Antlered roe doe tick burden

[75]

I think I've probably posted this old girl on here before somewhere:



She's been knocking around the fields to the side of our house for a few years - that image was 2023 and her single antler has continued to grow, but has never become hard antler. The flies bother her as she is constantly shaking her head whenever you see her. This year she has a single kid with her but has had twins the last couple of years. I've just spotted her close up though and what a heck of a tick burden she has. Right down one side of her neck and shoulder is covered in marble sized ticks. I've never seen anything like it on wild deer. I don't generally shoot roe around here as there aren't many and I'll leave her for now as she's got a kid with her but come November I think it's time. Sorry, no photos as I sold the "big" camera and iPhone wasn't up to the job. But if I do manage to catch up with her later in the year I'll update this thread with some pics.

 

[long_range_rob]

Curious that she’s only antlered on the one side.

 

[jall55]

I think I've probably posted this old girl on here before somewhere:

View attachment 431944

She's been knocking around the fields to the side of our house for a few years - that image was 2023 and her single antler has continued to grow, but has never become hard antler. The flies bother her as she is constantly shaking her head whenever you see her. This year she has a single kid with her but has had twins the last couple of years. I've just spotted her close up though and what a heck of a tick burden she has. Right down one side of her neck and shoulder is covered in marble sized ticks. I've never seen anything like it on wild deer. I don't generally shoot roe around here as there aren't many and I'll leave her for now as she's got a kid with her but come November I think it's time. Sorry, no photos as I sold the "big" camera and iPhone wasn't up to the job. But if I do manage to catch up with her later in the year I'll update this thread with some pics.

You can see she has a big tick on the right of her mouth i think mate - as we look at her

 

[75]

Best I can do with iPhone through binos

You can see all the ticks in the zoomed in image but they really don’t show well in the photo compared to through the binos by eye

 

[slider]

Are you sure they are ticks and not warts or warbles of some sort?

 

[75]

I’m not tbh but they are pretty black, like ticks and we don’t get warbles down here (that I’ve ever seen). I guess the only way I’ll ever find out is if she’s shot.

But right now she’s grazing happily 5 yards over the garden wall and I’m sat with a glass enjoying watching her.

 

[User00056]

She looks to be struggling with body condition a bit? That could well be down to a tick burden of course, but I've certainly not seen many roe with more than a dozen or so on them. I'm in Angus though, so we may see less ticks overall up here?

 

[jall55]

She looks to be struggling with body condition a bit? That could well be down to a tick burden of course, but I've certainly not seen many roe with more than a dozen or so on them. I'm in Angus though, so we may see less ticks overall up here?

I once shot one - and i really dont shoot many - but totally totally covered in them up in Northumberland - all the others i have shot have hardly had one on at all - Really is most odd isnt it

 

[VSS]

It doesn't look like a really heavy tick burden from your photo. Yes, there's ticks present, but not a massive number (unless they're just not showing up well in the photo?).
I have seen engorged ticks so densely covering the belly of an animal that you couldn't put your finger between them. That was bad.

 

[AlexD]

Tim sent me this one a few weeks ago, almost the tick version of the film "the Birds":

 

[NickJ]

The antlers, dropping down to a single kid (both often a sign of age) and the tick burden - three good reasons to shoot her come November