STAG HUNTING .
[To the Editor of the S1'Eemcroa.1 your issue of 5th inst. Mr. Stephen Coleridge comes out into the open when he says—" it is better to exterminate them (wild deer) than torture them." Torture" is merely his exaggerated word for "hunt." If people really want to know whether hunting is torture let them quickly Come here, to the New Forest, and see for themselves, as hunting goes on till May 1st. I have no doubt as to their answer. They will find no torture or even cruelty. That deer would be exter- minated if they were not hunted I can prove. In this country a herd of deer has collected about the Beaulieu estate. If hunted they go to sea, and deer and hounds are in danger of being carried away by strong currents. Since they cannot be hunted, and so there is no compensation for the damage they do to crops, the order has gone out that they are to be killed off by shooting, and most of them have been shot. Were hunting to cease in the New Forest, and on Exmoor, the deer there also would be exterminated. Some people seem to think they would be kept in a " reserve " or something of that Sort. Have the R.S.P.C.A. moved a finger to create such a reserve and so save some of the Beaulieu deer ? Have they started a fund to compensate farmers for losses from deer in order to save them? And do they even enquire whether any of the shot deer escape wounded to die lingering deaths in the woods ? I will give one instance of this. On March 3rd this year our hounds found a buck who had been shot, and he was quickly killed. This poor beast was suffering from a rifle bullet that had broken one of his hind legs, the wound was septic, and he had probably been in this condition for about live weeks. I am not suggesting that this had been done on the Beaulieu estate as it was many miles away, but I do contend that when deer are shot in a woodland country much suffering must ensue, and that if no deerhounds hunt the country and find the cripples, the suffering must be increased very much. Now, which constitutes "torture," hunting for two hours, or shooting and leaving the victim wounded for five weeks ? The last two days our hounds have been out they have not killed a deer, so it can be said that the deer has a "reasonable chance of escape." Surely he would prefer this to extermination I am, Sir, &c., J. C. Danuwc, Major. - Altterwoor, Lyndhurst, Hants.
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