BUCK-SHOOTING 223 



set on them for any buck I killed. I thought this but fair to 

 the interests of the Crown, as then if, in mistake, I killed a wrong- 

 deer, the smart would fall on me. The first warrant that was 

 given me was one on Hall of "Whitley Ridge, and I went over 

 to look at his browse bucks. The browse buck was a deer fed 

 by "lop" round the keeper's house; and having been thus 

 cared for in winter, was usually the fattest. The buck that had 

 got into the enclosures when a fawn, or was bred in the wood 

 by a doe accidentally got in there, was termed an enclosure 

 buck, and was usually the largest and heaviest deer ; but the 

 heather buck, who frequented the lawns on the open heath, was, 

 in my opinion, though not the fattest or the largest, still 

 infinitely the best-flavoured venison. 



I remember it was a beautiful morning in August, with a 

 nice fresh rustling breeze, when I went to kill my first buck at 

 Whitley Ridge, the train depositing me at Brockenhurst station 

 by eight o'clock in the morning. Joseph Hall, the son of the 

 keeper, attended me, and we kept on the inside of the little 

 enclosures of cultivated land round the lodge to see if the herd 

 of bucks were anywhere within shot. The fence of the enclosure 

 formed a good screen, and besides this, the deer, from often 

 seeing people at work in these fields, did not apprehend any 

 danger from them. We discovered the herd lying down in 

 some rushes between fifty and sixty yards from a rail in the 

 hedge, behind which we had crawled without being observed, 

 and thence had an opportunity of inspecting them. There 

 were the heads and antlers of several good aged bucks, that I 

 could see at a glance ; but as they were all lying down in rushes, 

 and about and under oak and thorn trees, and in fern, it was 

 impossible for me to judge which was the fattest deer. Joseph 

 Hall had a personal acquaintance with every deer on his father's 

 walk ; knew their ages and their condition ; and had a name for 

 every one of the bucks ; such as Stumpy, for a deer who had 

 lost part of his " single " ; The General, for the great buck who 

 usually took the lead, and so on ; but as this was my first ^-isit 

 to the walk on that day I was not aware of how good a forester 



