Stag hunting

deerstalker39

Well-Known Member
I would be interested in knowing if the Red deer on Exmoor and the Quantocks are in decline or how they are managing now stag hunting has been stopped for a number of years, i know a lot of farmers tolerated the deer and followed the staghounds a lot
I followed on several occasions, there will be people here that would not entertain the idea of the stag hounds and would although being stalkers be totally against it
However im more interested in the largest population or red deer in England are they Safe or could we have a problem in years to come it would be a sad day to see the demise of the Exmoor Red Deer
 
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All three packs of staghounds still hunt, within the restrictions of the hunting act. In actual fact, they probably account for more deer now than they did before the ban. They also all still offer their services for call outs to casualty deer.

There are others on here, notably Charlie T, who are more qualified to comment on how deer numbers on Exmoor are holding up.
 
I was reading a article the other evening how poaching is hitting the deer hard in the area, big shame mind i admit i remember a big ho har henry, a nice big B,B,T 4 top both left and right on a estate years ago and he suddenly vanished rumours where the hunt, the forestry commission and of course poachers I
have my opinion where he went but big boys like that don't stand a chance nowadays
I was reading also that the red deer on the Quantock mature stags where down in numbers and in to literally double figures which is not good i actually would like to work out if poaching is the cause or legitimate stalking
But guess we will never know until to late.
 
I have heard there's a lot of poaching going on in that area, more than we see down here so it must be bad!!! There is obviously people stalking in the area but I wouldn't say all ground is stalked because of the stag packs.
 
Well i know the ground around where the alleged emperor was said to have been taken used to hold good numbers however i past by the same area not long ago and where as used to see a good healthy herd of red from the road ...... and now nothing
The leagues ground Outside of Dulverton last i knew where loosing huge numbers to disease and all through the EXE valley used to have great numbers however not seeing as many which again seems that we are gradually loosing our heritage from the Exmoor hills
This will be a huge shame and i hope not in my life time
 
They are indeed all still hunting. The Devon and Somerset 3 days a week and the other two packs 2 days a week.

I went out with the D&S last Tuesday and had quite a good day's hinds hunting. The only downside is that to hunt within the law one must use the relevant exemptions, such as only using two hounds to flush and so forth. Oh, how I miss watching a pack of hounds work.

It's a little slower now with only two hounds trying to own the line, but they still have some very good days and still seem to account for as many deer now as they did before the "ban".

Generally farmers still tolerate deer damage for the sake of the hunt and as long as the hunt continue to manage the deer properly I think the farmers will continue to look after the deer.

The growth in the number of game shoots on Exmoor does have a knock on effect in that shoots don't, for obvious reasons, welcome the hunt through their coverts and game crops during the season, thus making large areas out of bounds and un-huntable for a large part of the hind season which causes bunching up of hinds leading to excess damage which could in the future lead to excessive use of the rifle. Problem being game shooting brings large amounts of much needed revenue to the area.

Sadly poaching seems to be on the increase and although there are plenty of stags about I don't see as many good autumn stags about over the past couple of years.

The Exmoor deer count happens over this weekend, so, as soon as the figures are collated and published I will compare them with last years and let you know how they fair.

However, rest assured stag hunting still has a tremendous following, both mounted and by car so the future still looks rosy.
 
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