50 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



at the beginning, and we may learn something about 

 stag-hunting. 



Stags are only in season from the time their antlers 

 are fully grown until the commencement of the rutting 

 season — that is from August to the middle of October, 

 and again for a short time in April just before they 

 mew their heads. 



Hinds are in season from the latter end of 

 November, when the rutting season is over, until 

 April, when they are too heavy in calf, though in 

 former days they were hunted up till June. But 

 even of male deer all are not suitable for hunting ; 

 it is not till he is five years old that he is called a 

 " warrantable " deer, and fit to hunt. The task of 

 the harbourer is to show the huntsman exactly where 

 the best warrantable stag within reach of the 

 appointed place of meeting " harboureth " or has | 

 made his bed ; to warn him what other deer are in 

 the covert, and to assist him in the tufting — that is, 

 rousing him from his bed and driving him away over j 

 the open. \ 



All deer feed and roam about the country at night, I 

 and seek shelter in the woods or other coverts by i 

 day ; and as these coverts are almost always large 

 — in many cases, such as Haddon, Horner Wood, 

 and the Barle Valley, many hundreds of acres in 

 extent — it would obviously be a well-nigh hopeless j 

 task to begin to draw without any definite informa- 

 tion. It is this information that it is the harbourer's 

 task to supply, and how utterly dependent we are , 



