[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Mrs. de Bunsen asks
me of a certain deer whether its foot was torn off by hunting. The answer is " No : in a snare," and yet there is one keen anti-hunting lady who recommends snaring 1 I maintain that without hounds deer cannot be humanely killed by shooting in Southern England. Mrs. de Bunsen repeats the old fallacy that it can be done because it is done in the Scottish Highlands. The case is quite different, as there the country is open and a rifle can be used. In the woods of England and on Exmoor a rifle cannot be used, and buckshot cannot be considered sure to kill. If deer are shot in such country hounds must be employed to hunt the wounded ones, and I maintain it is far more humane to hunt unwounded deer, who have a sporting chance of getting away altogether, as did the deer we hunted near here to-day.—I am,
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