82 THE NEW FOREST 



The stock of deer kept through the eighteenth 

 century probably varied from 4000 to 8000 head. 

 No doubt, when it approached the latter figure 

 the ground became overstocked, and if bad weather 

 came there was heavy mortality. It is recorded 

 that, in 1787, 300 deer died in Boldrewood Walk 

 alone during the winter. 



At the period of the Deer Removal Act, when 

 the deer became a burning question, it was stated 

 that the number had been cut down, from about 

 3000 to 4000 in recent years, to the number of 

 2000. Even then, as I have recounted above, 

 there was considerable anxiety in various quar- 

 ters to get rid of them and this was arranged to 

 be done. 



According to the Act, the deer were to be 

 wholly removed from the Forest within two years. 

 No effort was spared to bring this about. At first 

 the great bulk of them were simply shot down. 

 But as they became scarcer and wilder, all sorts of 

 means had to be adopted. Nets were used, and the 

 deer were driven into them, set at the well-known 

 tracks and paths through the woods ; hounds 

 were freely employed to drive the deer into the 

 nets and up to guns posted in likely places. 

 Finally, hunting pure and simple had to be re- 

 sorted to, and a deer when found was run down 

 by the bloodhounds each keeper used to assist 



