50 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



reinforced by the loan of six couple more from the 

 ever-generous Captain West, commenced spring hir|.d- 

 hunting in April, 1856. 



The new pack was a great improvement on the last, 

 but the sport of 1856 was indifferent and unlucky, 

 though there were two fine runs across the Forest. 

 There were thirty advertised hunting days, and seven 

 deer killed, whereof two were "unwarrantable deer," 

 that is to say, too young to be killed according to the 

 rules of the sport. This last matter was of especial 

 concern to Mr. Bisset, who had determined from the 

 first to stick closely to the old canons of stag-hunting, 

 which had been neglected during the years following 

 the sale of the old pack, and incurred not a little 

 obloquy in consequence. 



At last, however, in 1857, things began to look 

 brighter. The season is triumphantly marked in Mr. 

 Bisset' s journal as the best on record. Four stags 

 were killed on four consecutive days, a thing unprece- 

 dented in the previous forty-five years, and of seven 

 consecutive days six ended in blood. Further, of 

 thirty-three hunting days (the average number from 

 1812 — 1818) only three were blank; and there were 

 many very fine runs. Altogether eight deer were 

 taken, of which six were killed and two saved and turned 



