HOW THE ORDINANCE SHOULD BE MADE FOR THE HART HUNTING BY STRENGTH AND
HOW THE HART SHOULD BE HARBOURED
_When the king or my lord the Prince or any of their blood will hunt
for the hart by strength, the Master of the Game must forewarn on the
previous evening the sergeant of the office, and the yeomen berners at
horse, and also the lymerer.[194] And then he must ordain which of
them three shall go for to harbour the hart, and with them the lymerer
for the morrow, and charge the foresters, or if it be in a park, the
parkers to attend to him busily. And all the four must accord where
the meeting shall be on the morrow, and he must charge the sergeant
and one of the two yeomen, if the sergeant be not there, to warn all
the yeomen and grooms of the office to be at the meeting at sunrise.
And that the yeomen berners on foot and the grooms that are called
Chacechiens bring with them the hart hounds and this done ask for the
wine, and let them go after. And he that is charged to harbour the
hart must_ _accord with the forester of the bailie in which they seek
him where they should meet in the grey dawning. Nevertheless it were
good readiness to look if they might see any deer at its meating_
(feeding) _the previous evening to know the more readily where to seek
and harbour him on the morrow. And on the morrow when they meet the
forester that well ought to know of his great deer's haunts, he shall
lead the hunter and the lymerer thither, where he best hopes to see
him or find of him without noise. And if they can see him and they be
in the wind they ought to withdraw from him in the softest manner they
can, for dread of frightening him out of his haunt, and then go
privily till they be under the wind. And as he stereth_ (stalks) _and
paceth forth feeding, they are to draw nigh him as readily and warily
as they can so that the deer find them not. And when he has entered
his covert, and to his ligging, they ought to tarry till they know
that he be entered two skilful bowshots from thence. And then ought
the lymerer by bidding of the hunter to cast round with his lymer the
quarter that the deer is in, if it be in a huge covert, and if it be
in a little covert that the deer is in, set[195] all the covert to
know whether he is gone away or abides there still. And if he abides,_
_then shall the lymerer go there where the hart went in, and take the
scantilon_ (measure) _of the trace for which he should cut off the end
of his rod, and lay it in the talon of the trace, there where he went
in hardest ground, in the bottom thereof, so that the scantilon will
scarcely touch at either end. And that done he should break a bough of
green leaves and lay it there where the hart went in, and cut another
scantilon thereafter to take to the hunter that he may take it to the
lord or to the Master of the Game at the meeting which some men call
Assembly. But on the other side, if it be so that they cannot see him
as before is said, the forester ought to bring him where most defoil
is_ (tracks) _of great male deer within his bailiewick, and there
where the best haunt is, and most likely for a hart. And when the
harbourer and the lymerer be there, the lymer if he crosses the fues
of a deer he will anon challenge it, and then shall the lymerer take
heed to his feet to know by the trace what deer it is that the lymer
findeth, and if he finds thereby that it is no hart he shall take up
his hound and say to him softly, not loud,_ "WARE RASCAL, WARE!" _And
if it be of a hart that the lymer findeth, and that it be new he ought
to sue_ (hunt up) _with as little noise as he can contreongle_
(hunting heel) _to undo all his moving[196] till he find his fumes_
(excrements), _which he ought to put in the great end of his horn, and
stop it with grass to prevent them falling out and reward his hound a
little. And that done come again there where he began to sue and sue
forth the right line till he comes to the entering of the quarter
where he thinks that the hart is in. And always with little noise and
cast round the quarters, if it be in a great covert as I said before.
And also if it be in a little covert, to do of the scantilon and of
all other things right as I have said before. And if he be voided_
(gone) _to another quarter or wood, and there be any other covert near
always to sue forth and cast round quarter by quarter, and wood by
wood till he be readily harboured. And when he is harboured of the
scantilon and of all other things do as before is said, and then draw
fast to the meeting that men call assembly. And it is to be known that
oftentimes a deer is harboured by sight of man's eye, but who should
do it well it behoves him to be a skilful and wise hunter.
Nevertheless to teach hunters the more readily to seek and harbour a
hart according to the country that he is in, I have devised it in
certain chapters as ye may hereafter hear._
[194] The man who leads the hound in leash when harbouring the hart.
[195] To set the covert was for the huntsman or limerer with his hound
on a leash to go round the covert that he had seen the deer enter, and
to look carefully whether he could find any signs of the stag having
left the place. This in more modern parlance is called making his ring
walks.
[196] Moving, moves. See Appendix: Move.