The Killarney Stag Hunt – A Brief History

Stag Hunting upon Killarney’s Lakes was an established pastime among the local ascendancy, at least as early as 1725. For, in August of that year, Valentine Browne 3rd Viscount Kenmare (c. 1694-1736) instructed O Sullevane More (sic) to meet him ‘with a boat at Ross to go stag hunting.’

The sport involved the hunting of a stag, by a pack of hounds, until it was driven down into the water. There it could be captured by tossing a rope about its antlers. The stag was usually, but not always, released back into the wild.

Stag hunts were expensive to organise. Their outcome was also uncertain and there was no guarantee that the stag would be captured. Stag Hunts were, therefore, infrequent events and were often only organised in honour of some distinguished visitor to the town.

A somewhat unsuccessful stag hunt was organised by Colonel Herbert of Muckross for the visit of the English Queen Victoria, to Killarney, in August 1861. The Queen later published her memories of that event in her memoirs (Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1848-1861, edited by Arthur Helps, second edition, London, 1868, pp. 314-15).