FOOTNOTES:

PUNTS RACING.

Next day there was a little more wind, andLotuscame in a very good first,Sea Maidensecond, andWee Winnthird. The moment the race was over, the helm was put up and we ran across to Portsmouth hard, and in two hours from the finish, the boat was safely placed on the truck that was to take her to Burnham-on-Crouch, where we were to do some racing, and whereLotustook first each time. There we had a week of first-class sport, some of the races being very exciting, one especially so, for there was a long run in a heavy sea, ending up in a jiberound the buoy which some did, and some didnotdo. It was a breathless moment as the boom came over and we careered away at a tremendous pace, the boat rocking wildly from side to side, and the waters seething all round and over us. Suddenly I found I had no grip on the helm, the rudder having floated up on our following wave. She broached to at once, and though, thanks to Commodore's prompt letting go of the sheet, we managed to save a capsize, it was a close thing.

That year we sailed twenty-seven races, winning fifteen firsts, six seconds, and two thirds, and ending the season on the Medway with a series of matches in which we all changed boats and crews. It was on a lovely autumn afternoon that we anchored our barge yacht under the wood as committee boat, with tea, something stronger, dry clothes, and a party of friends on board. In every case and with every crewSea Maidencame in first, till we persuaded Lord Charles Beresford to sail hisUndauntedwith our sail, when she at once turned the tables. Next year there were a number of new punts built, namely:Mosquito,Star Fish,Water Lily,Princess May, andTartar. The Royal Engineers, too, built theTerribleandPowerful, sister ships, withlong overhanging sterns, and Captain Mareney, R.E., with his own hands builtBébé, which has proved the fastest of her class. In a strong wind theBébé'sspeed is something quite phenomenal, and one race she sailed in a hard gale, surprised everyone who saw her. Mr. G. C. Kerr's punt,L'Espérance, besides being good-looking, sails very fast; and on one occasion, in a light wind, beat the seventeen-ton,Buccaneer, in a race to Sheerness and back, without time allowance. Owing to the drawing of our punt, which appeared in theField, there have been many imitations of our flat-bottomed class started in different parts of the world. The Puffins at Plymouth, a little fleet at Weymouth, the new class at Southampton, and individual boats in Scotland, Northumberland, Anglesea, Florida, and even distant Hong Kong. There was a rumour that a challenger for the Seawanhaka Cup should take the shape of a long flat punt, and for this purpose a drawing was made by one of our most celebrated designers, but the Canadian holders of the cup have accepted the American challenge, instead of that of the Minima Yacht Club, so, this spring, the sound of the hammer will not be heard in our loft.

M. A. Wyllie.

MRS. PENN-CURZON.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Mrs. Wyllie's invalid daughter.—Ed.

[1]Mrs. Wyllie's invalid daughter.—Ed.

Booksand Magazine articles dealing with the Chase and the habits of the Red deer, are so many and so excellent that I feel diffident about attempting to say anything on a subject that has been so thoroughly thrashed out. In old days, or at any rate twenty-five years ago, very few people wended their way Westward in the months of August and September, to see what has now become such a popular sport. The crowds at the present time are now enormous, often worse than the Quorn fields, and the riders all full of zeal and desperately anxious not to miss anything from find to finish, thus often causing the Master no little anxiety, and trying his patience sadly.

In case my readers are not acquainted with the method in which stag-hunting is conducted, I will try to give a brief history of a day's sport. In the first place the deer must be harboured,that is "slotted" or tracked into covert, and this requires great knowledge of woodcraft on the part of him to whom the business is entrusted. The harbourer's business is to find out that his deer is a warrantable,i.e., a runnable, stag, which he can tell by the size of the slot, or footprint on the ground, and he must also make sure that his quarry has not passed through the covert. To do this he must search carefully for a slot leading out of the wood, or if the covert be too large he must make good as many of the paths round where he thinks his deer is lying, as he can. The difference between the slot of a hind and a stag is almost imperceptible to the ordinary eye, but if closely observed it will be noticed that the slot of a stag is larger and has a wider heel and blunter toes, also that an old heavy deer has his toes frequently uneven in length, while a hind's toe is pointed, and she has a narrow heel. In an old deer there is generally also a little space open between her toes. The harbourer can tell whether a stag or hind has been feeding, and though the signs believed in by some are disputed, one infallible test is whether the ash shoots have been nibbled or not. For while the hinds and young deer donot affect them, stags have a perfect passion for them, and the delicacy seems to be as irresistible to them as oysters and caviare are to a human gourmet.

The harbourer generally goes to the scene of action the day before the meet, and gleans what information he can from those whose knowledge he can rely on. With regard however to the feeding ground of the deer, he will do well to depend entirely on his own eyes, and to form his own conclusions. Next morning he must be afoot in the small hours, and look for any fresh slot pointing towards the covert, made by the deer returning from feeding. Should he see what he thinks belongs to a warrantable deer, he must next make sure the animal has not gone through the covert, and if the woods be very large, he must try and localise him as much as possible. The late Miles, who was the harbourer in the Devon and Somerset country for so many years, was a marvel in doing this, for he seemed to know the habits of the deer as well as they did themselves. His loss to the hunt was irreparable, for apart from the harbouring, he was of unbounded assistance during the run, and often when the deer seemed hopelessly lost, andMaster and huntsman were in despair, have I heard Miles's whistle and his cheery holloa, saving the day at the eleventh hour.

For the business of tufting, as finding the deer is called, four or five couples of the strongest hounds are required, as they will have to run with the pack afterwards. Also, it is well to select those hounds most inclined to throw their tongues, as their deep notes are more than welcome in the big coverts, where they get out of sight. If the deer has been well harboured and is inclined to leave covert quickly, so much the better, but patience is often sorely wanted in stag hunting, when a cunning old deer will double back into covert time after time, and turn out his younger relations to try and get hounds off his line. We will suppose, however, that the deer has chosen to break covert quickly, and the welcome sound of Anthony's horn means that the body of the pack, till now kennelled in a convenient barn or stable, will be laid on. If the deer has chosen a good line, that is over the forest, we must pull ourselves together and save our horses wherever possible, knowing that we may gallop for eighteen or twenty miles or more.

It is wonderful how two or three miles overholding ground will steady a field, and weed them to within reasonable bounds. I consider Exmoor the worst possible country for a stranger to take his own line, the best man to hounds on earth cannot tell some of the crossings by instinct, many of the combes having only one even decent crossing, and that has to be negotiated with care. Most people, however, seem to come down with the idea that Exmoor is one vast bog, which is all nonsense, for most of it is quite rideable, or at any rate you can pick your way over it. The crossings are the worst drawbacks to riding straight to hounds. A large majority of the field ride to points, and most annoying it is, after you have galloped your hardest at the tail of hounds, to see a batch of tourists who have been piloted by someone who knows every inch of the country, and who has guessed the stag's point, with comparatively fresh horses, while your own, no matter how carefully you have nursed him, has pretty nearly had enough.

A deer will nearly always soil once, if not oftener during a run, and it is marvellous how a plunge in one of the many streams, or a roll in a peat hole, will refresh him. Stags, especially the older and fatter ones, generally lie down afterthey have run for a time if not pressed, that is if hounds are not laid on at once, and the master generally gives a big heavy deer a little law. A fresh find is a beautiful sight, and the tricks and dodges of a wily old stag would fill many chapters. To anyone fond of seeing hounds work, and not only anxious for a gallop, the sight of hounds trying to pick out the line of their deer, when he has gone up or down stream, is alone worth going out for. It is extraordinary how long a deer's scent will hold on the moor. It is no uncommon thing for hounds to hunt up to, and kill their stag, after he has been two hours ahead of them.

HOUNDS OF THE DEVON AND SOMERSET PACK.(From a Picture in the possession of C. H. Basset, Esq., of Watermouth Castle.)

HOUNDS OF THE DEVON AND SOMERSET PACK.

(From a Picture in the possession of C. H. Basset, Esq., of Watermouth Castle.)

One thing in hunting the red deer impresses people very strongly who have only seen foxhunting, and that is the way hounds tail on the moor. Several explanations of this are given. One is that the deer running in a straighter line than the fox, the fastest hound gets in front and stays there, others say that it is easier to get through the heather in a string, and again some hold that the scent of a deer being very sweet, hounds run one behind another to get it all. When they do carry a head, the sight of the big hounds, none under twenty-four-and-a-half inchesand all unrounded, racing over the heather, is a very fine one. Deer almost invariably die in the water, either in one of the numerous streams or rivers, or going to sea. In the last case they have to be followed by boatmen, and are brought to shore and killed. This is the greatest drawback to stag hunting, but it is no good being sentimental about it. The deer do an immense amount of damage to the farmer's crops, and if they were not killed in the chase they would very soon be shot, and stag hunting would be no more, so that my advice to those who cry out about the cruelty to "the poor dear stag," when they see him being ignominiously towed to shore, is to stay at home, so that their feelings may not be hurt by the sight.

It is wonderful how the more ignorant portion of the large field of strangers, who condescend to honour Exmoor with their presence in the stag-hunting season, grumble unceasingly at the sport. The country, Master, hounds, and hunt servants, all come in for scathing criticism. One has a great longing to let them try and hunt a deer themselves, to convince them that it is not such A B C work as they seem to think. Also, should the Master persist in remaining in a covert tohunt the big deer he knows to be there, instead of laying on to the four-year-old which has just broken away over a tempting line on the forest, there is a chorus of discontented ones, "Oh, what rot this is; why can't he go after a decent deer?" The malcontents, either forgetting or not knowing that it is the fat old sinner now doing his utmost to save his skin by turning out his younger relations, which gorges himself nightly on the farmer's best turnips and corn, and that it will be a poor consolation to the latter if hounds pursue a young deer twenty odd miles and then lose him, while the author of the mischief is left, possibly with a keener appetite than ever, after his unwonted exertions.

There is always a hope that a big fat stag may be run up and killed, should his whereabouts be a certainty, in time to lay on to another, and I have often seen two deer killed in one day. A fat stag which is merely blown and not exhausted, will waste a lot of valuable time beating up and down the water, too out of breath to breast the hill and give a gallop, and too strong to be pulled down. This gentleman is a most unpleasant customer to tackle, as in fact is any deer at bay. A stag is a grand looking beast when he standswith his back against a rock, in one of the picturesque streams that abound on Exmoor, with his lovely head well up, and great, sad, frightened eyes, the pack baying round him and not daring to come within striking distance of those death-dealing horns. The sooner then the huntsman, or one of the willing farmers always at hand and ready to assist, can slip behind the beast and lasso him, the better for everyone.

The head and slots of stags are the Master's perquisite, the skin and inside and the hinds' heads belong to the huntsman, who generally shares the liver with the farmers. The carcase is distributed amongst the farmers on whose land the deer was found, and who highly appreciate a bit of venison. The Master alone never gets any, and to speak for myself I have only tasted hunted stag once. This was when my mother was sent, by a kind neighbour, a haunch of a five-year old deer, which had given us a run of nearly thirty miles, and very excellent it was. I have never seen a more vicious stag either than this one, for though he had run from Cloutsham to within five miles of my mother's home,[2]he fought desperately and severely injured twohounds before he was taken. I always remember that gallop too on account of the marvellous way the puppies worked, with hardly any old hounds to help them, my father[3]having saved the older hounds for the next day, when he was meeting in a close woodland country, where he thought the inevitable crowded field would work less havoc among the older and more sensible hounds than on the puppies, many of which were hardly way-wise.

There is one delusion that strangers labour under who meditate a few days with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, and this is, that it is absolutely necessary to ride "the horse of the country," as they term it. I think this is quite a mistake. Any horse that looks where he is going, and doesn't go yawing about with his head in the air, will go well on Exmoor, at any rate after a time or two, but horses accustomed to the country certainly get less frightened in soft ground than strangers. In fact, a moor-bred animal wont go into a bog at all. I have ridden all sorts and conditions of horses, and I think I would choose animals that stand about 15.1 or 15.2., short-legged and strong backed and with goodshoulders, for though I have seen a little straight-shouldered Exmoor pony canter down a hill without a false step, when most people have been leading down it, yet I never think it gives you a comfortable sensation to be sitting almost on your horse's ears. Two things are absolute necessities, blood and condition, without these one cannot hope to get to the end of a long moorland gallop with comfort to either man or beast. I know no more hopeless-looking objects than a poor underbred and underfed hireling, floundering through the wet ground, remorselessly urged on by an ambitious but ignorant tripper, whose pedigree will probably bear even less looking into than his unfortunate steed's. For a very light weight with extravagant ideas, polo ponies would be ideal mounts, being in the height of condition, after the close of the season at Hurlingham, and very fast and handy on their legs, but it is not everyone who can afford or would care to risk valuable animals on such broken ground. Some people hold that big horses are better than small ones, but I cannot say I agree with them. A large horse shakes himself and his rider to pieces galloping down the hills, and if you would see a long run well,you must gallop down hills, and take it easy up them; he also does not recover himself so quickly should he make a mistake over the rough ground, and is more liable to strains and over-reaches in the boggy land, to say nothing of the fact that he can frighten you to death in the tiny narrow paths through the woods, where a false step means rolling into the river many feet below. A small horsemaybe quite as dangerous, but I don't think he feels so clumsy, and again, a small horse undoubtedly comes to time again sooner after a hard day. One thing I specially dislike on the moor, and that is a hard puller. People say, "what does it matter, when there's heaps of room." This is all very well on a racecourse, but when you are on the verge of almost a precipice intersected with ruts, peat holes and other trifles, with either a bog or a river waiting for you at the bottom, it is very poor fun to be hardly able to steady your horse, much less hold him, and I have seen some very nasty falls resulting from the inability of an unhappy sportsman to control his mount.

PRINCESS, IRISH MARE.(Property of Mrs. Lewis Mackenzie.)

PRINCESS, IRISH MARE.

(Property of Mrs. Lewis Mackenzie.)

You can also have a nasty fall if you try and descend the steep combes sideways. It is a golden rule to ride a horse straight down. Atthe worst then he can but sit down, but if you are half cantering, half shambling down a hill sideways, and your mount puts a foot wrong, a horrible fall is the probable result. It is a wonder to me, looking at the crowd of people riding, most of them ignorant of the first principles of horsemanship, why there are not more bad falls than there are on Exmoor. Now and then it is true a man gets his face cut, or a rib broken or something of that sort, but really bad accidents are most rare. I suppose that the sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, looks after the welfare of the bold tripper, or perhaps the softness of the ground has more to do with it.

I think Exford is the best centre for stag-hunting, that is if you do not mind having absolutely nothing to do on the off days, or have enough horses to go out with the foxhounds or harriers. Some people like Minehead, others prefer Dulverton. Personally I prefer Porlock, as it is quite close to the Moor meets, and is far and away the prettiest place to stop in. Accommodation is good and moderate, hirelings are to be obtained there and at Minehead, and are generally very good animals, though I would advise anyone with a couple or more well-bredhorses in condition, to bring them down. The difference in comfort, especially in the long distances hacking home, is great.

Special care should be taken of saddles for this work, for there is no country where horses suffer so terribly from sore backs as Exmoor. The steep climbs up and down hill, the great heat, followed by standing still till a horse is chilled, then another gallop perhaps, and lastly a long ride home, horse and man, or oftener woman, dead beat, work absolute havoc in a stable full of otherwise sound horses. I would advise anyone hunting with the staghounds to have all saddles thoroughly fitted, if possible one for each horse, the horses' backs hardened a little, and above all to see that the saddle is left on the horse for some time after he is cool, whenever he comes in from hunting. Very few persons will take the trouble to do this, especially when a horse comes home about eleven o'clock at night, but it should always be insisted on.

Towards the end of September is to my mind the pleasantest time on Exmoor, and from the middle of the month to the time stag-hunting ends, about the tenth of October, sport is generally far better than earlier in the season. Thedeer break covert quicker, and run better, the weather is cooler, and Cloutsham which has in the earlier part of the season, been the happy picnic ground, to crowds of delighted strangers, now affords a sure find of a good Stag. This is, thanks to its kind owner and his son, who though not hunting-men themselves, are most desirous of showing sport to others. So much has been said about this opening function at Cloutsham and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, which in fact cannot be over-rated, that I will not allude to the "vast leafy combes," the "hazy outline of the Welsh coast," and the "stately purple-clad hill of Dunkerry," except to warn those who have never tried to gallop over the said Dunkerry that it is the most deceptive bit of going to my mind in the whole of the stag-hunting country. It is covered with rocks and stones, alternating with bogs, and is generally productive of a lame horse. I never saw it look so lovely as one day during hind-hunting.

It was a soft muggy day in November, and I was standing in a field behind Cloutsham farm, when a hind went away over Dunkerry. As I was riding a pony, I stood still and watched theproceedings. Anthony laid on, and the whole hunt swept away up the hill, and as they did so down came the fog like a curtain, but only covering half the hill. By and bye, back came the hind, and ran into Sweet Tree, as the extension of Cloutsham Wood on the Exford Road is called, and the hounds, huntsman and field all came one by one out of the mist. It was like a ghost hunt. Twice did that hind do the same thing, and then sent a young sister to take her place, but hounds were luckily stopped and the wily lady was captured, after a great deal of twisting and doubling up and down the water.

Very few people have any idea of the different aspect the country wears in the hind hunting season to what it does in stag-hunting time. In August on your way to the meet, you pass dozens of people, walking, riding, or driving, the latter with huge luncheon hampers, which are most welcome later on. The meet may be at Culbone Stables, in which case the Lynton road outside Lord Lovelace's plantation will be packed with carriages, etc., and people will idle about and stand in groups among the stunted fir trees, looking out on a calm blue sea. The stag may after some time "go to moor," and then away go thefield after him, but for hours there will be carriages on the Lynton Road on the chance he may turn back and go to sea, which he may very likely do. In this case, those of the riders who have had enough, will turn round at the top of the hill and go home, but the majority will ride down through the Ashley Combe woods to the sea, and wait in the warm August afternoon till the stag is brought to land. The fishermen from Porlock Weir are always on the look out on a hunting day for a possible windfall in the shape of a deer going to sea, which means a sovereign in their pockets. The field meanwhile refresh themselves and their horses at the picturesque little hotel, the Anchor, and after the last rites of the chase have been gone through, ride home in the cool of the evening.

In hind hunting on a bitter December day, we have a very different picture. About four shivering women, or perhaps fewer, half a dozen sporting farmers, the Master and the hunt servants form the field. The women generally make a bolt for the little cottage at Culbone Stables, and sit round the fire there till Anthony comes for the pack. The wind is blowing half a gale, and sleet is falling, but once we are started no one caresfor the weather. Deer, unlike foxes, will run in the teeth of the fiercest gale, and sometimes one is literally nearly blown out of the saddle. The hind which has probably left her calf lying in her bed, will run a big ring out to the Deer Park and back. With the ground at its heaviest, the small field has to gallop its fastest to keep the flying pack in sight. Back into Culbone the hind comes, and we stop and listen, and wonder if she will go to sea, trying in the meantime to get a little shelter from the icy wind under the larch trees. But our friend has not had half enough yet, and may take us over the same ground again, if she fails to induce another deer to take her place, or possibly we may go away after a fresh hind without knowing it; heart-rending work this for horses and hounds. Ultimately she will go to sea, either down the steep cliffs of Glenthorne, or from Porlock Weir, and the boatmen have to follow her, supposing it is not too rough for their safety, while the field, by this time of still smaller dimensions, wait patiently for the end. Then home we go. Porlock Weir was comparatively sheltered, but once on top of the hill again, the gale seems to have increased, and the sleet to be thicker, and by the time weget home we are nearly frozen, and it is pitch dark. Yet to my mind notwithstanding the horrible weather, hind hunting is a finer, wilder sport than stag-hunting, and a run after a straight-going hind in the spring when the weather is better, is hard to beat. Fog is the great enemy to hunting in the winter. Often the hounds have to go home from the meet, after waiting a couple of hours and more for it to lift.

F. Downer.Watford.HEADS AT WATERMOUTH CASTLE.

F. Downer.Watford.

HEADS AT WATERMOUTH CASTLE.

I do not think casual visitors have any idea of the immense strain on hounds, horses and men that hunting from July to April entails, or they would not grumble as much as they do when they get a poor day's sport. Rather let them follow the example of one most genial tripper, who when a friend of mine remarked we had had a shocking bad day, nothing but wood work, said: "Well, I 'ear folks say they 'aven't 'ad a gallop, but I always 'as a gallop, and what I do is this. I watch one of them 'scarlet bounders' (presumably the huntsman), and when he lays on to the stag, I don't care where 'e is, I lays on to 'im. It takes a bit of doing too, and Ialways'as a gallop!" Whether the "scarlet bounder" was equally pleased with a noisy follower, when he wanted to catch the slightest sound in covert, is anothermatter, but a jovial sportsman of this sort is far more welcome to the West Country than those people who go down and grumble at everything, and generally depart with the donation of a few shillings to the deer damage fund.

It is out of this fund the farmers are paid for the harm done to their crops by the deer, and richly they deserve some compensation, for without their help stag-hunting on Exmoor would soon be a thing of the past.

Edith Curzon.

SIR JOHN AMORY'S STAGHOUNDS.

Though when Mr. Fenwick Bisset undertook to revive Stag-hunting on Exmoor in 1855, the attempt was regarded almost as a forlorn hope. It has now been found necessary to start a second pack in Devon, in order to keep down the herds of red deer. The last established pack is a private one belonging to Sir John Heathcoat Amory, and its popularity with all classes of the sport-loving West country is very great. Mr. Ian Amory hunts the hounds himself, and he is assisted by the Messrs. Las Casas, who act as hiswhippers-in, the important duties of the harbourer being also performed by an amateur. Everything in this establishment is carried out in the most sportsmanlike manner, and the time-honoured traditions of the hunt of the wild red deer are strictly adhered to. The sport shown by this pack, since its institution in 1897, has been excellent, and to the sportswoman who dares not brave the storm-swept expanse of Exmoor during the winter months, and yet loves to share in the grand sport of hind-hunting, the less exposed country hunted over by Sir John Amory's staghounds offers very great advantages. The picturesque little town on the Exe, indeed, is likely to take a high place among Western sporting centres, for it offers the triple attraction of the pursuit of the stag, the fox and the hare in its immediate neighbourhood.

J. Weston and SonFolkestone.MRS. CULPEPER CLARKE.

J. Weston and SonFolkestone.

MRS. CULPEPER CLARKE.

FOOTNOTES:[2]Near Ilfracombe.—Ed.[3]Mr. C. H. Basset, then Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.—Ed.

[2]Near Ilfracombe.—Ed.

[3]Mr. C. H. Basset, then Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.—Ed.

NOTE.—This article has been kindly read and approved by Mrs. Culpeper Clarke, who was unfortunately prevented from undertaking the task of writing it herself. In several cases the valuable suggestions she has made will be found embodied in the paper, marked by the initials C.F.C.C. At the special request of the writer of the paper, Mrs. Culpeper Clarke has consented to allow her photograph to appear.

Ofall forms of the chase, that of the carted deer, has the unenviable distinction of having been followed, discussed and written about, by a greater number of people ignorant of the first elements of sport, than any other. It has too the disadvantage of being scorned by some of the boldest followers of the fox and the red deer, and thus while "crabbed" by those incompetent to judge, it is a "thing of naught" in the hunting calendar of some of the best sportsmen and women of the day. In spite of this, however, the hunt of the carted deer is the source of pleasure and health to many who otherwise would seldom ornever be seen in the hunting-field, and as such it deserves to be chronicled.

That certain objections have always been urged with more or less weight against this particular form of sport, I am well aware, but I will leave its defence to abler hands than mine, and while ready to give help, if it may be, to any sister-sportswoman who would take it up, I must say boldly that a day with fox or hare is in my opinion, worth more than a dozen brilliant gallops after an enlarged deer. On the score of humanity, however, there is undoubtedly nothing to be said in its disfavour. The deer is well fed and cared for, and rarely comes to harm when before the hounds, and though there are nervous deer as nervous people, who will in the one case "funk" a possible fence, and in the other show signs of extreme fear at the pursuit of hounds, I do not believe in the agonies of terror of which the so-called humanitarians are pleased to make so much. On this point, however, let those who like Lord Ribblesdale, can wield the pen with as skilful a hand as they can steer a horse across country, speak with the authority which is theirs by right of profound knowledge, and long and unusual experience. And if we should find thatother forms of sport are for whatever reason out of our reach, we may well be content to ride after the carted deer with such sisters of the chase as Lady Julia Follett, Lady Georgiana Curzon, Lady Downshire, and the brilliant horsewomen who week after week are among the followers of the Wards over the stiffest part of the Meath country. Can we go far wrong either in following such sportsmen as Lord Coventry and Lord Ribblesdale, with the spirit of Whyte-Melville inspiring us?

Let us then turn for a few words about the quarry of the Stag-hunt. The animal pursued, whether it be Stag, Havier, or Hind, has been carefully selected and most heedfully cared for, so that when it comes out for a gallop it is in the very height of condition. It is not often that it is asked to exert itself, for it comes out only in its proper turn, and this in the larger hunting establishments would not be more than three or four times in the course of the season. A Stag, fed on the choicest oats and the best old hay is not easily fatigued, and probably at the close of the day's proceedings, will not be nearly so "done" as the horses that have ridden in its pursuit, or the men and women to whom it hasbeen giving pleasure. We all know the old history of Mr. Henry Nevill's deer, which lived on terms of perfect amity with the hounds kept for their chase, and I have myself seen a stag deliberately trot down a road and look over the hedge at the pack, which had considerately been stopped till his Lordship should get his second wind. The exploits of a celebrated old hind too, which was on the best of terms with all connected with her hunt, are still remembered in the country in which she afforded sport. As soon as she was released she would speed away, often for twenty miles or so, and when weary would take refuge in a wood. Recognising the sign that the hunt was at an end, the huntsman then stopped his hounds, leaving the hind in peace till the deer-cart came up. When this had been backed to the boundary fence of the covert where the deer was waiting, and the old driver had given a low peculiar whistle, the keen ears and soft eyes of the hind would appear through the bushes. If no enemy was in sight, she would then jump lightly in the cart and be driven home. Let us hope she would have a more comfortable journey than many a sportswoman, with weary limbs and a weary horse tocarry her, and many long miles stretching between her and her abode.

IN THE AIR. NO. 1.

There are certain women who ride hard, for whom this form of the chase has special advantages. For example there is the woman who from whatever cause, whether from the care of a large household, or the pressure of the duties that her literary or artistic, or it may be her political tastes, have involved her in, finds it extremely difficult to take a whole long day for her pleasure in the field, and to such an one the short day with staghounds will be an inestimable boon. Again there are women, whose social or domestic duties keep them in town during the winter months, and to them a run with thestaghounds will be a much-prized form of recreation.

On the other hand it should be remembered that to some women who are more or less of invalids, and who would yet rather not go out at all than leave off before the run is over, the possible long day, and the almost certain fast pace with staghounds, will be against this form of sport. This, like most other matters connected with sport, will depend very much whether the chase of the deer isthesport of the neighbourhood, when hounds will often make long days, or whether, as in some good foxhunting countries, it is more or less subservient to the chase of the fox.

There are others again whose lot is cast in a good stag-hunting country, who honestly find a satisfying enjoyment in riding after the hounds. These will like to make long days, and if they follow the chase to the end, will be not less weary than their foxhunting sisters, by the time they turn their steps homewards.

Let us see how such will fare.

Suppose that a run with Lord Rothschild's splendid pack is in prospect, and that the meet is fixed for twelve o'clock. If time is of moment to you, you may reckon that if you arriveat the rendezvous three quarters of an hour later, you will find you still have a margin before hounds are laid on. This will give you a comfortable morning's work, before the cart is at the door. For remember, that a pony cart or dog cart, or the more luxurious brougham, is very necessary to the comfort of the hunter of the carted deer. In the first place the long distances covered and the fast pace, make large demands on a woman's powers and those of her horse, and she should, therefore, husband both till the moment of the chase arrives. Equally for both horse and rider too, she should, if possible, make the return journey also in the cart.

That this often will not be practicable, and for the same reason that it is generally useless to have a second horse out stagging, does not in any way detract from the comfort of having the cart at hand if it can be managed. If, however, the deer should run too fast and too far, for his cart to come up to him for many hours after the "take," then—and this will be the most frequent experience of the followers of the chase—the rail may prove the best hack home for both woman and horse.

The former will thus be saved a weary joghome, and her horse will also be spared what, even if he is a good hack, will be the most difficult part of the day's work to him. And though, of course, an ideal woman's hunter should also be a perfect hack, how few even good horses answer the description. What hunting woman cannot recall some animal, and many it may be, which have served their turn, for which she would not have taken centuries, if offered when he was sailing with magnificent action over a grass country, but which on the journey home at night, she would have been almost inclined to give away to the first comer? But even with a good hack, it is a doubtful pleasure to ride him after he has tired himself in the chase, and you will find it a relief unspeakable to exchange the saddle for the cushions, and to drive or train home, instead of striving to keep your weary hunter on his legs.

T. Bennett and Sons.Worcester and MalvernLADY DOROTHY COVENTRY ON SIXPENNY.

T. Bennett and Sons.Worcester and Malvern

LADY DOROTHY COVENTRY ON SIXPENNY.

But to return to the meet. When you get to the place of meeting there will be three courses open to you as a rule. You can either see the stag un-carted and the hounds laid on, or you can omit the first ceremony and come on the scene with the hounds, which in well regulated establishments will not have been allowed to catch aview of the cart, or you can adopt another course, and wait till the stag has completed his first circle, which he is almost sure to run before leaving. If you incline to the last, and there is much to be said in its favour, you will look out for some point, such as the crossing of a road by the stag, and trotting quietly down to it, you will wait for the hounds to come up. By the time they reach you, they will have got over the first flurry with which staghounds always make for the line, and will come chiming down as prettily as a pack of harriers.

[I think the best plan is to come into the field with the hounds, if possible, pick your own place at the first fence—of course riding wide of the hounds—and do your level best to get a good start. If staghounds really run, a good start is every bit as important with them as in the Shires, and that is one reason I think they are such good training for judgment, decision and nerve. She who hesitates is sure to be lost sooner or later, and when you have been out of a good thing two or three times, because you did not push along at first, it does make you keen.—C.F.C.C.]

Then you should ride to the hounds and watchthem working. You will observe that they string more than foxhounds—though they are foxhounds in everything but the use to which they are put—but such packs as Lord Rothschild's or the Queen's, will drive forward on a hot scent and work out a cold one, in a way that will delight any lover of hound work. Now you may, nay youmust, ride somewhat closer to the pack than would be quite orthodox with foxhounds, and if there should be anything like a scent you will find that in spite of being a light weight, it may be, and riding one of the best, it will take you all your time to live with them. Nor will you be in any danger of overriding hounds. With a good deer you will find you need all your judgment, horsemanship, coolness and pluck to live to the end.

After you have been going some twenty or twenty-five minutes, perhaps, hounds will run up to their deer. But the sport will not be over. If possible at this point you should notice whether the deer has his mouth open or shut, for this will tell you whether you may still look for a long gallop or not. A deer, be it remembered, closes his mouth when he is beaten, but as long as he has it open, you may be sure he has not thesmallest intention of being captured. You will find that with the consideration for the feelings of the quarry which marks all the proceedings, hounds will not be allowed to go on till ample time has been given for the deer to get a good start. He may not unlikely be encouraged by the friendly crack of a hunting crop by one of the field, but otherwise his Lordship will be left to himself, and the hounds meanwhile will stand with their sterns waving in eager impatience to be off, and their eyes fixed on the face of the huntsman. It was a grand sight to see poor Mark Howcutt at such a moment, in the vale of Aylesbury. The loose thong of his whip, as he sat motionless in front of hounds was enough to keep them in check, and when he quietly gathered the thong up, they knew the moment had come, and casting themselves on the line, they would break into a chorus of rejoicing, and race eagerly away.

It is not till you see the stag soil, that you may begin to take things easily, for this is generally a sign of the beginning of the end. It is, however (and here I recall the words of Whyte Melville), an act of courtesy to those who supply our sport, to stay and see the deer taken before we leave. If you are up at the end of a good gallop overthe Vale, you may be pretty sure you will be able to hold your own wherever fortune may lead you, even if the Quorn hounds should be running their best from the Ashby Pastures, over the Twyford Vale to Burrough Hill, or the Cottesmore lady-pack be racing in front of you from Ranksboro' Gorse to Woodwell Head.

As stag-hunting begins later in the day than the pursuit of the fox, so does it leave off earlier, and the sportswoman who shares in it will generally find herself at home in time to get into a comfortable tea-gown, and give what our neighbours call "five o'clock" to her friends. There will then be the chance of a rest before dinner, and to those who are not over-strong, or who have heavy social duties before them, I would recommend the plan of a well-known rider to hounds in Leicestershire, who goes quietly to bed and gets perhaps a couple of hours sleep before her maid rouses her to dress for dinner. As many women undoubtedly suffer from the strain entailed by the great demands on their strength during the hunting season, the plan may help them to keep both good looks and health, and will thus give them a keener enjoyment in their favourite sport.

And now a word as to equipment, though thiswill be brief indeed, as what applies to the follower of the fox applies in almost every particular to her who rides after the stag. I would only suggest in the latter case that the habit worn should be plain, and that the distinctive collar of any Foxhunt of which you may be a member, is not quite in place when you are following another form of sport. As to the vexed question of the tall and the round hat, in the hunting-field, some will declare in favour of comfort as represented by the latter, while others will prefer the undeniable smartness of the ugliest product of modern civilization.

[My advice to everyone is to take a change in a Gladstone, and leave it either at the Inn where the meet is, or better still with the clothing and horse-box, for it is a serious matter to get ducked in a brook and then perhaps have a long train journey home, without the possibility of dry clothes. I say this feelingly, as this year after the Stag in Kent, I fell at a brook about 2.15—my watch stopped, so I know the hour—and after finishing the run, I had to ride seven miles to Paddock Wood, before training home. Of course I ought to have died of pneumonia after this, but happily was none the worse.—C.F.C.C.]

The above note reminds me that if at any time you should get a wetting, such as that described above, and have no welcome change at hand, you will in nine cases out of ten experience no harm, if in train or cart you cover your wet clothing with coat or rug, or even horse-cloth should nothing else be available. Some may think even a probable chill preferable to the last suggestion, butverbum sap.

The canteen for a day with staghounds will not require much thought, for between the late breakfast and early tea, which generally are possible, the demands of appetite will not be great. However, as there will be no second horseman to rely on, the sportswoman will do well to carry with her a few biscuits and a little cold essence of beef, or a slice of plum pudding, and some port wine should she prefer it. (A medical friend says there is nothing like Kola Wine.)

But now, last, though of more importance than all that has gone before, we come to the question of the hunter. To leave out of count for the moment, the points we should insist on for all women's hunters, the first great requisite for a horse that is to follow staghounds, is speed.For remember that the fastest possible form of the chase, is when a pack of large-sized foxhounds, is in pursuit of a red deer hind, over a grass country. A well-bred horse is essential, and other things being equal, if clean thoroughbred, so much the better.

[From my eleven years' experience of Stag-hunting, I have come to the conclusion that the most essential thing is that a hunter should be well-seasoned. If you ride a young horse with the stag, which would go perfectly well with foxhounds, he will go off his feed and fall all to pieces, even if you are lucky enough not to strain or over-reach him. A horse ought in my opinion to be quite seven years old, to take his turn regularly once a week stagging.

I quite agree with what you say about breeding, but for a woman the ideal horse for staghounds must not only be temperate, but in every way good-mannered. I suppose it is the rush at starting, which of course suggests racing, that excites them, but I know by experience that a horse which is a comfortable mount for a woman with Foxhounds or Harriers, may prove quite unmanageable if taken with Staghounds. A hot horse, too, even if you can ride it, takes so muchout of itself, that it cannot stand the long days, and is sure to knock up. With the packs I know in Surrey and Kent, a good timber jumper is essential, and in Kent you also want a water jumper—a rare combination.—C.F.C.C.]

A good fencer will be the best to carry you in the Vale of Aylesbury or the Ashford Vale; while if you go out with the Queen's, you will need a stouter animal for their Beaconsfield country, and indeed for most of the country of the Royal Hunt. With the Wards in Ireland, you will need the very best class of horse you will ride with the Meath, and in all countries where the chase of the carted deer is pursued, you will, in my opinion, find size and scope important, as a large horse will be going well within himself while a smaller one is at a stretch. As however to every rule there is an exception, so an undoubted authority tells me, that an Arab pony standing only 14·2, was well to the front in a good run after stag one day this season (1897-8), and pounded some gallant Dragoons over a six-barred gate.

Although the fences in most stag-hunting countries are generally of a manageable size, yet as you have to gallop at them, you should have a bold free horse under you. One too which hashis wits about him is perhaps, if that be possible, even more valuable after stag than after fox or hare, the pace necessitating the promptest decision and the greatest possible judgment in making the best of the unexpected, which is sure to happen, even when you think you know every inch of the country.

Stag-hunting then, we have seen, has its advantages, and I am not sure that if your lot is cast in a provincial country where the interest of watching hounds track their fox over flinty hills, from the depths of one thick covert to the recesses of another, is seldom varied by a gallop, you will not do well to take your place, at least occasionally, with the followers of the local staghounds. Of course, I am taking for granted that you are, more or less, interested in the working of hounds; but if you should be one of the hard-riding brigade, who frankly acknowledge they hunt to ride, then I should say that your best place willalwaysbe with staghounds, for with them you may reckon on the gallop which with other hounds is, and always must be, a matter of doubt. In most parts of the country you will find some staghounds within reach, at least of the "iron covert hack," and in Ireland the Wardsand the Rosscommon are unrivalled for speed and incident in any land. It is only, though, the youngest, and pluckiest, and best mounted of us who can hope to live over the stiff Irish banks at the pace at which the latter hounds go. A saddening thought, but true, as many a good woman has found to her cost.

Back to Index Next