mysterious death

stone

Well-Known Member
while out stalking on my ground this morning i followed some strange but fresh boot tracks acompanied by a 2 sets of dog tracks they led me to this

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so further examination i found what looks like a possibaly a place where this little fallow calf had been killed
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as i searched the hedge row i then discovered this
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now the interesting part is the boot and dog tracks went from the farm track to this spot and back again
at first thought ,poachers came to mind but why did they not take the carcass so maybe a dog walker but this area is to far from any road or footpath and very muddy at this time of year
so maybe the farmers dogs but they are king charles cavaliers and has only one dog, as all bones are stripped of meat and skin is clean of excess meat ,obvoiusly vermin and predators would of had a go but this was all in 5 metres of itself to add to this me and beowulf walked by this same spot lonly a week ago and it was not there then
any suggestions?
many regards stone
 
I doubt if the fresh boot marks had much to do with it. It would have taken quite a while, a day or so for that animal to be eaten back like that.

Looks like a dead calf that has been eaten by badgers and foxes.By the time the crows and the magpies get in and the buzzards have their share, there aint much left.

Seems pretty ordinary to me.
 
Hi stone,

Seems to me that if you and Beowulf had walked within that area last week, the only conclusion is that it must have been killed elsewhere and then dragged to where you have come across it now. It is obviously last years fawn and could have been buried by a fox through the summer months and then unearthed by the same fox or even a badger and dragged to where you have found it.
God only knows what goes on in the dead of night with animals scrounging about in the woods and undergrowth.
It could have been a rougue dog, but if that is the case, i reckon the fawn would have already been dead when it found it as they don`t give off scent when laid up as newborns, do they? :confused:

It`s all guesswork stone

wadashot
 
I would say that carcass is somewhat older than a day or two. I have sheep and on occasion an old ewe will decide death is better than life and donate herself to the prolific population of badgers and fox's around here. I would say that was three days old, probably more. No idea why it died though. I believe I have had at least three Roe killed by dogs on my patch this year.
 
I would agree with Grantoliver. The carcase has been around a while longer than 3 days. It is not a big cat kill. How it died, who knows, but as Poddle suggested everyone in the neighbourhood has chewed on it.

Could have been a natural fatality due to the extreme wet we have had of late. Deer can put up with all types of weather and cold. But prolonged wet, and they cannot get dry, debilatates deer and we are at the time of year when food is at its lowest ebb for deer.

But it is still a guess, but it aint a cat kill thats for sure.
 
i have no doubt all the neighbour hood has had a go, but in the past any casualties hav always been left alone till they hav bloated and burst and then rotted away but the skin is still pretty fresh ,as it smells like the one in the fridge that i used for training this weekend the bruising on this skin in the picture looks like it took a knock but this ground is pretty wet and ther are no drag marks so it would need to be carried there if there were no boot and dog tracks i would hav thought nothing off it but these tracks stop at the body then go back the way they came from, if they were his dogs and that chased it the boot prints would be further apart but if any of you knew how far and remote this spot was aswell as how wet even in a mild frost it would certainly make you think along different lines
as i know my ground quite well and who works the land it has got me thinking
but you are right sikamalc it is not a big cat
not entirely convinced it is natural though
stone
 
I was using a skin from a CWD before winter, dragging it in the field at the back of my house to keep the dog keen. When i had done with it i slung it over a branch in the wood at the top of the field and that skin is still there, more or less as i left it, obviously it hasn`t been able to be got at as its up a tree, but there is no decomposition apart from a bit of hair that has fell of through wind maybe, but it i has dried up even with all the crappy weather we`ve had over the past few months.
Any carcasse is likely to rot away quicker in the summer months as they will get fly blown.

It`s pretty hard to tell how old the calf is, but it looks pretty small to me from what i see. I would still like to bet it`s been buried at some time and them unearthed, even by that dog you`re on about. When the owner has seen the dog scrounging about at something and it wouldn`t come back to his whistle he has had to go and fetch it, leaving his footprints on the way in and out.

Crime solved :lol:

leiutenant columbo, sorry.

wadashot
 
Stone I told you not to post this! :eek: Now the truth will come out! Don't you remember it was a full moon that night, you went for an evening stalk and woke up miles away, butt naked in the wolves enclosure of Twycross Zoo!
You did it Stone, your a Welsh Werewolf! :eek: :eek: :lol:

'Wuff...wuff'! Bad dog! :lol:
 
welsh werewolf in warwickshire try saying that after half a bottle of jamesons :lol:

leiutenant wadashot
maybe some reasoning there but no grave but it was a small calf though

stone
 
wot hav i done no mrB please don't try saying it after half bottle of jamesons , christ knows what i will become :lol: :lol:
 
My mate works at Twycross zoo so im gonna have to tell him about your unpaid visit stone :D
 
Hi Nick,
Your mate, is he the little gay chap who looks after the deer and antelopes? I used to make deliveries there, good zoo. Seeing all those people and their children screaming and yammering at the bars of the enclosures. Sod being a zoo animal! And they think we are cruel, imagine waking up to see a bunch of fat faced brummie school kids staring at you and screaming excitedly. :eek:
 
Hi beowulf
No my mate looks after the cats there.
Im the little Gay 1 :eek: :D
It cant be nice being a zoo animal. I wonder what goes through there minds when there sitting watching all us stupid humans pointing at them :confused:
I went there a couple of years ago & was feeding the little prairy dog things. Then one decided to sink its teeth into my finger :eek:
Ill tell ya it was lucky i didnt have a .38 revolver in my pocket :eek:
Stone
One of our reds was taken down early last year. We found it in the morning dead with very bad bite wounds & half a rear leg missing. I aint got a clue what did it. Were not sure if the deer had died in the nite & something had eaten it or if it was killed. It was an old animal. Ill ask the farmer if hes still got the pics & will show you when you come over. Had some very nasty wounds on it. There was no damage to any part of the fencing or no sighns of the fencing pushed up anywhere either. Not sure if badgers could do this sort of damage to an animal or even foxes :confused:
 
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