STAG HUNTING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—The point
of view of the naturalist and lover of wild life upon Exmoor has received little or no attention. Many who oppose stag hunting do not realize that its suppression would probably mean the total extinction of the wild red deer on Exmoor, and that within a very few years.
When the old pack of hounds was sold, over a hundred years ago, and there was for a long time no organized hunting, the deer were slaughtered in and out of season until only about sixty survived. So soon as the stag-hounds were re-established, about the year 1855, their numbers increased, and to-day it is estimated that there are not less than six hundred deer on Exmoor.• They owe their survival entirely to stag• hunting, and to the sporting spirit of the farmers, who, with a few quite negligible exceptions, are supporters of the hunt, which pays compensation for the damage done by the deer to their crops.
If hunting were stopped, the numbers of the deer would no longer be kept within reasonable limits by this means, and in order to prevent their doing damage they would again be ruthlessly slaughtered, and by methods which would involve pain and suffering certainly far greater than that caused by hunting, which, by the way, goes on only for about half the year.
It would be impossible to convert the immense area, com- prising Exmoor and the surrounding country over which the deer now range, into a deer reservation. Only a small portion could be enclosed, and this would support but a few tame, park-fed deer—a miserable remnant of the noble creatures who have enjoyed the freedom of Exmoor from time immemorial.
Everyone who has watched the hunted deer has seen incidents such as Mr. Headlam describes. The perusal of any elementary work on the psychology of animals shows that their feelings are different from our own. It is a delusion to suppose that they suffer the same pain and terror as a human being throughout the whole of the chase. They live in the present. To us " the fear of death is most in apprehension."
It is impossible in a short letter to discuss the subject
exhaustively ; but to me, as a lover of wild life, the humani- tarianism which advocates a policy that would mean the probable extermination and certain diminution of the wild red deer on Exmoor seems curiously wrong-headed. The deer may well pray to be delivered from their friends.
I may add that I do not follow hounds, except on foot, so far as this is possible ; also that this letter expresses only my own views, and is written without any inspiration from or communication with the officials of the Devon and Somerset Stag-hounds.----I am, Sir, dic,,
[In discussing the subject of the suripression of stag-hunting with its supporters we have often been confronted with the argument used by our correspondent. But we remain uncon- vinced. We have visited many of the large Natural Reserves —or Parks, as they are called—in Canada and the United States where wild deer and other animals are preserved. When their numbers have to be kept down the task is under- taken by skilled keepers. We see no reason why one day Exmoor and other suitable districts in these islands should not be made into " National Parks." When it became necessary to thin out the deer, the task might well be left to the keepers or verderers.—En. Spectator.]
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