The Red Deer is Britain’s largest native land mammal standing up to 1.5m at the shoulders. It is one of two indigenous species of deer. Despite the Hunting Act 2004 the Red Deer are still hunted.
Deer are hunted on horseback by the three registered packs hunting red deer in the south west of England and at least two unregistered packs hunting roe deer.
The Masters of Deerhounds Association (MDHA) consists of the Tiverton Staghounds, the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and the Quantock Staghounds. The MDHA state, “the three packs continue to meet two or three times a week during the season to manage the herd of Red Deer…”.
Deer hunting starts in early August and continue to the end of April. Young stags are hunted in spring, mature stags are hunted from August to October, hinds are hunted from November to late February. During the autumn stag hunting season the biggest, strongest stags with the biggest antlers are hunted.
What is Deer Hunting?
Deer hunts like to provide a long chase for the subscribing followers. Riders and hounds split up the whole herd of deer until a suitable stag is running alone or a hind has been singled out. As with other forms of hunting with dogs, the hounds are bred for stamina to prolong the day’s entertainment. So the deer is chased for anything from under an hour to a whole day.
Hunt supporters with radios, quad bikes, cross country motorbikes, and four wheel vehicles will also pursue and harass the deer.
As the hunt continues the deer either slows to a point where the dogs catch up or it simply lies down, too exhausted to run any further. At this point the animal is “brought to bay” – it stops running and turns to face its pursuers. The exhausted deer is then killed by the huntsman.
At the start of the hind season, hinds may have a totally dependent calf at foot. These calves have difficulty keeping up during the chase. The target hind will double back trying to urge the calf on. Eventually, she will be forced to abandon the calf to run for her life.
The only difference you’ll see to the pre Hunting Act days is that the hunts use two hounds in relay to pursue the deer, but the outcome is the same.
The hunts claim to, “…operate within the restrictions of the Hunting Act, monitoring the numbers, distribution and health of the herd, and they provide a 24-hour casualty service for sick or wounded deer that they may encounter.”
Roe Deer Hunting
Roe deer are the other indigenous species of deer. Roe Deer are also hunted in the south west of England, by a small number of packs, consisting of a variety of dogs including beagles, foxhounds and deerhounds. This activity has not been recognised by the Masters of Deerhounds Association. Roe deer hunting continues into May.
Resources
Observed’ to death (pdf) by Jordi Casamitjana
