THE RED DEER 
deer. These so-called forests are always enclosed, or fenced in, on one 
or more sides where the deer are likely to break out. 
In our islands it is somewhat difficult to draw the line between deer 
kept under such conditions and what are known as wild races; because 
nowadays the explanation of what is a wild animal and what is not seems 
to be peculiar and often misleading. Recently there was a case of a certain 
individual shooting a stag, which had escaped from a park into his woods. 
An action was brought against him by the owner of the park for killing 
this animal, which he said was his private property. The lawyer for the 
defence argued that, once the deer had escaped from the park it was a 
wild animal, and could be treated as such; but the prosecution made good 
their case, and the defendant was heavily fined. This seems to me a gross 
miscarriage of justice; because, a Red deer is never, under any circum- 
stances, a domestic animal. It is always a wild creature, and from the 
moment it escapes from the park becomes as wild and cunning as any 
deer in a Scottish forest. Moreover, from the moment it gains its freedom, 
it causes damage to woods and crops. I leave it to my readers to determine 
whether they consider the deer of Arran, N. Uist, Rum, and other 
islands, which were recently afforested and stocked with park deer, should 
be classed in the same category as the deer of other islands such as Jura, 
North and South Harris, The Lewes, etc., which have always possessed 
these animals from time immemorial. On the other hand it is easy to 
see that a time is not far distant when sportsmen, who, as a rule care 
little for the history of animals, provided they get a respectable trophy 
to shoot at, will be blind to the fact that there is scarcely an island or 
a deer forest in the north where the animals will be of the pure old High- 
land stock, and will not be kept except under semi -feral conditions. For 
the present, therefore, let us go through the pretence of calling what 
are practically park deer living under somewhat wild conditions semi- 
feral animals. 
This class will embrace the stags of Colebrooke and Castle Wellan, 
Ireland, and Drummond Castle, Arran, Drummond Hill (Taymouth), etc., 
in Scotland. The woodland stags of Beaufort and Tay Valley may be 
regarded as purely wild, as they are not fenced in in any way. 
The late Sir Douglas Brooke, in a letter to me, said: “ As a rule semi- 
feral stags are at their best from ten to eleven years, though they carry 
the largest number of tines at nine years of age. A stag that was “ master ” 
at Colebrooke from one to twelve years old died at the age of thirteen. 
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