50 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



able that some of the best runs recorded in the 

 journal were in pursuit of the turned-down animal. 

 When digging was not possible, a box trap was 

 sometimes used, which caught the fox uninjured, as 

 shewn by the following entry that occurs in the 

 journal : " Set the box trap and got him." Times 

 have changed, and the system would not be tolerated 

 at the present day. But in passing opinion upon it, 

 one has to consider the circumstance of the times 

 and the manner of its working. Without such a 

 thorough sportsman as Sir Walter Carew at the head 

 of affairs, it would probably not have been a success 

 at any time. 



He himself, it will be noted, drew a nice distinc- 

 tion between the unhandled animal and the other, 

 for in his summary of each season's sport he gives 

 the number killed as "so many foxes and so many 

 bagmen." 



Here are some examples taken from Sir Walter 

 Carew's journal of fast bursts and of long runs which 

 shew that these bagmen were in reality wild and 

 healthy foxes, well equipped for the struggle they 

 had to undergo and not to be classed with the totally 

 different animal that has rightly brought the name 

 of bagman into such disrepute among sportsmen. 



On the 17th September, 1829, a fox, dug out at 

 Stover on the 12th, was turned out at Lindridge 

 and stood before the pack for forty fast minutes 

 before being killed. 



On the 23rd December, 1830, a fox, also dug out 

 at Stover a few days previously, was turned out at 

 Lindridge, and, after running through Ugbrooke 

 Park, took the pack straight to Canonteign where 

 he was killed. 



Time was evidently given to a fox to recover when 



