50 



HUNTING. 



hound, standing still and declining to join the others, is a sign 

 that the pack have changed to afresh dee?'. 



Moreover, it frequently happens that the deer that has been 

 pushed up goes away in view of the hounds, which, at such a 

 period of a run, are particularly eager for blood and intolerant 

 of restraint. 



The choice of tufters is important ; for, upon their fit- 

 ness for the work of rousing and separating the stag from 

 the herd, the sport of the season depends. Of course old 

 and trusty hounds must be selected. But tufters must be 

 possessed of unusual quickness, handiness, and patience, or 

 delays fatal to sport will be occasioned. When the wrong 

 animal — either a calf, hind, or ' broket ' — has been roused, 

 and has been driven hard by the tufters for perhaps half an 

 hour or more before the sex or age of the quarry is discovered, 

 it is a great trial to the temper of hounds to be whipped off, and 

 required to begin their work de novo. If, therefore, there 

 should be any suspicion of sulkiness or want of perseverance 

 in a hound he should not be used as a tufter. 



As to the number of tufters to be used, no precise directions 

 can be given, because the number must be determined by the 

 size of the cover or the area of open ground that the tufters 

 will be required to draw. If the cover be of moderate size, 

 that is to say, under fifty acres, four tufters would be sufficient. 

 But in the case of a large cover, or vast expanse of moorland, 

 two couples would be wholly insufficient, for they might draw 

 all day without rousing a deer, though they might approach 

 within fifty yards of his lair. Probably the number of tufters 

 should not in any case be less than four nor more than twelve. 

 In the event of the latter number being used, the huntsman 

 and whip should be especially vigilant ; and if the services of 

 one or two amateur aides-de-camp can be obtained, the chances 

 of hounds separating, and hunting three or four lines, will be 

 materially lessened. 



It is not often that an old stag hunter, if he should have but 

 one horse out, will discount his prospects of taking a forward 



