74 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



of it north of the Simonsbath Road which is still 

 unenclosed, consists entirely of rough sedgy grass — 

 very soft going as a rule, and much cut up with little 

 combes. 



It is among these and in the softest ground that 

 deer mostly lie. Here they lie in herds, and it is rare 

 to find a stag actually alone. An old stag may lie 

 down by himself, but one mav be sure he knows the 

 herd is within a hundred yards or so. 



There are two courses open to the huntsman. 

 One is to take a very small lot of tufters, and try to 

 separate the deer with them when, if successful, 

 tufters are stopped and the pack brought on. This is 

 theoretically the more correct and desirable method, 

 but when there are a number of deer of various kinds 

 on the forest, and the distance the pack has to be 

 brought is considerable, the amount of law given to 

 the stag enables him to rejoin his fellows, or to find 

 another herd, and the work has all to be done over 

 again. Another objection is that it is difficult to 

 keep up sufficient pressure on the herd to single out 

 the deer desired. Suppose you start, say, from 

 Pinford Bog over the North Forest with one good 

 stag and six smaller ones. At the end of half a mile 

 the herd divides, and the tufters turn back across 

 the wet ground to the warren. Hounds can go two 

 to a horse's one on this ground, and it may be 

 twenty minutes or more before they are stopped, and 

 another twenty minutes before they are laid on the 

 correct line, and the stag and his companions, even 



