deer

touchyie

Hi Lads,
Looking to pull on the expertise of the deer hunters here. I have this fella (attached) coming up to the back of the house for the last 2 years, there is a slatted shed in the field behind me and he started coming for the nuts but now he mingles and plays with the calfs I think it has become confused!!!. I'm curious to find out what species it is, is it male or female and how old do you think it is? basically any info you have on it.
Thanks

sixpointfive

Looks like a young sika hind to me, what part of the country are you,

touchyie

I'm in Roscommon, I dont know a whole lot about deer but is it strange to just have one on its own like this? as I said he has been around for about 2 years now. I did see a stag around 2 1/2 years ago but has since disappeared. This guy is almost like a pet now!

dwighet

hard to tell from the pic..
Does it look like this(sika)http://bestpracticeguides.org.uk/slides/ecology_sika/fullsize/sika02_fs.jpg

Or does it look like this(fallow)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3047/2573805980_8e7afd8e17.jpg?v=0

My guess is a fallow..Dont think there is sika out your way..I could be wrong...

touchyie

Thanks Dwight, my photography skills wont win any awards alright! its definately the sika. Would it be usual to be on its own, I mean I've never seen it with any other deer. any way to tells its age?

jwshooter

its not a fallow doe im sure ,if i could see her head side on i would know .

its a youngish red hind or a mature sika hind .

its hard to judge the height of her .

but its not a muntjac .

kakashka

Was the pic taken recently?
Female for a start
Looks a little too light coloured for pure sika?
Head looks just a little long also?
Really Very hard to say 100% from pic(87% on sika:) )

kakashka

Had another look,95% on sika!!!(is that a muntjac in pipe behind her though!tee)

jwshooter

pure sika ?

bazza888

plastic deer used by hunters to attract stags

touchyie

picture was taken yesterday, i'll get a better one over the next few days, its just hard to get one clear enough for the detail to come through.

Deerspotter

A farmer in my area had a sika hind that hung-out with his cattle. The deer would mostly be around the cows and would even come in to the cow-shed with the cattle on colder nights.
It was always solo and just went 'missing' one day after about 5 years.
Many years later the same thing happened all over again, but with a different deer of-course.
I don't know if this is common behaviour, but I have also heard of it happening with a Red Hind in Kerry.
In both areas, near me and in the place in Kerry, deer would not be regular visitors and are rarely seen.
Are there many deer around you? Or might it be the case that these deer could be 'strayed' from a herd and latch on to some way of surviving?

kakashka

Great,be good to see another pic and try confirm

Cul a cnoic

Cootehall area of Roscommon has a good population of fallow. A local farmer there has a few sika & reds. Fallow again between Ballygar & Roscommon town.
I would reckon that its a young red hind, shovel at the ready and wondering where to put up the clothes line..

touchyie

I was wondering how long till the clothes line and shovel would be mentioned
the only other deer that I have seen or people who I have talked to about it is a big stag, so this does add weight to the theory of it "latching" onto the cattle. its actually quite funny this time of year cause when the calfs start to play the deer joins in.

kakashka

Cul a cnoic wrote: »

Cootehall area of Roscommon has a good population of fallow. A local farmer there has a few sika & reds. Fallow again between Ballygar & Roscommon town.
I would reckon that its a young red hind, shovel at the ready and wondering where to put up the clothes line..

Might be right,no knowledge of this area myself,if pic taken yesterday then she does seem too light coloured for sika,better pic will sort all i'm sure,DS the lone deer mixing with cattle i would guess might be just for company,deer dont like sheep and generally seem to be more at ease with cattle,as to why a deer would be alone,no idea

jwshooter

just had another look ,its a youngish red hind .

she is starting to get her summer coat .

the problem with semi tame wild life is it never ends well for them .

there was a red stag in scotland last year, that the truckers used to feed it on a lay by became very tame .
some basxxxds shot in the head with a air rifle .

paul woods had a young red hind call bambi ****ed from the start ."poachers "

also did paddy in glenmalure lodge have a sika calf it used to come into the bar and walk around ."walked out under a car "think this one was called bambi to.

so dont call her bambi .

Nemesis

Johnny Kingdom in a year on Exmoor had a Bambi too :

'When a farmer on Exmoor found a frightened and badly injured red deer calf hanging by the leg from a barbed wire fence, he knew there was only one man he could call. Johnny Kingdom took Bambi home and became her surrogate mother, nursing her through the night after the dangerous operation to amputate her now infected limb.'

I remember The Bambi in the Glenmalure lodge.

sixpointfive

Are the ears not a bit small for a red hind?? i know a couple of shooters up in the Roscommon/Leitrim area and there are some sika there for sure,

No6

Theres mainly Fallow but with some Sika around there, I've seen plenty of them a friend of mine lives in the area. There are reds further away in Ballinasloe I've been told.

Charlie 22

On a slightly related note does anyone know for sure if deer can carry TB and pass it onto cattle? Some deer have recently came into our area and a neighbour of mine has now got TB in his cattle i wonder if the two events are related.

Nemesis

I entered 'Do deer carry TB?' into google.

First link has this :

http://www.thebeefsite.com/articles/1799/bovine-tb-tracking-the-footprints-from-deer-to-cattle

Seems they can carry TB.

touchyie

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055243131&highlight=deer here is a link to a related post about the TB in deer

touchyie

Well lads, finally got around to taking another pic of this, its a lot better so lets hear the definitive answer!

jwshooter

its a mature sika hind does she have a calf any where

touchyie

not sure to be honest, sometimes when I see it I swear its different or smaller, buti've never seen more than one at any one time. how old do you think she is?

jwshooter

she mature ie. over 3 years she does not look old her face is short not to long looking ,only a guess now 3-5 years but its so hard to say.

its very unusual to have a single hind about unless she is the luck one ,she might have a calf about but it might not be running with the hind by now , it could be a late one .
last years calf if it was female would still be with its mother also,a male calf would all most always ran away at this stage .

as with all semi tame deer some one will shoot her sooner or later i hate to tell you.