A couple of points - apparently his meat would be on the tough side. For eating, younger deer would be selected.

Secondly, the land ownership issue. Is Exmoor divided up into different ownerships? So he could have been safe if on someone else's land, not marked off with fences?

I camped down there once, on the Quantocks. And when I went to leave, the stag hunt had closed off the main road between Minehead and the south so I couldn't get out. An elderly lady in a tweed jacket, on a horse, looking like a Thelwell cartoon, flagged down a lorry going north, and held him up, and anything behind him. My presence behind her was not acknowledged at any point. Her horse though getting on to the verge might be a good idea, and I thought she was letting me by, so started up the car. I know it was the horse's idea, because she pulled it back onto the road. I would have been going away from the hunt - I knew where they were going, because the followers had all turned up outside the campsite, lined up for a good view. Funny how the followers always know where the prey is going to go, isn't it?

Penny