CHAPTER XI 



STAG-HUNTING 



" Ah ! hunters forbear ! stop the murdering train, 

 And give the poor creature his freedom again. 

 See ! see ! they relent in the glorious strife ; 

 Now they call off the dogs, and the stag has his life." 



Having mentioned in another chapter some of the 

 chief centres from which stag-hunting can be ob- 

 tained, I herewith add a few further details of the 

 sport. A meet attended by some three hundred 

 horsemen, the opening meet of the Devon and 

 Somerset, is a stirring sight. Who can gainsay the 

 fact that stag-hunting here has a charm all its 

 own, whether it be from Cloutsham Ball, or 

 Minehead, Linton, o'er the river Taw, a run up 

 Summerhouse Cliffs, or from Haddon ? Naturally 

 each season has its one or two record runs, and 

 deer to hunt are the gamest of the game all round. 

 No ordinary fence is high enough, thick enough, 

 or sufficiently close-woven to stop him. 



They do tax the farmer's crops, and munch them 

 at dead of night betimes ; naturally, compensation 

 is freely offered and accepted. All this on and near 

 Exmoor, the land of ^* Lorna Doone," where these 

 herds of hungry deer number several hundreds — 



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