52 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



for several years in succession, will unaccount- 

 ably desert it for a number of years, to again 

 take to it long after the original tenants have 

 met their fate, and have left only their heads to 

 adorn the walls of castle, manor house, or 

 shooting box. 



Sir Thomas Acland's beautiful stretch of 

 heather that runs from Comer's Gate to Red 

 Cleave is perhaps the very soundest of all the 

 glorious galloping grounds with which Exmoor 

 abounds ; the heath is short and rabbit holes 

 are few and far between, and except for Bradley 

 Bog there are hardly any quagmires to be found. 

 Surrounded by coverts large and small, the deer 

 have ample shelter and have the wooded valley 

 of the Barle in easy reach, while the Hawkridge 

 strongholds form a sure retreat to which a 

 quarter of an hour's gallop will bring their flying 

 feet. 



The Exe vallev, by whicii the county road 

 follows the winding of the river below Wins- 

 ford, becomes verv familiar indeed to the field 

 towards the end of the average staghunting 

 season, for the reason that every stag that finds 

 himself hard pressed in the Dulverton country 

 is morally certain to pass between Chilly Bridge 

 and Weir on his way to or from the great 

 Haddon woodlands. One of the worst points of 

 this same valley, from the hunter's point of view, 

 is the very fact of its excellent road, which, on 



