Red hind and sheep

AlasdairM

Well-Known Member
Is it normal for a red hind to 'move in' with a flock of sheep on the hill?
There is a single red hind who has been in the field with the sheep for the last three months, it does not seem to leave the field at all and is not bothered by the quad bike going around checking the sheep. It is almost like it thinks it is a sheep. Although I have little experience I have never heard of this before.
 
Is it normal for a red hind to 'move in' with a flock of sheep on the hill?
There is a single red hind who has been in the field with the sheep for the last three months, it does not seem to leave the field at all and is not bothered by the quad bike going around checking the sheep. It is almost like it thinks it is a sheep. Although I have little experience I have never heard of this before.

Very normal for reds to feed in amongst sheep roe wont. If there's turnips or licks been put down they wont be long on moving in .
On the bright side when the hind season starts she should be first picking as it will probably be an old hind chased out the group
 
How big is she? Maybe an orphan who has attached herself to the flock? Pretty sure there are examples of it happening with fallow and even sika.

Novice
 
I knew of a fallow stag who hung out with a herd of dairy cows. Didn't go as far as to follow them to the milking shed but it stayed amongst them most of the time. Not typical but then there's plenty of 'unusual' people out there too :D
Cheers, Hayden
 
It is not usual behaviour for a hind to do this. While it is perfectly normal for them to come in and feed amongst sheep,for one to stay for so long is very unusual.

I take it it is a hind ? and not a big calf who has been unable to pluck up the courage to jump a fence to get out ?

You say 'hill' then field? by field you mean a grass field?
 
Interesting post I always wonder of the effect of sheep on deer, I am of the opinion that generally where sheep no's are high deer will be low until the sheep have moved on/out, I agree that reds in particular are more tolerant where as sika I think are the least tolerant on some of my grounds when the sheep arrive the sika make haste, aside from competition for forage sheep foul the ground and the deer just don't appreciate that I would love to hear of your own opinions on what everyone else has experienced, my apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread somewhat.
 
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Definitely a hind, there is 12 calves stuck in another field who are unable to jump the fence. The rest of the herd only come to the calves at night since cattle were mover into the field. When I say hill I mean it's on the edge of forestry hills but in a grass field.
One of my suspicions is she is an orphan as I shot an emaciated hind the close by last January in a close by field. I will try to get some photos tomorrow afternoon.
 
An area I worked in Norway it was not unusual for a reindeer to come in with the sheep .on one occasion two very drunken Sammis arrived and spent the day trying to lasoo a reindeer careering around a field with a 100 ewes...
 
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