Interesting

[hendrix's rifle]

So, in the early hours of yesterday morning I bagged a nice hind using my reloads (first deer with them, result) now, she was on her own, usually there in groups, be it 3 or 4 however usually 10+. No other deer about anywhere and upon gralloching I found a foetus and found it quite interesting. Could anyone give a rough age of it? And thoughts to why the hind was on her own? Like I said earlier, to see a hind on her own seems quite odd. Anyway, the foetus was around 7 inches in length and a Male if it helps age it. There may be some backlash to this however I'd rather this than have a calf on it's own (I did take the dog, before gralloching it incase she DID have a calf)
Hind was fit and healthy, all nodes good, no liver fluke which here is a bit of a rarity and generally a nice looking beast

 

[hendrix's rifle]

 

[Buchan]

The standard for a fetus is crown-rump length. Here is a calculator so you can measure your knife, whcih looks about the same length. It's for cattle but it'll be close crown-rump analysis Or try the attached, whcih is red deer, but a bit fuzzy

 

[Primate]

Its very normal to find a foetus at this time of year towards the end of the season. Infact I dont recall finding many without one in Feb/ March over the last few years, local stags obviously doing their job. As for it's age, well depends on the rut which happens in October/ November. They calf around June/ July so the foetus is approx 4 months developed. As for her being alone, nothing unusual there with reds. They don't always stick together all the time.

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Its very normal to find a foetus at this time of year towards the end of the season. Infact I dont recall finding many without one in Feb/ March over the last few years, local stags obviously doing their job. As for it's age, well depends on the rut which happens in October/ November. They calf around June/ July so the foetus is approx 4 months developed. As for her being alone, nothing unusual there with reds. They don't always stick together all the time.

I semi expected to find it, it's the amount if growth it has that surprised me to be honest. As to her being on her own, there is a group here that stick together all the time so found it odd that she was on her own

 

[Primate]

I semi expected to find it, it's the amount if growth it has that surprised me to be honest. As to her being on her own, there is a group here that stick together all the time so found it odd that she was on her own

The others probably weren't far away. I started to use a thermal a couple of years ago it still amazes me every time I go out.