The Red Deer of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills

The West Country herd of red deer now concetrated on Exmoor and the Quantock Hills, and area 40 miles by 20 miles, is of very ancient origin although accurate records of history and numbers can only be traced to about 1750. At that time the numbers were in the low hundreds - in 1818 the total is quoted as 200 - although for reasons which are now well known the latest count has revealed about 3,000 in the area concerned, constituting therefore the largest and certainly finest herds in England. Numbers and distribution are of course hugely greater in the Scottish Highlands.

Between the years 1760 and 1825 the North Devon Staghounds were kennelled on Exmoor and regular hunting was practised but in the latter year, for reasons of finance and lack of support, the hounds were sold to Germany and for the next 30 years there was no resident pack of hounds, although there was some spasmodic hunting mainly by visiting packs from other parts of England.

In 1855 a successful attempt was made to restart the pack known as the Devon and Somerset Staghounds in new kennels at Exford where they are still today. Almost at once the deer numbers, by then reduced to the dangerously low level of double figures, started to recover and by 1900 three packs were hunting a total of 10 days a week with numbers still rising. Since that date with no interuption to the sport and with only minor reductions in the herd during the two world wars, the deer and Staghunting have flourished to the satisfaction of the whole neighbourhood.

The Red Deer in an omnivorous and voracious feeder and while capable of living on the natural herbage of the open moor and woodland, in winter in particular, is a serious pest to the hill farmer whose land is interspersed with the rest of the countryside. Deer will eat as much as yearling cattle and there are now farms "host" to as many as 80 at one time, not counting the damage they do to the natural hedgebanks between the fields. History shows us that the farmers will tolerate this depredation only providing that the Hunt continues to play its part in containing numbers and providing sport for themselves, their neighbours and visitors. When this thread is broken as was shown in the last century, the priceless herd of the largest wild animal in Europe is doomed.

Mr Dick Lloyd, born in 1925 and has lived on Exmoor all is life. He has been involved with the hunt since 1947 and recently retired as chairman. He has written and broadcast about the deer and is widely recognised as an authority on the subject