OF HUNTING A STAG. 81 



for a carted deer who has been shaken up in a van 

 for an hour or two. As a rule the start a stag gets is 

 nearly twenty minutes, and on occasion much more. 



The idea that by giving a deer a long law he gets 

 a long start, and that consequently a better run is 

 likely to result, is not as a rule borne out by the facts, 

 though occasionally it may be so. A stag either 

 goes to look for a herd he knows of, or he loiters 

 about in the next combe, and only begins to run 

 when hounds are right on top of him. It has been 

 noticed times and again that some of the best runs 

 that have ever taken place have been after deer that 

 hung about at every opportunity and never got far 

 away from hounds. 



Mr. Basset, in 1888, drew Beara Wood with the 

 pack, and roused a big stag with three on top on 

 each side. Half the pack were out of covert 

 absolutely on his haunches, coursing him in view 

 over the first field. Hounds were stopped and got 

 together and let go again on Whitfield Down, and 

 we sat down to ride, for there was a breast-high 

 scent. The huntsman, Arthur Heal, led, followed 

 by four ladies, the Duchess of Hamilton, the Hon. 

 Mrs. T. Fitzwilliam and her sister, Miss Kinglake 

 (now Mrs. W. A. Harford), and Mrs. Bellew, and 

 close behind them half a dozen men, while after that 

 the field was tailed out for miles. Hounds ran on 

 without a check over Exe Plain across Badgworthy, 

 and right away to Horner, and as the leading horse- 

 men topped each ridge on the moor there was the 



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