54 Deer Breeding for Fine Heads 



themselves, when a herd of a hundred will have about thirty or forty 

 fawns. You can therefore kill off thirty or forty deer without making 

 the herd too small. 



First shoot all the bucks which are not of the exact type of the 

 spotted variety; if you have only one or two bucks really right, let the 

 rest you keep be as near as you can get them to the required standard. 

 A white deer, for instance, does not matter so much, as he will infuse 

 lightness, and I think also spots, into the herd. Indeed I attribute 

 the very fully spotted deer in my own herd to a white buck I bought 

 and turned out among the rest, as before this there had been only one 

 well-spotted deer, and that an old doe which never threw a good- 

 coloured fawn. 



All the black deer should be killed off, both bucks and does, as the 

 black variety is the most antagonistic to the spotted type. The 

 chestnut also is bad. 



The best to keep, especially if does, are the dun, bay, and brown, 

 but the bay for preference. 



Of course, all fawns of a bad colour must be shot at once. 



As soon as possible get the bucks of the right colour ; for it is far 

 better to have only a few just of the right colour, even if there be not 

 more than three or four for the whole herd, than a lot of badly 

 coloured ones. It is equally important to gradually kill off the worst- 

 coloured does each year, taking special care to get rid of every 

 chestnut deer, and shooting every fawn that shows the least tendency 

 to bad colour. 



Then, as you slowly get all the deer spotted, keep killing off those 

 which are the least spotted or too dark, and retain only the most 

 perfect specimens among the bucks. 



