OTAGO DEER HERDS

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 61

OTAGO DEER HERDS

QUESTION OF MALFORMATION.

INTERESTING COMMUNICATION.

The following is % copy of an interesting communication forwarded by Mr E. Hardoaetle to Mr W. Alexander, secretary of the Hawea Deer-stalkers' Association, by way of reply "to a paper recently read by the latter before the executive of the society : —

Sir, — The secretary of the Otago Acclimatisation Society has been good enough to forward me * copy of the paper read by you recently before the executive of the society. I understand that this contains the views of your association on the sub* jeefcs dealt with, and I trust the liberty I take in friendly oriticism of some portions of it will be taken in tho spirit it is written. You point out that up to the present the society has been dependent upon the advice of men who have only * made priodioal .visits to the deer forest. It was with the view of bringing the Otago and Waitaki Societies more into touch with these, as well as others vho had a more intimate knowledge of the herd, that I suggested the holding of the conference last month. Had I known more of the men " who spend their lives year in &nd year out on the hills, and practically live with the deer," I would gladry have suggested come of their names to tho society ; but we had to make a start. Now your association- oomes to the front claiming all the knowledge from A to Z of the herd. How is it that your members, with all this knowledge, have allowed the herd to get into such a. bad state without vigorous protest upon your part, and leaving it to b. stranger like Mr Wallace, and a periodical visitor like myself and others, to force the position upon the acclimatisation societies interested? Does that fit in with your claim? * Li the first place you appear to misunderstand the meaning of the term "malform " as it should be used, and apparently apply it to all stags whose Tiea-th axe not perfect. ' It should only be applied to actual and hereditary deformities of horn and skull, and perhaps it would be better in this connection if we were -to adopt the Highland term "cromie"; to apply the term " malform " to poorlygrovrn and badly-developed heads is a. misuse of the word that will only lead to confusion. An accidental malformation, which will be corrected on the next change of herns, should not condemn a stag to be called a "malform." Otherwise you might go a little further and include the stag whose head is badly damaged in fighting. I don't quite understand what you mean by " broken burre," " showing antlers developing in UL^unnatural manner." I take it, however, that you refer to the pedicle or bose (the projeofcion of bone upon the ekuii) upon which the horn grows, i The burr or coronet, I have always understood from any recognised authority, is the ring or enlargement upon the base of the horn itself. The next time you get the head of a freshly-killed 6tag that is of mo value, just try and break the burr as you call it, and see what a nice little contract you will have to do that without smashing the skull in such a way as would have killed thestag. The "broken burrs," or, as I take it, the malformation of the skull, which produce by far the greater number of malforms you attribute generally to accident. Well, I think that you and all others who hold that theory are on the wrong track. Accident has little or nothing to do with the matter, as I think you will fee if you .consider it Si little more and

n look a little further afield for evidence o c this point before coming io a final cor it elusion. © The more I read and observe and inquii i- the more I am convinced that fche tbsor h has really no solid foundation in faci « One deer does not make a herd, nor wii 9 the fact that a stag does occasionally injur [t his horns in the velvet (not his skull i- account for so large a number of ma! ; formed heads of precisely the same types Q for it must be remembered that the result of accidents are not transmitted. Aoci c dental injuries to horns are purely tern y porary, and correct themselves each year ft Let us discuss the theory of accident r causing malforms on the evidence as sup y plied to us by the North Otago herd c one would naturally expect to find, i i j accidents occurred so frequently as t< y ; enable one to find scores of stags with mal I i formed heads in a season, that they woulc 1 I be in proportionate numbers throughou . i cfae herd, and, further, that in the roughes , j country most likely for acoidents to happei 3 j there w© should find «, larger percentage ,| Is that so? Is it not a fact that th< i greatest number of malforms are south east of the Dingle and away down to th< r Lindis, and largely upon open country - and that the further one goes back into th< > higher and rougher country the numbers , are fewer, end in parts there are none ai [ all? And again, is it not a fact that ir I the last few years they have rapidly in » creased and in much greater proportion , - than the normal number of accident* , would warrant? s Take my own observations, somewhat limited, I admit. In 1901 I stalked on i Longslipj and never saw a. malform, in fact, I do not remember hearing them talked of then, though I was on Velli stocked ground, and where a]ny number of malforms can now be seen in the season, i ! In 1902 I was through fche ypper Dingle, and never saw one; ditto in 1903, and, moreover, never heard of one being seen there, though, as some of your members will know, deer were fairly plentiful there then. In 190* I did see one in the upper Dingle, having a spike coming out above his brow and hanging down his face— a common type of deformity ; and I shot one exactly the same at Longslip in 1902. In 1906 I was ell through tho upper Dingle again, and never taw one. I saw three in 1907 — one in Cotter's Gully, shot one on the too of Mount Jones, having one horn, and another in the upper Dingle having one good horn and a spike ! growing out above his brow; saw one this ; season in the upper Dingle having horns • about 2iu lone:. A number were 'shot . this year in Cotter's Gully, and they have j in two years spread as .far as thar from the lower ground. Why has the upper ! Dingle not hitherto been producing its j- proportion of these 6o~caJkrdi accidental injuries, seeing that some of the country i there is much rougher than that lower ; down — I mean to the south-east? A few i were shot in the Ahurui (Jorge this year where there have been practically none hitherto, though this is very rough country, and has been long stocked with deer. Four season's stalking has failed to find a malfprm. either accidental or otherwise, in tile Maifcland Creek, and that is rough and heavily-timbered country. When. I speak of what I have observed I am also including the information given me by the stalksrs with whom I have been assooiafced. In spite of what you say about malforms being ail through the herd, I am given to understand from various other sources that tho western side of the Hunter is practically free from them, though this is the Toughest country of all. How does your accident theory fit in with all this? j This malformation of & stag's horns — or, J to be more precise, of his skull as well — j has co far puzzled the scientists, as well |as practical men. Mr Allan Gordon ; Cameron, in a letter I received from him ! a few weeks ago, quotes the opinion of a j noted scientist upon the subject : he ; admits that ifc is more or less a guess , at the truth, and ie too technical to be , jof any interest to you. You say that in- I i breeding, if at all, is only responsible j j in a very small degree for the deterioration of the herd. I might fairly ask you: How do you know, seeing that the deer i «t© not under close observation? I be- j I lieve that; in-brooding such as takes place , j among ideor occasionally is responsible j for weakness of constitution, which, added i fco shortness of feed, produces degeneration. Thomas Speedy. author of " Sport in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scot- | land." a Tecognised authority, advocates ! the breaking up of family parties ! jby shooting the old' hind in charge. As ; ""facilities are thus afforded for close breedi in«r. whioh every experienced stabkev knows must sooner or N later manifest itself in the deterioration of tho species." By shooting the old hind and breaking up the) family, he says oross-breeding will be encouraged. You will remember that at the conference Mr J. H. King advocated shoofc1 ing the 6fcag in charge, which I thought) ab the time was a mistake. You say fchati practical men have seen maiforme for 19 ; years and over, but, seeing that you appaI renfcly classify all inferior stags as mal1 forms, this statement ie not clear, but tb# I point is quite unimportant. A more vital' question is : How did these real malforms come to make their appearance at all? j You describe as a malform "a head in , which the tray tines are missing.*' Would ! you call Baron yon Kusserov's 18-pointer, , with a tray tine missing (or developed in! j the crown) a malform? The absence or j inferior development of the fcray tines is ! a mere sign of degeneration. You find this j blemish common in inbred park stock. Buch j as the Nelson. Wairarapa, and RaksisH deer, all of which are descended from park stock. Upon this point I can quote from a most interesting and instructive series of articles, by Mr Allan Gordon Cameron, and published in the Field in 1906. After showing from the historical evolution of a stag's antlers, as indicated by fossil remains of who?e ages geology furnishes tho ' evidence, that the brow tines were found ow j the earliest antlers, the tray tine was nexti added, nnd the bay tine was the latest development. He then goo--.? on to say :— ■ " Professor Weisimann (wno is the greatest living authority on hexedity) has pointed out that retrogressive types are also revertive, and gradually retrace the steps of the evolutionary ladder up which they have climbed. Hence in an tiers of red deer, i Which from any cause «re decadent or irn- ' poveriahed, th« bay tines, whioh were hjs- J fcorically the last fco arrive, aro first fco disappear, and are followed at long intervals by the tra/v tines, while fche brow tines remain persistent as lon# as there are antlers' at all, Every etage of decadent retrogress sion from the absence of bay tines to the total absence of antlers may be traced in 1

>n Scottish st-ags, which thus retain for th» n- naturalist much of the interest which they have lost for stalkers." There you have the re scientific explanation of the aspect that -D ry | had before -heard was manifesting itself in it. | a portion of the Otago herd, but which I 11 i have so far seen little of myself where I re ! have been stalking. Such an important 1) I matter as the more serious defect, the mal,l- , formation of the skull, should not be airily s, j dismissed as the main result of accident. ts I I think a collection of these malformed 1 i- heads should be sent fco the Royal Zoologii- eal Society in London, of which I believe r. Mr Allan Gordon Cameron is a member — bs at least he is a contributor to their pubv lioations. You say that "accidental mal- : forms" caused by .accident in the velvet if j should not be touched, and that many of 0 j the heads shot as malforms should have 1- | been left severely alone. This work was end ! trusted by the Otago Society to practical it | men, and if they cannot make the disfcinctt , tion, how are you going to get the culling n | done? My opiniori is that if they shot one ;. j accidentally-mjured head for every true c malform it would not matter much, so t- necessary is it fco get rid of the latter, and c goodnese knows there are plenty of stags ■, where the malforms were shot. I will nob c go into the question of fche hereditary transs mission of the malformation. There is t abundant evidence on the "point, and I will n only quote one instance. A year ago there - were seen several times on Longslip a mo* 1 of five young stags, each with only one* c horn. They were without doubt, relatives, fche progeny of a herd of hinds who had b unfortunately mated with a Bra# simii ; larly deficient in his adornment. There is l j just one other point in connection with the i ; deterioration of the herd. As I pointed - ,' out in the article I sent you on the managef ment of our deer herds, it is necessary that . simultaneous with the culling at the top, , (that is, the shooting of good 6tags by , stalkers) there should be equai culling of i rubbish at the bottom (that is, mature stags i that do not tempt the stalker, and are > therefore useless aa afcud stags. The Wairas rapa, Nelson, and Tapanui herds have de- ; teriorated in exactly the same way (in this » w?spect) from the neglect fco cull at the ' pottoni, and the inferior efcaga have accu- • mulated to such an extent as to largely > control the breeding. I do nob think the society should sp&nd money at present, as you euggeot, on those pajjjU of the herd ■ where inalforms do not appesr or where they are only fsw in number. All the 1 funds available should be devoted to a 1 wholesale weeding out of inferior aiagd and ' hinds in fcsi-e lower country, and, say, np as i far as Cotter's, in the Dingle, aixl the ■ t green bush in fche Hunter. I think that, as last year, some of the experienced . stalkers can be trusted to keep them down I where they are not numerous. When the 1 herd is well culled, I think the question. , might fairly be' considered of permanently employing two men, say, for six ox seven i months in the year — one to look after the I Hawea side and the other the eastern side. ; and to do fche necessary culling of inferior stock. You will agnee with me that such' responsible positions will require fco be filfed by thoroughly capable and reliable men. ' I should like for my own information to ' have these views criticised as freely as you J like, afeo to supply me from fche experi- . en-ec of tho practical men in your associa- : j tion with information in support of your i j theory that accidents account for the mal- J I formation of horns other than those of ; poor development, when these accidents J , oecur — that is, such accidents as will [ account for a stag growing no horns, one i horn, one good horn and a had one, two bad horns, three horns, displacement of horn nose, etc. When that information is < I satisfactorily afforded, then, perhaps, we ] will be cm more common ground upon thi« j ■ point. E. Habdoastls. i A further communication on the same \ j subject is one from fche Rev. W. O. Oliver, ! ! Mount Albert, Auckland, who writes to „ the secretary of the Otago Acclimatisation i | Society -as follows : — i j Mi; Hardoasfcle has kindly let me have a J ; reading of a report sent to your society by fche Hawea Deerstalkera' Aeeooiation. T It is rather a remarkable production. In * I the opinion of. fcbeso <T practical men " I there are three classes of malforms: — (a) 1 Those of weedy antlers " with narrow span and limited points"; (b) those oaused by "'broken burrs,"' whatever that may be; \ (c) those in whioh the "bay point is mi6S- ! j ing-.''^ As to (a), this may be no "mal- j j form" whatever. It is simply an inferior j ] specimen, and it is ojxm fco question j whether it should be out. Under the best j of conditions, only a limited percentage of £ stags ever rsach the stage of royal. Having y lived for years on some of the beet forests « in the North of Scotland, I know this to € be a faot. (b) Broken burrs. It is possible t that they may mean some injury to th© t skull, resulting in malformation of horn. But, if so, fche progeny are not any more ( likely fco bo afflicted by what arose from an 6 , acoident to the father than the son or t daughter of an Irishman who gets hi« nose b broken by a blow from a shill«lah at \ Donnybrook Fair are likely to have their s parent's deformed noae. If malforms we \ oaused by accident, if at all, it is on a. c mast limited scale. In the wildest country t | most accidents take place, such as the € i Hunter, and there maiforme are few. In ] fche Lindis, where there are few accidents. i the malforms abound, (c) The absence of ! fche "bay point." Some splendid heads : ara minus this '" tine." in Nelson in par- r j tioular. Our Hawea friend* mean well, but \ | they seem obscure in their discrimination, ii iAs fco their recommendation that the vi»- ii desirables should be shot out in the Hunter, o I think the Hunter should be left a« it is. t! There are few malforma there, and fche big b stags in that locality will look after the- a hinds go that the w<eedfe will have no chance b of doing much evil. The Timaru Creek t) and. generally, the side of the ratigre adja- m I cent to Lake Hawea, with the Lindis, are n the Jooalitiea where the malforms abound. s( Possible the Dwirlo might be menaced by " some of fche stalkers who go there. Several a stalkers go there who could be well |j trusted. fi