260 STAG-HUNTING 



minates the life of the poor animal almost immedi- 

 ately. The only remedy on this occasion is frequent 

 and profuse bleeding ; ' and Dr. Collyns endorses this, 

 though he would allow hunting up to Christmas if the 

 weather be mild. 



The theory may be sound, but in practice the 

 hinds have to be killed, and the hounds must hunt 

 whenever the weather permits for eight months 

 in the year to do it. Only once in the last forty 

 years has the number of deer killed in the season ex- 

 ceeded the number of days' hunting ; and in that 

 year the deer were extraordinarily plentiful : the 

 present average is about eighty days' hunting and 

 sixty deer. Two or three times in most seasons, a 

 brace of deer may be fairly killed in one day, but 

 unless the pack has divided, this very seldom occurs 

 in hind-hunting. 



In 1867 not a stag escaped of all on which the 

 hounds were laid ; in 1880 eight stags were killed in 

 eight consecutive days ; while in 1886 the pack did 

 not lose a stag for the season, and fourteen were 

 accounted for in succession on the last fourteen days 

 of stag-hunting. 



These, however, were exceptional performances ; 

 and the huntsman not unfrequently has to come 

 home without blood, though he may have worked 



