Has a fox spooked the deer?

[Hillcrawler]

Evening All, tonights observations were quite surprising, however maybe not to some of you.

I was sitting in a well concealed high seat down wind approximately 180m from 5 Fallow does and 3 followers, waiting for a buck to come out. There were also hares and a young roe buck mooching about. I watched them graze and play for around 30 minutes before they all froze up and I could tell something was up. At no point did they look in my direction, but instead to a point upwind on my right. For no apparent reason they all bolted off, leaving me confused. There were no other stalkers / personnel in the area.

Then a fox popped up and sauntered across the field I was very tempted to whack him for ruining my stalk but thought a buck maybe lurking in the woods.

Have you seen this before, are fallow scared of foxes?

 

[Rake Aboot]

Deer can be scared by anything that moves, probably a few things that don’t move as well.

As an aside , I never, ever, pass up a fox.

 

[HonestJohn]

Seen roe spook at pheasants a few times. You should have shot the fox.

 

[Tim.243]

Had a muntjac doe lined up when a dozen Canada geese came over honking low to land in the stubble, she ran for cover lol

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Evening All, tonights observations were quite surprising, however maybe not to some of you.

I was sitting in a well concealed high seat down wind approximately 180m from 5 Fallow does and 3 followers, waiting for a buck to come out. There were also hares and a young roe buck mooching about. I watched them graze and play for around 30 minutes before they all froze up and I could tell something was up. At no point did they look in my direction, but instead to a point upwind on my right. For no apparent reason they all bolted off, leaving me confused. There were no other stalkers / personnel in the area.

Then a fox popped up and sauntered across the field I was very tempted to whack him for ruining my stalk but thought a buck maybe lurking in the woods.

Have you seen this before, are fallow scared of foxes?

I once saw a dog fox walk down a headland with a set of bollox like cricket balls between his legs

After 200m the cwd I was watching, literally stepped out of the way, to which he then met his maker

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Had a muntjac doe lined up when a dozen Canada geese came over honking low to land in the stubble, she ran for cover lol

Bomber command

 

[Colin G]

I was waiting for a fox and 3 roe were around the baiting area , then they bolted and then fox revealed its self , unfortunately for the fox it didn’t last long

 

[Bo Diddley]

I've watched Roe/Muntjac interactions quite a few times with foxes, always at night through a thermal. Roe have always stood their ground, even moving towards a fox and driving it off.
Muntjac are generally the same, especially if they have young. I watched a Munty doe with a little'un in tow have a stand off with a fox for a good five minutes, then the Munty had a run at the fox and Charlie turned tail and bogged off...

 

[Tim.243]

Bomber command

you saw the video

 

[Jelen]

I've watched Roe/Muntjac interactions quite a few times with foxes, always at night through a thermal. Roe have always stood their ground, even moving towards a fox and driving it off.
Muntjac are generally the same, especially if they have young. I watched a Munty doe with a little'un in tow have a stand off with a fox for a good five minutes, then the Munty had a run at the fox and Charlie turned tail and bogged off...

Yes, I've seen very similar behaviour a few times at night. The last occasion the fox was showing interest in the roe kid and the doe intervened. She just put herself between them and stood her ground. The fox then moved towards a young Muntjac and I shot him. Interesting that the deer weren't too disturbed. The Muntjac didn't show any reaction at all.

 

[Tim.243]

Yes, I've seen very similar behaviour a few times at night. The last occasion the fox was showing interest in the roe kid and the doe intervened. She just put herself between them and stood her ground. The fox then moved towards a young Muntjac and I shot him. Interesting that the deer weren't too disturbed. The Muntjac didn't show any reaction at all.

Often I find when in pairs then I shoot the back muntjac as the doe is leading (we all have seen the bouncers let the girls through first at the night club lol) then lead into the doe, like ducks shoot the back bird swing into the next one.

 

[Dazb1967]

I've watched Roe/Muntjac interactions quite a few times with foxes, always at night through a thermal. Roe have always stood their ground, even moving towards a fox and driving it off.
Muntjac are generally the same, especially if they have young. I watched a Munty doe with a little'un in tow have a stand off with a fox for a good five minutes, then the Munty had a run at the fox and Charlie turned tail and bogged off...

This is my only encounter between the 2, I watched a Roe buck run 50yds towards a hedge and curiously watched thinking it must be running to fend off another buck but out pops a fox the buck kept chasing him around the field until the fox made a mistake and stopped, he didn't last long after that with the 204

 

[old keeper]

Foxes are predators, and as such, prey animals of all types are very wary of them. I've seen them take Roe kids several times.

As I've mentioned before, I once shot a fox in a field with South Devons with calves at foot. The cows started bellowing like bulls and trampled the dead fox into the ground so that virtually nothing was left. It's just a natural reaction.

 

[wanderer]

A few years back whilst sat for a fox ( not deer on that occasion) i was watching a Roe doe with kids and a fox came onto the scene.
I never did get a chance at the fox as the Roe Doe chased it off.!!

 

[Mike1979]

One of my mates showed me footage from his thermal spotter of a fox and a roe playing together.. it was funny to watch and they took turns to chase one another but in a playful way ..he also witnessed a roe buck kill a fox cub.

 

[TURNBOLT]

I have never seen anything act to the appearance of a fox like deer.Sat waiting for a fox to come to a den suddenly the dozen or so deer (Red And Roe) below me started stamping the ground and get very agitated,I glassed around and 200 yards away a fox had broken cover and was coming down the burn side.Talk about an early warning system.One of the other lads got a pair of foxes a couple of mornings later.

 

[pendle]

One of my mates showed me footage from his thermal spotter of a fox and a roe playing together.. it was funny to watch and they took turns to chase one another but in a playful way ..he also witnessed a roe buck kill a fox cub.

I have seen a fallow doe and fox playing. Darting about chasing each other jumping back and forth over a fence

 

[Ratel]

You perhaps should have shot the fox if you had a reason to do so. I wouldn't bother shooting them at all now except when necessary to preserve ground nesting birds.

 

[old keeper]

Some years ago, I watched a fox "playing" with a roe doe. It was on the side of a steep hill with woods to one side. The doe kept chasing the fox, who kept running off, then returned to draw the doe out again.
They eventually ended up at the bottom of the hill, and the fox finally disappeared into the woods. Later in the day, I went to where the incident started and found the remains of a newly born kid.
So much for the fox and the doe playing together!

 

[Heym SR20]

Depends on whether the fox was hungry or not. I spent quite a bit of time in the African bush. I have seen lion lounging around after a big meal with Impala and other animals pottering about, grazing etc with out a care in the world.

Yet if they go into hunt mode everything scarpers.

I am sure its why, when you take the dog for a walk in the woods deer don’t give a damn. Put a rifle on your shoulder - they are on full alert.