13+ STAG- HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



pointed ; and It is not always easy to decide between 

 the two. 



A good harbourer is of course alive to all these dis- 

 tinctions, and armed with this knowledge he goes out 

 (or should go) about daybreak to visit the favourite 

 feeding places of the deer, and see if he can slot one 

 from thence into the cover. He knows the fields where 

 the deer *' use " (in West country parlance), and the 

 racks by which they enter them or leave them ; and 

 there he will probably find what he wants. If he should 

 not know where the deer " use," he should go where 

 he Is required to harbour a stag on the previous after- 

 noon, when he will have time to find out what he wants 

 from the farmers, many of them no mean harbourers, 

 and to make his own observations. A little light rain 

 in the early morning will help him considerably by 

 making the ground soft and favourable for slotting ; 

 but pouring rain and extreme drought will baffle any 

 harbourer. 



Should he find the slot of the right animal he should 

 follow it into the cover, but as this may from conditions 

 of the ground be impossible, he may have to cast for- 

 ward and try the various racks leading out of the field 

 or into the cover until he hits It. And here It may be 

 said that an experienced man can often follow a slot as 



