DEER AT CHARBOROUGH 281 



to disturb the park, delighted with the sport, and resolved to 

 take as much care of the herd as if it was my own. Another 

 grand mistake at Charborough was in the never killing any 

 does ; by this omission the park became filled with rubbish 

 with very old does and weak young deer, instead of keeping a 

 large head of valuable male stock. Very old does injure the 

 male stock much ; past breeding, they never let the bucks be at 

 rest, but prolong the season beyond its usual or useful limits. 

 In the economy of parks, neither stag nor buck should, either 

 for ornament or use, be permitted to live after a certain age ; 

 yet I have seen, in Charborough Park, red and fallow deer 

 " gone back " in head so much, that all idea of their age was 

 out of the question : all I could say was, that they were very 

 old deer " worsted " from age, which ought to have been killed 

 in previous seasons. I have horns in my hall, of both red and 

 fallow deer, that, apart from the figure of the animal, would 

 puzzle any man. The does at Charborough for venison, as well 

 as the bucks, are beautiful, and a more lovely park was never 

 attached to a mansion. I have also killed as fine " avers " there 

 as any alderman would wish to sit down to, and have had 

 reason to be well pleased with the kind and liberal way in which 

 Mr. Drax gave me the amusement. A well -managed park 

 ought to supply the table of its owner all the year round with 

 fat venison. Commencing in July, the bucks are good till 

 October. The "avers" then come in till the does are ready, 

 say till about the end of November. The does will last till 

 January, and then the " avers " come in again till the end of 

 April, when bucks, stall fed, are fat; and then stall-fed deer 

 will last till the grass bucks are again in condition. I call the 

 man good in the graceful art of woodcraft, who can tell in a 

 herd of fifty the best dry doe with or without the aid of a 

 glass. 



From the 17th of December to the 30th of August 1853, 

 with my bloodhound Druid, I have found forty-eight deer in 

 the New Forest, attending the hound on foot, sometimes com- 

 mencing at ten in the morning, and not concluding till four, or 



