_Fallow doe_ was hunted from Holyrood Day (Sept. 14) to Candlemas (Feb. 2).
_Roe deer buck_ was hunted from Easter to Michaelmas (Sept. 29).
_Hare._ According to the Forest Laws (Man., 176) the season commenced Michaelmas (Sept. 29) and ended at Midsummer (June 24); Dryden in his notes in Twici states that it commenced at Michaelmas and ended at Candlemas (Feb. 2), while the "Boke of St. Albans" gives the same date as the first-named in Manwood. According to the "Master of Game" the hare seems to have enjoyed no close season, as G. de F.'s assertion that the hunting of the hare "lasteth all the year" is also translated without comment (p. 14): _Et le peut chassier toute l'année, en quelque temps que ce soit quar touzjours sa sayson dure_ (G de F., p. 204).
In Twety and Gyfford we also find that "The hare is alway in season to be chasyd."
In the sixteenth century in France the hare-hunting season was from the middle of September till the middle of April (Du Fouilloux, p. 51; De Noir., ii. p. 476). In England the same season seems to have been observed (Blome, p. 91).
_Wild boar._ According to the Forest Laws (Manwood and Twici), the boar was hunted from Christmas Day to Candlemas (Feb. 2), but we have evidence that boar-hunting usually began earlier. The boar was in his prime condition when acorns, beechmast, and chestnuts were plentiful, and was considered in season from Michaelmas to St. Martin's Day (Roy Modus, xxxi.), and by some even from Holyrood Day (Bornam, p. 100; Part, de Blois, 525).
The huntsmen of King John of England were sent to hunt in the forest of Cnappe in order to take two or three boars a day in November. King John's letter giving instructions on this point to one Rowland Bloet is dated 8th November 1215 (Jesse, ii. 32).
_Wolf._ According to the Forest Laws, in the book already quoted, the season during which the wolf was hunted began at Christmas and ended at the Annunciation (March 25), but considering the destruction wrought by this beast it is far more likely that it was hunted throughout the year.
_Fox._ According to the Forest Laws the season opened on Christmas Day and ended on March 25, but nevertheless the fox was hunted early in the autumn, for we have it on Twety and Gyfford's authority that "the sesoun of the fox begynneth at the natyvite of owre Lady, and durryth til the Annunciacion" (Sept. 8 to March 25).
