266 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



ran him down the valley to Satterleigh Marsh and 

 killed. Only seven out of over two hundred were 

 at the finish, and small wonder, for the first gallop 

 from Langcombe Head to North Molton would be 

 calculated to settle most horses. 



Even admitting, as I think must be done, that the 

 old pack was not as fast as the modern one, there is 

 no doubt that they were fast enough to kill deer, and 

 there is no doubt they did for many years show most 

 excellent sport and kept stag-hunting alive at a time 

 when it would otherwise have died out. 



It was a great loss to the country when they were 

 sold in 1825 to go abroad, where it is believed that 

 their descendants, crossed with all manner of foreign 

 dogs, still pursue their old game. 



From the time when the old pack went abroad the 

 stag has been hunted by draft foxhounds, and the 

 staghound as a breed has been utterly extinct in 

 England. During the troublous times prior to the 

 Mastership of Mr. M. Fenwick Bisset, in 1856, who 

 laid the foundation for the present prosperous 

 condition of stag-hunting, various packs of draft 

 foxhounds took the field and several Masters 

 accustomed to hunt the carted deer " up the 

 country " brought their hounds down to try 

 conclusions with the wild deer, the result being as a 

 rule to show how much more difficult the wild animal 

 is to hunt than the tame one, but all these packs 

 were essentially foxhounds by breeding. 



Mr. Bisset had no other source to go to though he 



