322 THE RED DEER OE EXMOOR. 



Great Wood on the Quantocks to the chffs by 

 Quantocks Head, along the cHffs to Lilstock, and 

 then twelve miles across the enclosed vale by 

 Fairfield, Stringston, and Brymore to Durleigh, near 

 Bridgwater. Many others as good as these will be 

 fresh in the minds of those who have hunted 

 regularly during these happy years. 



Which, it may be asked, were the best seasons ? 

 Probably 1899, 1903 a very wet year, and 1906 a 

 very dry one. 



In 1903 we had a succession of brilliant gallops 

 over the open moor, hounds on one occasion running 

 clean away from everyone and killing their deer by 

 themselves ; the sport in the winter with the hinds 

 was also above the average. Good as many seasons 

 have been, none can compare with that of 1906, 

 which is noticeable for many reasons. The pack 

 was never in better condition ; they had thoroughly 

 recovered from the effect of the sickness from which 

 they suffered in 1904 and the early part of 1905, and 

 they found the stags worthy of their efforts. In 

 some years, for no apparent reason, stags are weak 

 and cannot run; this was so noticeably in 1904, when 

 they could not stand up before the pack even in its 

 then condition ; in 1906, on the contrary, not a single 

 weak stag was met with — one or two were so over- 

 burdened with age and good living that they fell 

 comparatively easy victims, and two were lame, but 

 all the rest stood up before hounds with quite 

 unusual strength, and this whether they w^ere young 



