AND MANAGEMENT. 13 



two persons on horseback, one to ride out the buck 

 from the herd, and the other to slip the dog, and when 

 the buck is caught they can strap his legs properly. 

 All dogs that are perfect at their work will let go their 

 hold as soon as the buck is secured by the keeper, 

 although a keeper well understanding his business, 

 with a good buck dog, can accomplish all this single- 

 handed ; still it is always better to have help to prevent 

 the dog seizing the deer when he is cast on the ground 

 for strapping. A well-trained dog will not run after a 

 buck till he is told, but will run by the side of his mas- 

 ter's horse, and when the buck is pointed out to him 

 he follows the buck hard at the rear, who, finding the 

 dog close up to him, quickly turns round and, if pos- 

 sible, receives the dog on the points of his horns. A 

 good dog will go straight at the buck's ear the moment 

 he turns, and will not let go his hold till his master has 

 safe hold of the deer. If the dog hesitates, as some- 

 times young dogs do, he is likely to get stabbed, for 

 it gives the buck time to watch and parry his attack ; 

 it is always, however, wise to run a young dog with an 

 old one until he gets confident. The buck is easily 

 thrown by one person by his taking hold of one hind 

 leg with his right hand and with his left lifting the flank 

 till his hind legs are off the ground; then, by a sharp 

 downward pressure the buck is floored, his hind legs 

 strapped, and he is taken off in a cart to a shed or pad- 

 dock. As many as eight bucks have been taken in one 

 day in this way with a good single dog " a great feat." 

 If the bucks are not caught till after Christmas, which 

 sometimes happens, they will be very probably harder 

 to catch, for many of them are recovering their con- 

 dition, and then they will not turn and bay a dog until 

 quite blown, and the dog must be very fleet and strong 

 to run up by the side of the buck and get hold of 

 the ear, though this is frequently done ; but a dog 

 will not take more than two or three in a day in this 

 way ; possibly one of my readers may have been 

 present at buck-taking in one of the parks ; and can 



