144- STAG- HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



This is a very frequent and well-known trick in old 

 stags — they will push up deer after deer, and lying 

 close in their bed from which they have thrust them, 

 wait quietly while the hounds press on after the unfor- 

 tunate substitute. In such cases the hounds must be 

 stopped and taken back to hunt up to the old sinner 

 and rouse him once more. It is astonishing to see the 

 numbers of deer that may be roused in this way ; 

 hounds have constantly been known to draw a cover 

 blank which becomes alive with deer directly another 

 deer passes through it. It is fair to say that the sub- 

 stitute roused by a stag sometimes resents the inter- 

 ference. It was my good fortune once to see two 

 stags on Haddon Hill actually turn and fight, with the 

 hounds close to them, to decide which should be the 

 victim ; and a similar sight was seen on Lee Hill so 

 lately as the season of 1885. 



These old stags take a lot of catching (as the 

 natives say), and by the time they have exhausted their 

 resources in the cover are often too much distressed 

 to show much sport when at last they do go away. 

 Meanwhile the whole field, chafing with impatience, is 

 waiting near the farmhouse or barn where the pack is 

 kennelled for the return of the huntsman to lay the 

 hounds on ; and if, as is frequently the case, the old 



