OF BLOODING DEER-HOUNDS. 247 



for instance, if a hart is shot through the loins he will fall 

 prostrate, spring up again suddenly, and baffle a good dog 

 afterwards. There are certain other cases also when 

 despatch is necessary ; but, generally speaking, it will be 

 prudent to take time ; and the party had much better lie 

 down in the heather, and keep an eye on the wounded deer 

 through the telescope. If he is slightly wounded, it is of 

 no use to send a dog after him at all, unless he is alone ; for 

 he will get into the middle of the herd, and keep there with 

 enduring pertinacity ; and the thing will just end by your 

 losing him, and bringing a singularly lean hind to bay ; 

 throwing away, by a moderate computation, two or three 

 precious hours, and with them, perhaps, your remaining 

 chance of sport for the day : but, on the contrary, if he is 

 badly wounded, and you do not press him on, he will 

 gradually get worse and worse, and fall out from the parcel, 

 when you will have him safe enough. The forester should 

 then pass the track or taint of the herd, and either lay the 

 dog on the scent, or put him in sight of the quarry, and he 

 will soon bring it to bay, if he is worthy of his ancestors. 

 But I have touched upon this subject before. 



Some sportsmen are accustomed to give their dogs 

 portions of the deer's liver when he is gralloched ; but, 

 after having blooded them once or twice, to enter them, 

 I do not think the custom should be continued, a dog's 

 love for sport being independent of eating ; for pointers 

 will hunt gallantly all day long, and they are never per- 

 mitted to touch their game, nor even to run after it. 

 Harriers, likewise, will persevere from morning till night, 

 and yet the hare is always preserved for the table, if 

 possible, more particularly in a subscription pack. 



My objection to the system lies principally in the two 

 following reasons : the first is, that a dog can never run 

 a second chase properly after having been so fed ; the 

 second, that when he has a deer in a wounded and dying 

 state, he is apt to help himself from the haunches before 

 you have time to come up. A lurcher once damaged my 

 sport in this villainous manner. I had wounded a deer 

 which came out unexpectedly from Glen Croinie, against 

 my wind, during a heavy mist. A dog was slipped and 



