68 British Deer and their Horns 
Leonardslee, is one of the finest recent heads I have seen. Sir Edmund killed the stag late 
one evening at a distance of 300 yards, and though in falling over a precipice the horns 
were torn away from the skull, they were fortunately uninjured. 
Old sportsmen may sneer as they like at the fine heads of the present day as the result 
of excessive artificial feeding (there are always plenty of these laudatores temporis acti ), but 
they forget that a hundred years ago, when deer were only about one-fiftieth of their 
present number, they enjoyed advantages unknown to most of our existing herds. They 
had practically an unlimited range, good feeding, and (what is at least of equal importance) 
good winter shelter. However severe the weather, there were the woods to cover them, 
but only in about one half of our forests do we find any such protection now. It is a crying 
I . 1 m 
THAT CONFOUNDED GROUSE 
shame that deer should be so treated, left too (as they often are) without sufficient food 
when the pasturage falls short, for none of them are hardy enough to stand this treatment 
without suffering, and in the limited ranges of to-day they cannot forage for themselves. 
Lord Burton, who was one of the first to introduce a proper system of feeding in his forest 
at Glenquoich, has done more than any other owner to improve the deer of the north-west 
of Scotland. Mr. William Macleay (now, alas ! departed) used to call him “the stalker’s 
benefactor,” for not only are the Glenquoich deer about the best in the North, but they 
have undoubtedly improved the stock in the neighbouring forests. 
It is interesting to notice the curious effects of bullets on a stag, particularly when the 
animal is shot right through the heart. Every stalker knows how differently deer act under 
the shock of this particular shot. One animal will drop almost dead on the spot, while 
others will run any distance up to 300 yards. As a rule the stag bolts off at full speed, and 
