FALLOW DEER 159 



age for the former, although much depends on the 

 park. On a rich pasture Deer do not live so long 

 as on poorer land. A buck is at his best when 

 seven years of age ; after this his horns deteriorate 

 each year, and if left the chances are that he will 

 get killed by stronger animals during the rutting 

 season or die in the Winter through being unable 

 to get sufficient food for an already weak body. 

 A buck increases the growth of his horns each year 

 until he is six or seven years of age. 



Deer vary in different parks both in size of body 

 and horn growth. In some parks I have known 

 some remarkably heavy animals with very poor 

 heads, and in others good heads on very small 

 bodies. This variation is due to the soil, although 

 no doubt in-breeding has often something to do 

 with poor heads. In-breeding always shows more 

 in the horn than body. Mr. Bamford tells me 

 that he has recently been killing deer in two parks 

 situated only about two miles apart; the soil in 

 both is rich and about the same; in one frequent 

 changes of blood have been made from time to 

 time, and here the heads are very fine, while in the 

 other no change has been made in the memory of 

 man, yet the bodies are exceptionally good but the 

 heads very poor indeed. In both these parks 

 bucks have been killed weighing 150 lbs. clear. 

 This is very heavy, considering that in many parks 

 the bucks do not average more than 90 lbs. 



