Rta

mudman

Well-Known Member
Tuesday evening I was down in a wood to check on a few traps when a roe doe walked past me. She was close but partially hidden by trees even so I could make out she was limping quite badly. She couched down in some brambles only forty meters away and I was figuring out how I could get a shot at her (I had my rifle with me) when she winded me and hobbled off into the thicker cover. It was quite late and as i did not know how badly injured she was I left her be for another day.

This morning I was back at the same farm and could see a doe couched down in a wheat field next to the wood and about 300m from where I saw the limping doe on Tuesday. As i never see deer couched down in the open in this particular area I decided she was most probably the injured doe. Having my shotgun and dog with me I decided to just walk straight up to her. It was soon apparent she was in a bad way and I was able to get to twenty foot away before dispatching her.

Her injuries were severe and I cannot understand how she managed to get around, she had the left foreleg broken in two places and a compound fracture of the left hind leg, the damage was in the haunch. How the heck can a deer with two broken legs on the same side still be mobile!? Apart from the legs she had a damaged left eye and scuff marks on her neck. For a lightly built yearling doe she had taken some punishment but I do not think that she would have lasted the day.
 
Never ceases to amaze me how these fragile, graceful animals can "walk" away from damage that would have us burly chaps crying like babies. Good that you found her and were able to put her at rest.
 
I had one on permission a month ago. The family whose land it was called me out as a roe buck was stuck in the garden fence. I was there in a half hour. It had gone about 100yds with both front legs gone. A compound below the right shoulder with the marrow dripping out and snapped of cleanly below the left knee. How it got that far was incredible. A sad sight though.
 
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