3i6 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



the district, were shut against hounds by a lady who 

 did not approve of staghunting ; and secondly, the 

 free run to the open moor by Friendship Inn and 

 Wistland Pound was badly interfered with by the line 

 of the new Lynton Light Railway, so that deer were 

 almost inevitably turned back upon the forbidden 

 ground. 



Such was the urgency, however, of the matter that 

 a subscription pack was got up to hunt the district 

 under the Mastership of Captain Paterson and Mr. 

 Arundell Clarke, and, in spite of all the difficulties 

 they had to contend with, they for some years showed 

 excellent sport, and materially assisted to reduce the 

 numbers of the deer on that side of the moor. Thus 

 in a country where, less than fifty years before, 

 twenty-five days' hunting sufficed for the season and 

 the Master then dare not kill all the deer he took, 

 four packs of hounds were at work, and during many 

 months ten meets were taking place in every week. 

 These strenuous efforts undoubtedly checked the 

 increase of the herd, but it was still much too 

 numerous both for sport and for the capacity of the 

 country. To see herds of forty or sixty deer break 

 away from the deer park was nothing unusual in 

 October. With so many deer in the country the 

 difficulty of killing was immensely increased, as the 

 hunted deer was continually joining others, and the 

 ground was stained in all directions. Though many 

 good runs took place, in some seasons it happened, 

 especially over the forest, that hounds had to go 



