Deer park

“ The environs of the capital are made as delightful as those of Paris by the lovely beech-woods that cover so much of the land, and by the haunting beauty of the views across the Sound. A few miles north of the city is the famous Dyrehaven, or deer-park, a vast expanse of gently undulating woods or grass land with a large water-lily-covered pond, where deer roam about under a few old oaks and many beeches, often so close together that they have soared instead of being allowed to spread. ”

“ The Deer Park," says the reverend gentleman in the pedantic phraseology of the period, "lies on the ascent of the contiguous eminences, whose projecting parts and bending declivities, modelled by nature, display much beauty. It contains an elegant profusion of wood, disposed in the most careless yet pleasing order. Much of the Park and its scenery is in view from the house, where it presents a very agreeable appearance." ”

“ And where can all be seen in more perfection than Meersbrook! standing half way up a gentle eminence, looking round on a small but beautiful park, well stocked with deer, and watered by a meandering stream, seen to glance in silver sheen from point to point, where the thicket opens, or the tall trunk of some bold elm throws off intruding parasites. ”

“ In summer, deer prefer the upper Hudsonian zone, where forest and meadow mingle to provide both nutritious food and nearby secluded shelter. Hurricane Ridge and Deer Park are favorite summering grounds, and a visit to either area at deer mealtime is likely to be rewarding.
With encouragement and repeated opportunities to sample human food, a deer will become “spoiled”—a beggar lacking the sleekness and alertness of a wild creature. ”

“ At San Giovanni we landed, and walked home. Our path, for part of the way, lay along an old Roman road, and then we passed through a little wood of stunted trees (the last remnant of the "boundless forests" of old times) , which in autumn is one pink carpet of heavily-scented cyclamens. We skirted the deer park, where some twenty or thirty fallow deer lead a cheerless existence and are fed on hay all the year round. The ground in the park is covered with stones, not a blade of grass is to be seen, only the hardy ilex seems able to flourish on the barren soil. ”

“ Large herds of deer course swiftly over the uplands, or stop in groups, half frightened, to reconnoitre, in a coy side-glance, the intruder into their domain. Charming rides, drives, and walks invite the dwellers in the city to pure air and healthful exercise. A portion of the park is railed off into a “People's Garden,” where poor as well as rich have free ingress, and can gladden their town-weary eyes with the sight of growing shrubs and budding flowers, and graceful water-fowl sailing on the pretty meres. ”

“ By Queen Elizabeth’s time a considerable proportion of the ancestral acres of the great houses had passed into the possession of rich merchants and wealthy wool-staplers, and it had become more profitable to breed bullocks than to find pasture for deer, and even where the new men retained, and even in some cases created, deer parks, they reduced their area in order that more land might be available for grazing or for corn. ”

“ A Southern Deer Park—A Don Quixote Steed—We Hunt for Deer and Bag a Turkey—Getting a Dinner by Force—The French Chef and the Colored Cook Contrasted—One is Inspired, the Other Follows Tradition—Making a Sauce of Herbs and Cream—Shooting Ducks Across the Moon—A Dawfuskie Pic-nic.
In a small place, life is monotonous if you do not in some way break up this monotony. I bethought me of a friend who lived some distance from Savannah, who had a deer park, was a sportsman, and was also the soul of hospitality. ”

“ Years ago there was a large herd of deer which lived in that park, but they were supposedly all killed off. Yesterday, about this time, as I sat on a dead log just back from the spring, quietly thinking over some of the memories of old times when I had hunted on that very ground, I heard the dry twigs snap, and, turning, I saw a doe and two tiny, spotted fawns cross the park and enter the timber at the other side. If you build a fire to-night you may get a glimpse of them. ”

“ Deer, unlike foxes, will run in the teeth of the fiercest gale, and sometimes one is literally nearly blown out of the saddle. The hind which has probably left her calf lying in her bed, will run a big ring out to the Deer Park and back. With the ground at its heaviest, the small field has to gallop its fastest to keep the flying pack in sight. ”

“ The deer park is on the summit of the hill, and, besides the views described, the house commands extensive prospects southward, over Cawsand Bay and the Channel. The Eddistone Light House is also visible in the horizon. At the principal western entrance of the park stands the parish church of Maker, the views from the tower of which are nearly unparalelled for their variety and picturesque grandeur. The southern side of the hill is an abrupt rocky cliff, covered with every sort of ever-green tree and shrub, among which myrtles thrive with great luxuriance, and grow to an extraordinary size. ”

“ Twice I went into a drift to my waist, and once a rabbit bunted into me head on, and would have scared me into a chill if I hadn't been shaking already. The two behind me were cheerful enough. Mr. Dick pointed out the general direction of the deer park which hides the shelter-house from the sanatorium, and if you'll believe it, with snow so thick I had to scrape it off the lantern every minute or so, those children planned to give something called A Midsummer Night's Dream in the deer park among the trees in the spring, to entertain the patients. ”

“ His collection at first consisted of indigenous animals, such as deer, roe, foxes, singing-birds, etc. Wild boars and chamois were afterwards added. A large circle of Nill’s acquaintances paid regular visits to the collection, and in 1866 a restaurant was built and called the Deer Park Inn. With the proceeds of this restaurant a Zoological Garden was laid out, and a deer house, a monkey house, some bear pits, and duck-ponds were constructed. To these were afterwards added enclosures for chamois, wild boars, goats, ducks, birds of prey, and small birds. ”

“ This noble seat is a beautiful specimen of those which combine the elegant with the useful; great improvements having been made therein, particularly that of enclosing the present deer park, which previously was an entire forest scene, overspread with bushes, furze, some timber, &c. Every part of the park has been drained in the most effectual manner, and the whole of it inclosed and divided into proper fields. It is thoroughly well stocked with Sussex, Devon, and Herefordshire cattle, and flocks of the South Down, Spanish, Leicester, and Romney breeds. ”

“ Two varieties of deer inhabit the Park, commonly known as the black-tail and white-tail deer, the former being much the more abundant of the two. Being fleet of foot, they roam over the entire area in passing from one pasturage ground to another. ”

“ Now the King had a deer park in which were quantities of wild animals of different kinds. Into that park there used to come a huge beast—Norka was its name—and do fearful mischief, devouring some of the animals every night. ”

“ Give them a semblance of a fair show, and they will live and breed with surprising fecundity and persistence. If you start a park herd with ten does, soon you will have more deer than you will know how to dispose of, unless you market them under a Bayne law, duly tagged by the state. In close confinement this species fares rather poorly. In large preserves it does well, but during the rutting season the bucks are to be dreaded; and those that develop aggressive traits should be shot and marketed. This is the only way in which the deer parks of England are kept safe for unarmed people. ”

“ Unfortunately, Americans are bringing down other kinds of game. We cannot help thinking, however, that shooting a buck in the Adirondacks is a more manly sport than shooting one in England.
No one who has ever had the privilege will forget his first drive through the delights of an English park. The herds of fallow deer that haunt the ferny glades beneath the old oaks and beeches, are kept both for show and for the table; for park-fed venison is a more delicious morsel than the flesh of the Scotch red deer, that runs wild on the moor. ”

“ Parham Park has deer and a lake and an enchanted forest of sombre trees. On the highest ground in this forest is the clump of firs in which the famous herons build. The most interesting time to visit the heronry is in the breeding season, for then one sees the lank birds continually homing from the Amberley Wild Brooks with fishes in their bills and long legs streaming behind. The noise is tremendous, beyond all rookeries. ”

“ It was one of the things in which the driver was interested. There is all manner of life in the Park, from weasels to antlered deer and bear, and in the air, birds from the tiniest creatures picking their livings in the pine trees, to the stately waterfowls that strut about in seven league boots. All the birds and animals; all the creatures that crawl and burrow in the earth, or that fly in the air, are protected by the omnipotent arm of the government in Washington. The soldiers who patrol the Park are the only ones who are allowed to bring guns into the preserve. ”

“ The deer-park is large, and as well stocked as it is beautifully wooded, and the entrance, called Porth Mawr, leading into a fine avenue that ends at the hall-door, is suggestive, like many another of the kind, of the care taken of timber in England. There is no reckless and irregular cutting down of young wood unfit for anything but fuel: brushwood is cleared away systematically at certain intervals of from three to seven years, and various portions of the woods are cleared successively, instead of being all bared at once. ”

“ This frequently happens in many parts of the West where the natural enemies of the deer have been exterminated. Predators follow, in most instances, the line of least resistance. As a consequence, it is the weaker, the diseased, or the otherwise unfit animals that tend to be struck down first, and so the fittest survive.
A reasonable balance seems to have been attained in the numbers of deer in the park. For the past several years there has been no apparent change, an estimated 600 range within park boundaries during the summer months. ”

“ Here, within the park boundaries, deer, elk, antelope, bears, mountain-sheep, moose, bison, and the smaller game, birds (between 150 and 200 species) , and fur-bearing animals, have a refuge where no hunter or trapper penetrates and danger rarely intrudes. In the Jackson Lake country, hunting is allowed for a limited period.
There are thousands of these various animals that know they are absolutely immune from harm by man when within the bounds of this park. Most of them have never seen a dog nor heard the sound of a rifle. ”

“ In summer deer tend to move northward and eastward out of the Park, and in winter they move back through the Park toward lower and more protected areas in canyons both in the Park and south of the Park on the Ute Reservation. Some deer remain in the Park the entire year. Close co-operation between personnel of the Park Service and of the Colorado Department of Game and Fish has regulated hunting outside the Park in such a way as to provide satisfactory control of the deer within the Park. ”

“ Valley succeeds to valley; new herds of deer [Pg 72] come into sight at almost every turn; as far as the eye can see the grass hills roll away. Those accustomed to parks whose deer are always huddled close and whose wall is never distant, are bewildered by the vastness of this enclosure. Yet one has also the feeling that such magnificence is right: to so lovely a word as Arundel, to the Premier Duke and Hereditary Earl Marshal of England, should fittingly fall this far-spreading and comely pleasaunce. Had Arundel Park been small and empty of deer what a blunder it would be. ”

“ The park is comparatively a free and safe home for many varieties of wild animals. Guns and pistols are forbidden, except to the soldiers and to the scouts who are a sort of a police corps, whose duty is to see that trespassers do not enter upon the Government preserve. Elk, deer, mountain sheep, bear black and cinnamon, buffalo and other animals indigenous to the Rocky mountains, range freely over the hills without molestation; and beaver build their dams close by the hotels. ”

“ If many of us still live and breathe pantry and housekeeper's room, we are quit of the dream of living by economizing parasitically on hens and pigs. . . . About that park there were some elements of a liberal education; there was a great space of greensward not given over to manure and food grubbing; there was mystery, there was matter for the imagination. It was still a park of deer. I saw something of the life of these dappled creatures, heard the belling of stags, came upon young fawns among the bracken, found bones, skulls, and antlers in lonely places. ”

“ It converts 218forests into parks, and park deer have no sporting value. Consequently, only the sheep and the shepherds are left. To remove them anywhere in the neighbourhood of forests is automatically to stock the ground with deer. This may be a wise or an unwise policy as circumstances arise, but it is very bad for the established forests to lose their best beasts, which take years to grow. ”

“ Do not let bears get close to you. Many people have been painfully clawed when these animals have lost their natural fear of man and have learned to beg for food. DO NOT FEED THE BEARS! Feeding them is unlawful, and violating this regulation seriously endangers other park visitors by encouraging the bears to beg.
The comparatively small and dark “black-tailed” deer of the Pacific Coast is the most common form, particularly on the west side of the park. The larger, lighter-colored mule deer occurs around meadows on the east side of the park, including Rim Drive. ”