deer attacked by dog

martijn

Well-Known Member
I had a rather unpleasant call out today,

A deer had been attacked by a dog and was bleeding, the dogs owner had called of her dog but the deer was obviously hurt.

luckily I was just about to get started for the day and the field was just a 10 minute drive, so there was not to much downtime lost between call and getting there.

I was half expecting to be unable to catch the deer if it only had superficial bite wounds without darting it, but after I found out it had been attacked by a bullmastiff that seemed fairly unlikely. (for those that do not know that is one big dog actually bred to STOP poachers) The dog owner had thrown a blanket over it and it had crawled to the edge of a field and had been laying there since the attack.

The deer turned out to be a nice adult roe doe, she had bite wounds on her thigh with clearly to much movement in her knee joint (dislocated from trying to wriggle free probably) and another bite wound on her ribcage with a few ribs that were caving in. Due to the nature of the injuries and the fact that the deer made no attempt to run away and was pretty much in shock I did not see any other option than to end her ordeal. (despite the owners willingness to lock it in a horse box and treat it if necessary.)

She had no milk in her udder so hopefully no dependant young fawn anymore, a look around the field did not reveal any.
after shooting it I found she had punctured lungs and a burst spleen and was basically dying from internall bleeding.

Before everyone starts screaming that the dog owner was to blame;

The little field (4 acre probably) that the deer was in belongs to the dog owner, is next to their house and is used it to let the dog have a run in/run the horses in. Why the deer did not run away I don´t know, but it was probably caught of guard or hiding when the attack happened as a bullmastiff is not really the fastest in a short sprint. Plus atleast the dog was called of and help was called in.

That being said, I am not sure if I would trust that dog around sheep...



I was however wondering how often do other people actually see/find deer that have been caught by dogs?

usually they tend to be perfectly able to get away unless they are either really young or already injured, and more often get injured trying to run away than actually be caught that easily?
 
I usually loose several deer each year to "pig dogs". My enclosures are at least 2 klm in from my closest neighbours boundary so the dogs must trespass at least this far to get in with the deer. Most neighbours won't allow pig dogging, but I have seven neighbours & a couple still do. Having said this most problems come from illegal hunters, but dogs belonging to my neighbours guests have killed some deer over the years.

The worst I have had is about 40 in one night when 3 dogs all plated up for pigs got in. I lost 10 plus red deer calves, a few hinds, a similar number of hungarian fallow, with the remainder being chital & rusa. No sambar have ever been killed by dogs on my place. The deer tend to run to the corners but the dogs cut the corners & can easily get the advantage. Most of the losses are not from the dogs biting the deer (although they are trained to do this on pigs) but from injuries sustained in an attempt to go through or over the fence. The rusa are the worst as they always try to go through not over & end up with their jaws broken & hanging down. I then naturally have to deal with them myself, not much fun.

I had to shoot a couple more dogs just the weekend before last. The dogs have a great time chasing the deer & even if they are returned to their owners, they usually always find their way back. If I don't happen to be there, they can run amuck.

Sambar deer are legally hunted using scent trailing hounds in Victoria. Dogs are restricted to the smaller breeds like beagles & are discouraged from biting the deer. The idea is to drive the deer past shooters who have been placed at predetermined points, or to sneak in & shoot the deer if it "bails up". IMO it is a completely ethical way to hunt this species if done by the book.

Sharkey
 
At least they did everything to put right a bad situation, It was a very unfortunate accident by the sounds of it ! Luckily you ended it's pain and no dependants left , I am sure the owners were upset , life isn't perfect !
 
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Luckily I think it's never more than once every few years I see wounding by dogs. I imagine in suburban areas is it worse though. Unluckily.. on the farmland that wounding is caused by poachers lurchers. I have shot roe does with udders ripped off and bucks with scrotums likewise.

I had to put down a muntjac doe that a collie had cornered in a pheasant pen where the gate was open, as you say otherwise thankfully they seem to be able to escape most dog breeds.

On the estate I live on we get a lot of fence injuries, maybe one in 15 showing some evidence of such and the ex-keeper here thought lurchers chasing the roe lead to the high incidence of these injuries.
 
And yet you have no evidence that lurchers are to blame for any of these incidents but it's still them. I was dubious about joining this sight because as a lurcher and terrier lad with an interest in stalking I new their would be a few crabbers but to blame a group of people because their interests and methods differ from yours is low, essentially were ment to be on the same side.
 
And yet you have no evidence that lurchers are to blame for any of these incidents but it's still them. I was dubious about joining this sight because as a lurcher and terrier lad with an interest in stalking I new their would be a few crabbers but to blame a group of people because their interests and methods differ from yours is low, essentially were ment to be on the same side.

On the same side? I've been hearing this from pig doggers down here for years. For years their risky behaviour has given a black eye to every other hunting stakeholder. Yet we continue to defend them although they do very little towards changing their culture or risky practices. The reasoning behind our defence of them is, that today if they ban pig dogging, tomorrow it will be bowhunting, & next will be deer stalking. Until recently the pig doggers didn't have anyone who was a reasonable advocate for themselves, so it fell entirely upon other hunters to carry them. It's not that easy when there are some bad practices which gives all hunters a bad name.

Timmy I'm interested in how you manage risks when you use lurchers up there. How do you prevent them from trespassing in the course of a hunt? How do you stock proof these dogs or prevent them from hunting non target animals? What level of biting do you tolerate in your dogs, & is this acceptable under you animal welfare legislation?

Sharkey
 
When you say what level of biting do you mean humans? If so none at all !! I would never have a dog that attacks people regardless of how good it was in the field. Stock breaking just a case of walking through fields with sheep, cows and horses from a pup, do it often enough, tell them off when they show interest and sooner or later they just ignore them.
As for dogs going out of their boundary it happens and some people think you should be able to call a lurcher off when in pursuit, I think if you can do that the dogs heart is not truly in the game, on the flip side some people think it's due to a badly trained dog. I do understand the similarities of the pig doggers and the lurcher lads their is an idiot fraction in every walk of life but to tarnish all with the same brush is unfair, especially on the internet for all to see.
 
Timmy, now you are prejudging. The evidence I have is that we catch poachers with long dogs every year, usually more than once a year. I have shot deer wounded by lurchers after the event.

I like lurchers (and terriers) but not their illegal usage, same as I like guns - but not their illegal usage. We are all on the same side as long as we are on the right side of the law.

All the best
Nick


And yet you have no evidence that lurchers are to blame for any of these incidents but it's still them. I was dubious about joining this sight because as a lurcher and terrier lad with an interest in stalking I new their would be a few crabbers but to blame a group of people because their interests and methods differ from yours is low, essentially were ment to be on the same side.
 
And these people your catching are the idiots in the game that give everyone a bad name. Sorry to have a rant but I've always found that there's a divide between lurcher and gun folk each think the others taking something away from them, it shouldn't be this way and as sharky pointed out if the antis take one thing away it's much easier for the next. Keep together, enjoy what your doing and good hunting.
 
I wholeheartedly agree with that TK. Let's hope Westminster gets it right this week with (effectively) overturning the hunting ban.
 
I wholeheartedly agree with that TK. Let's hope Westminster gets it right this week with (effectively) overturning the hunting ban.

Well Nasty Nik as scuppered that (at least for the time being).. Looks to me that hunting legislation will eventually be relaxed in England and tightened in Scotland!
 
Well Nasty Nik as scuppered that (at least for the time being).. Looks to me that hunting legislation will eventually be relaxed in England and tightened in Scotland!

I'm afraid Slider the nonsensical approach to countryside matters from the SNP means anything could happen. Hunting has become a political pawn in England again. The ban was always about politics and class, not animal welfare just as Land Reform has now become Scotland's 'hunting.' All IMHO.
 
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