8o STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR, 



day over one hundred deer were counted on the hills 

 between Stoke Pero and Porlock Commons (about 

 three miles). 



By the time March had come, Mr. Bisset thought it 

 safe, as there had been no fresh case of rabies, to re- 

 commence hunting. But luck was once more against 

 him. The huntsman was taken seriously ill, and there 

 being no one else capable of discharging his duties, 

 nothing more could be done till April, on the 29th of 

 which month the season closed. Only sixteen hinds 

 had been killed throughout, though forty would not 

 have been too many, and, as Mr. Bisset wrote, *' they 

 have now gained an advantage on the Forest side 

 which it will be difficult indeed to recover." 



His forebodings were amply justified, for during the 

 next year the country was simply swarming with deer. 

 The season, though interrupted by the memorable 

 snowstorm of the i8th of January, 1881, was the 

 longest ever known. Hunting began on the 3rd of 

 August, 1880, and ended on the 6th of April, 1881, in 

 all ninety-one hunting days, and seventy-five* deer 

 killed. Thus, by a succession of misfortunes, the pack 

 which used to have the shortest hunting season of any 



'■'• Fourteen stags, forty-four hinds, and seventeen young deer, 

 male and female. 



