154 SPORT IN EUROPE 



The allotted space forbids me to enter into the details regarding 

 mediaeval methods of stalking and driving, where transportable 

 fencing was used. This was made of canvas sheets hung on ropes 

 and poles, and the deer were killed from a pavilion, with ladies as 

 spectators, the animals being driven down artificial runs provided with 

 hurdles and deep dykes, not unlike a modern racecourse. In those 

 times perfectly - trained bloodhounds, of a breed still existing in 

 Hanover, were used to find the big stags and separate them from the 

 hinds and young. Hundreds of beaters worked for days and weeks to 

 ofet the doomed animals tooether. On a small scale this drivino-, 

 called Hohes Jagen. or Eingestelltcs Jagcn, is still pursued by a few 

 great nobles, and by the Emperor when foreign guests of distinction 

 are present. 



Nowadays the best sportsmen stalk on foot or from a shooting- 

 cart in the rutting time ; this gives the best sport and also the best 

 chance to pick out good heads in dense woods. 



The music of the roarino- monarch of the olen amono- fine forest 

 scenery is a thing not soon to be forgotten. For a true hunter it is 

 perhaps the greatest delight of all to listen to the calling of a dozen 

 or more harts from a commanding woodland ridge in the grey dawn 

 of morning, and choose his quarry from among their number. 



In small shoots, which are deserted in rutting time, or where the 

 keeping down of expenses is an object, stags are generally shot in 

 August, when they are in prime condition. Pot-hunters and cockneys 

 often sit up at night in a dug-out or hole near fields visited by stags, 

 and kill their game with buckshot, a most unsportsmanlike proceeding 

 of course. 



