Stags’ Heads 
117 
3. SEMI-FERAL HEADS 
I have thought it best to divide the heads grown by deer restrained within certain limits 
into two classes, namely, those animals living under almost domestic conditions—like sheep 
and cattle, and growing, for the most part, large, smooth, and palmated antlers—and those 
living in large enclosures, which were formerly their actual homes. The latter are more or 
less wild in all their habits, and have to be hunted for and shot with very much the same 
care as in many a Scotch forest. Not that the sport is here compared with Highland 
stalking, any more than Highland stalking can be compared with certain phases of big 
game shooting. However, it is enough to state that these animals grow rough dark horns of 
UNUSUAL HORN-GROWTH DUE TO ABUNDANT WINTER FEED (PROBABLY ARTIFICIAL) 
Example of a wild Scotch stag (Braemar) which has had unusual feed and shelter during winter and the following summer. Owner, Col. Gordon-Cumming. 
similar quality and shape to the wild ones, only that they are of rather greater size. There 
are several park forests of this description. 
In Ireland there is Colebrooke, where the deer grow in the Home park to great 
perfection both in head and body, and in the dining-room there is a splendid series of heads 
which have been shot by Sir Douglas Brooke and his late father. As will be seen from the 
photograph kindly sent me by the present Baronet, the heads are of beautiful symmetry and 
unusual length, the average being nearly 40 inches. The horns conform to the type of the 
wild Irish stags of old, and when allowed to reach their prime are generally 14-pointers. 
One stag killed in 1894 reached 19 points (see p. 111). 1 
1 The Home Park at Colebrooke is heavily wooded, therefore the horns are seen to be, as one would naturally expect, fairly 
close set and of no width at the tops. In direct contrast to these see the fine semi-feral head (end of preface) from Castle 
Wellan, where the deer live on an open heather-covered mountain, with very little wood shelter at the base. These two types of 
horn-growth are splendid examples of the almost immediate effects of environment. 
