CHAPTER I 



IN DAYS OF YORE 



THE chase of the wild red deer, as practised in 

 Devon and Somerset, is the only survival in England 

 of a sport which was followed in earlier days in most 

 countries in Europe, and which still has many devotees 

 on the Continent. Books have been written on the 

 subject from 1275 to this present time, and it is 

 possible from them and from contemporary pictures 

 to trace its development on both sides of the Channel 

 for more than six hundred years. 



Originally no doubt deer were hunted for food 

 as much as for the pleasure of chasing them, so we 

 find that for a considerable period nets and bows and 

 arrows played as prominent a part in the chase as 

 hounds. But these methods led to indiscriminate 

 slaughter, and breeding hinds with young deer of 

 both sexes were of necessity the most frequent 

 victims of such attacks ; the superior cunning of the 

 old stags and hinds the very animals whose death 



