1 1 6 DEER-STALKING 



Ben Alder and Coignafearn perhaps being the only 

 doubtful cases. Roughly speaking, therefore, feeding 

 is resorted to in the East Coast forests as a matter 

 of necessity, while expediency governs the decision 

 arrived at by owners of West Coast forests where 

 the snow does not lie so deep or last so long. 



Occasionally, as in the winter of 1894-95, it 

 becomes necessary to feed deer even in the least 

 exposed places down to the very seashore on the West 

 Coast, but the necessity for doing so rarely occurs, and 

 there were to my own knowledge some forests where 

 the deer got no artificial food during the extreme 

 rigours of the winter mentioned. 



Some owners of forests, on the other hand, make 

 it a practice to feed their deer, not because it is 

 necessary in order to keep them alive, but to improve 

 them, and thus obtain better bodies and stronger 

 heads. Others, again, while admitting that good 

 results do follow the adoption of feeding as a system, 

 reject it on account of the expense, or because they 

 find a difficulty in conveying the food to those places 

 where it would be most usefully consumed. If feed- 

 ing stuff be laid down on ground which is mostly 

 frequented by hinds you cannot expect to improve 

 the condition of your stags, as these may not get a 

 share of what is provided, while, if they are mixed, 



