6i STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



But, on the other hand, it was plain that the herds on 

 the Dulverton side and on the Forest had united, for 

 three deer ran across from the one country to the other, 

 a comparatively rare occurrence in those later days. 



The spring of 1867 opened dismally with the dis- 

 covery of five young deer lying dead about Oare and 

 Badgworthy, all killed by the severe weather. The 

 hunting season, however, far surpassed any previously 

 recorded. In thirty-three hunting days eighteen deer 

 were taken, twelve stags and six hinds. Not a stag 

 escaped of all on which hounds were laid; and in the 

 majority of cases the runs were far above the average. 

 One from the Shilletts to Loxhore took the hounds to 

 the Bratton country for the first time since 1857, and 

 further to the westward than had been known since a 

 famous day in 1863, when a stag was run from the 

 Hawkridge Valley to Castle Hill. 



In the spring of 1868 another link between the old 

 times and the new was broken, through the death of 

 Mr. Nicholas Snow, of Oare, in his eightieth year. 

 " He was a staunch preserver of the deer and an 

 ardent lover of the sport," writes Mr. Bisset ; " up to 

 the very last season he had been a constant attendant 

 on the staghounds on his favourite mare * Norah 

 Creina.' Few went harder, and none knew better how 



