At first he had only Virginia deer, but later acquired some English fallow deer from the park of Governor Ogle of Maryland.

Both varieties herded together, but never mixed blood.

The deer were continually getting out and in February, 1786, one returned with a broken leg, "supposed to be by a shot." Seven years later an English buck that had broken out weeks before was killed by some one.

The paddock fence was neglected and ultimately the deer ran half wild over the estate, but in general stayed in the wooded region surrounding the Mansion House.

The gardener frequently complained of damage done by them to shrubs and plants, and Washington said he hardly knew "whether to give up the Shrubs or the Deer!" The spring before his death we find him writing to the brothers Chickesters warning them to cease hunting his deer and he hints that he may come to "the disagreeable necessity of resorting to other means." George Washington Custis, being like his father "Jacky" an enthusiastic hunter, long teased the General to permit him to hunt the deer and at last won consent to shoot one buck.