Stag Hunting

In the House of Commons last week, a bill was introduced to prohibit stag hunting in England. John Alexander Lovat-Fraser, 62-year-old Laborite, representing the Lichfield Division of Staffordshire, a member of the National Council of Maternity and Child Welfare, contended that his bill would end "a practice that subjects the stag to the grossest and most terrible cruelty. . . ." His bill was backed by the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A Conservative M.P. objected to the Lovat-Fraser Bill on the ground that if passed it would set a precedent for bills prohibiting all kinds of hunting. This objection brought roars of disapproval from Laborites who are, usually, non-stag- hunters.

Since the Norman conquest, stag hunting has been a favorite and, as usually regarded, comparatively harmless amusement of the British nobility. In the reign of Charles II, a 70-mile hunt was held from Swinley to Lord Petre's Seat in Essex; the Duke of York was the only hunter in at the death. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 19 packs of staghounds in England, four in Ireland. The biggest existing British deer park is 4,000 acres at Savernake. The season opens on Aug. 12, ends Oct. 8. There is a short spring season from Lady Day, March 25, to May 10.

The whereabouts of the stag is told to the master by the harbourer. Steady hounds, called "tufters," are then thrown into cover and having found a warrantable deer, bay him until he is forced to an open run which is fun for the mounted huntsmen. The hounds, when they finally run down the tired stag, should hold him at bay rather than bite him to death.

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