HUNTSMEN have been accused of being reckless and dangerous after a stag was shot dead just yards from on-lookers and a row of houses in Dulverton.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) claimed that lives could have been put at risk by the actions of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.

The incident happened on Saturday, the opening day of the stag hunting season.

After a three-hour hunt, huntsmen waded into the River Barle to retrieve the deer, and IFAW said part of a cartridge from a shotgun used to kill the deer could have ricochetted off the stag's hard skull towards the watching group of hunt followers.

IFAW's UK director Phyllis Campbell-McRae said: "This incident highlights the cruelty of chasing a terrified and increasingly exhausted animal with a pack of dogs and then killing it clumsily by taking shots at it.

"There are humane ways to dispatch a deer when the need arises but this is certainly not one of them.

"Apart from our concern for the welfare of the hunted animal, in this instance the hunt gunmen were also shooting towards people in a residential area, which is unbelievably reckless and extremely dangerous."

IFAW's monitor Kevin Hill, who filmed the attack, said: "As we were going up to the bridge in Dulverton we heard the hounds baying the stag in a weil pool opposite some houses.

"A shot rang out and we thought the stag had been killed but, to our amazement, the terrified and exhausted animal came into view swimming for its life followed by baying hounds.

"The hunt gunmen were scrambling along the weir and eventually the stag was shot again. Hunt supporters waded waist deep into the water and grabbed the deer which presumably was dead."

Joint master of the hunt, Mrs Diana Scott, refuted IFAW's version, saying that the situation was under control and no lives were put at risk.

"I was there and saw what happened which is more than they (IFAW) did. As the stag came down the river the first shot was fired but it missed because the animal stepped in some sort of hole and went down lower."

Mrs Scott said the hunt was unable to decide where a stag was killed but it was done as quickly as possible.

"The man was an experienced shot with certificates of confidence but where he was aiming at the stag the wall behind it is 14 feet high.

"There was never any question of anyone being in danger and the gun was never pointing towards the crowd on the bridge."