THE MANAGEMENT OF DEER FORESTS 95 



However much we may condemn * hashing ' a deer 

 forest, as in the case described by Scrope, or even 

 perpetually harassing the ground, as was done at the 

 Black Mount, there is no reason to think that> pro- 

 vided you have a very large tract of ground to deal 

 with, that the wind is in the proper quarter, and that 

 the operations are conducted quietly and methodically, 

 any harm would be done to the forest by driving it say 

 once, or at most twice in the season. 



There are few more beautiful sights than a herd 

 of stags moving up a hillside or over a skyline, and 

 no more exciting moment than that when they 

 approach the point where a decision must be made 

 by their leaders as to the course which it is deemed 

 safest to take. Such a point there must be in every 

 deer drive. It may be on a ridge or at the bottom 

 of a glen, in the middle of the burn running out of a 

 corrie, or on the shoulder dividing one corrie from 

 another. But some freedom must be, and, according 

 to the mode of driving now generally adopted, always 

 is, left to the herd which it is your object to bring to 

 the passes where the rifles lie in ambush. It is, of 

 course, impossible to force deer to go the way that 

 is wished, as was done in the brave old days when a 

 ' Ttnchell ' was organised for some royal visitor, and 

 the drive occupied two months, drivers being counted 



