Not sure if i did the right thing?

RED-DOT

Well-Known Member
A friend told me last night he had a deer in his 2 acre garden for three days and it had run up and down a border fence and worn a path in his lawn. He called me this morning that it was still there and i went round to see what was needing done. The yearling Doe was smashing in to his barbed wire fence and was ignoring a wide hole in a wall and had no interest in the always open 12' gates. The neighbouring houses were to the left of the fence and quite private and shielded by a tall fir hedge... After 10 attempts to flush her through the escape routes i noticed she had seriously damaged her face with running full speed into the Ryloc fence and had some dental and nasal damage.
A neighbour came over and also suggested she was in pain and should be shot and i thought of using my Chessie to catch her and i could despatch the poor soul with my knife.
I had my .22 rimmy but as a last resort we manage to get her to bolt over the hole in the wall but she got well tangled up in a thick beech hedge and i caught her and let her go..
Do you think i done the right thing or will she starve/dehydrate due to the damage to her head?
 
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Hi Red Dot,

Whilst she may have had some damage to her face/head, I doubt that any of it would have been sufficient to cause any long-term damage or suffering. Over the past 30 years I have seen park and farmed deer suffer similar injuries, especially when they have become separated from the rest of the herd. Two days later, apart from some superficial scarring, you would not have believed they have been through such an event.

In extreme circumstances animals that have become severely frightened could suffer from capture myopathy (a condition primarily associated with prolonged fear), which is usually fatal. However, from your description of events I wouldn't expect your Roe doe to have been frightened long enough to cause this.

In summary, I believe you did the right thing, and I believe the animal will have already recovered from everything except the minor superficial injuries.

Best regards,

Mike
(Director - Jelen Deer Services) Jelen Deer Services
 
I'm sure she'll be just fine mate! She'll probably steer well clear of your mate's garden in future! I reckon Roe deer are just the most attractive deer out of all of them.

regards

Mike.
 
Fair play it sounds like you did what you could for her at the time. But the behaviour sounds a bit odd doesn't it? Ignoring the other ways out for 3 days? I've seen roe running up and down a fence for a while and getting a bit panicky when they can't find a way through, but for 3 days??

Could something more have been wrong? Blindess/oilseed rape poisoning or something?

Alex
 
I think deer in the wild can seem to survive with some really significant injuries.They do not however fare very well if they are put into captivity to heal they seem to be very subseptible to shock in captivity
 
She was behind a normal sized fence that i could jump but she just kept ramming it.. bodily in great shape but i think she may have had a brain injury due to the many thumps she took... Am i going soft?
 
Well done mate great to here a success story and i am sure a face injury will be ok in time look at mohamid ali (shiv bad example)
 
I say it's a hard call, but think you made the right decision,had i been in your shoes I'd have thaught the same.

Kind Rgds. Buck.
 
fingers crossed she will be ok, the judgement has to be that of the person on the ground dealing with the situation. had you culled her you would know for a fact she wouldn't be suffering.

Dave
 
Thanks all for your support, we are sportsmen and deer managers, not callous but caring individuals... hope we all try to do the right thing.
 
Latest update... she was seen by the homeowner yesterday in the field behind his house along with her mother and brother/sister. Identified by nasal abnormality... RESULT!!!
 
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Good on you RED-DOT. WE all go through something like this at one time or another. Whether the results turn out Ok or not, it just shows that we have a bit of humanitarian hope left in us. I'm very glad that she was seen OK.

After a couple of trys at being 'kind' and putting Roe in shelter to recuperate - then die on me - I decided that they were better off in their natural habit in order to sort themselves out in their own time. My reasons for trying is that Roe are scarce round these parts, but my hopes on youngish (not kids), roe, were sadly misplaced in this instance. It might well be that they - unless reared from infancy - will not tolerate being cooped-up.

A young buck which was successfully reared as a kid by a forestry worker when I was a lad, turned dangerous when he was into his second year and had to be put down.
The children were gutted.
Ken.
 
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