deer chasing foxes

bert69

Active Member
I was out for a walk round on a new piece of ground with a friend of mine yesterday evening, predominantly looking for a buck (mainly fallow here). We hadn't seen much on our walk round apart from a doe and follower on an opposite bank which isn't ours so we glassed them for a bit then carried on. Just as the light was fading we made our way to the last and largest field as everytime i have been to this particular farm i have seen deer there.

The ground falls away nicely to a stream at the bottom and a steep bank going up in the distance. We'd been making quite a fast pace along a thick hedge with the field below us and on the other side of the hedge. As we got near to the wood where i had seen deer appear from in the past there is an opening where you can see pretty much the whole field. I crept up to this point with my mate right behind me, sure enough there was a deer there, a doe facing away from us and quite happily munching the third cut of hay. As i shuffled round for a better look i was stunned to see a further 5 does and 3 doe followers aswell. It isn't a common sight to see that number of deer in one spot round here, a couple of the followers were jumping around like newborn lambs and all of them seemed totally unaware of our presence so we sat watching them for what seems like ages, as the light got to its real last legs we were hoping that a buck may still present itself. The does made there way slowly back towards the wood and almost melted away into the overhanging canopy, sensing that the chance of a buck was pretty much gone we started talking about the deer in hushed voices when all of a sudden i saw a movement at the far end of the field which is a good 600 metres away. Up with the binos and it proved to be a fox.


Ever the opportunist i gave a squeak and readied the rifle. The fox changed course and made its way up the field towards us and i was confident a shot was on the cards. At this point the fox was passing around 50 yards from the deer who were still feeding. It got to within about 200 yards so i eased the safety off thinking that at any minute it would stop and present a shot. At this point one of the previously serene and busily feeding does rushed over and charged at the fox which sped over to a cover strip. The deer about turned and headed back to the group. Straight away the fox reappeared and after another squeak started heading towards us for a second time. A complete re-run of what had happened before played out, with the fox beating a hasty retreat only this time not to be seen again.

Has anyone encountered such behaviour before from other species of deer or at only certain times of the year. I personally had never seen this before.

Luke.
 
I have seen roe doe's chase foxes on quite a few occasions; mostly when fawn's have been about but also in the late winter with single doe's. This has mostly worked to the foxes favour and to my detriment but some have been tenatious enough to resume their original path.
 
As above - I've seen it with roe. I was out NV foxing with two of the lads one night last summer, and a roe doe came charging in when I started the fox caller on screaming rabbit. She stuck around for at least quarter of an hour, sometimes within 20 yards from us. Every time I started the caller, she went thrashing around trying to find the predator in the long grass. In the end, I left the caller off for some time, and she went back off into the woods. Some half an hour later I tried again, and a few seconds later she came steaming out of the woods straight towards us. After another session of charging about, she finally returned to the cover of the trees. Then, some twenty minutes later, we saw her lead her calf out of the woods and along the top of the hill. 'Twas wonderful to experience! :)
 
...Has anyone encountered such behaviour before from other species of deer or at only certain times of the year. I personally had never seen this before....

My Dad was driving me home from a stalk this morning when I asked him to stop so I could spy the red deer in the brash below me. As I spied a large group of hinds, I looked to their right and on the far side of the ride, there was a fox moving towards the deer. The next thing I saw was a small stag rushing up to the fox, but is seemed unsure of what to do when it got close. Then the lead hind led most of the group towards the fox, who then moved swiftly past about 30 hinds and calves. As the fox passed the tail of the group of deer, a hind and calf chased him off. At that point the fox moved out of sight.

Regards JCS
 
I know of a badger that was found trampled to death in an enclosure containing Red hinds and calves.
 
i have spotted roe deer chasing hares around a park or cattle chasing deer out of a feeld my best yet was puting on the fox caller and a roe buck spent 20min barking back at me struting his stuff onley happens on one bit of ground must be very teritorial
 
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