 



Il: is P rODable that during 1875-6-7 the late laird built up an 

 accumulation of stags which enabled the ground to sustain the 

 demands made upon it, until, of late years, the supply of new 

 stags coming in, exceeds the demand. It seems to me that the 

 ground was shot rather severely for a few years preceding 1875. 

 It should be noticed that the number of valuable fresh stags shot 

 since the close of 1877 has not exceeded by so much as a dozen 

 yearly those which the laird was killing for a few years up to 



Fresh Stags 1875. We have shot almost precisely our nominal limit of 60 



shott fresh stags a year. 



