Thread: North Canterbury day hunt.

That 11 will be a real beauty if he's left alone for a couple years

Originally Posted by Shearer

For sure. Watching those stags come and check out the body of their dead mate was especially interesting as they didn't seem as concerned about it as I would have expected. More curious. At one stage, when the 11 pointer was about 10m from the carcass the dead dear rolled a couple of meters down the hill and gave it a hell of a fright as at that stage I don't think it could see what it was. Eventually it walked up to within a meter or so and then just hung around.
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Great work and loved the photos.

I recall a similar experience with deer taking the loss of a mate in their stride .. which really suprised me.
Laying in ambush at last light I saw three fallow bucks emerge from the bush to graze a clearing.
I shot one and his two mates, off course, took off. I undertook some of the butchery, but it being dark (and a cool evening) I decided to leave the rest for the morning.

I went back just after sun up to finish the job and found his two mates had returned and were grazing within 30 of his dismembered body.
I would of thought that witnessing their mate get shot and finding him hacked to pieces would have been enough to scare them off for days if not weeks.
They can't be as prone to PTSD as us humans ...but they would benefit from a bit more anxiety or caution in my opinion.

Really neat photos, I enjoy watching deer as well!