PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN TO AVOID 



INJURY BY DEER 



IT is always most dangerous to make a pet of a deer, even of a hind 

 or a roe-buck, since as soon as they lose their natural fear of people 

 they are apt to suddenly strike out at them ; the females rising on 

 their hind-legs, and hitting very dangerous blows with their fore-feet, 

 while a roe-buck will knock a man down, and has been known after 

 doing so to keep on driving in his horns till he had killed his victim. 



Any park which has a right-of-way through it is not a safe place 

 in which to keep the larger sorts of deer, as the owner will be liable 

 for damage done to users of the path by the deer ; and people are so 

 stupid that they will walk right into a herd, instead of going round, 

 even when they see a stag running round his hinds during the 

 rutting-season. 



In such cases they are almost sure to get hurt. On a certain 

 occasion during the rutting-season, one of my men stupidly rode a 

 polo pony between some sika hinds and a Manchurian sika to whom 

 the hinds belonged, and who had left them to lie down and have a 

 rest under a tree. The stag went at the pony and cut a long gash 

 in his flank before the man could get clear. 



Of course this was entirely the man's own fault, but I had to 

 shoot the stag all the same, as he got into the habit of going after 



horses, and killing sheep. 



78 



