Merry Merries

May joy, peace, health and love

be yours to have & to share!

Exploring the new enclosure

 
Here's what happened when we opened the gates on Sunday, December 5, 2010 and let the bucks explore the new space (about an acre)...new grass and, of course, trees and bushes on which to thrash. Moki and Mike made mincemeat of a small cedar bush in the photo above. No one had problems entering into the new "playground" through the sliding gate designed by Don Murphy. Present to watch the show were Don, Allan Park, Jane McDonald and Wendy Workman who took the photos seen above.

Rut 101

Here's a good look at Max in rut (mating season). The dark colour is caused by secretions of a waxy fluid from the orbital gland located below the eye. He has stimulated this gland by rubbing his head on tree branches and rocks. The fluid smells like rancid butter and is part of the bucks' scenting ceremony that is designed to attract does.The photo also shows the thickness of his neck. The bucks have not been eating much as their throats are swollen. Gradually as the weather gets colder, their appetites return.


 

Feeding question

We get asked for our advice and are always happy to try to answer any questions that we can. Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments and we will be sure to pass them on.


Here is a recent exchange with DM:

My Mom has 2 beloved fallow girls....Angel and Peanut. We live in Oregon and do not know of any deer vets, so our equine/goat/large animal vet trys to help as much as they can. We just moved the girls to a 2 acre area across from the other property about 3 weeks ago. They have a very nice stall area to walk in and out as they please and a Great Pyrenees that has always lived with them. The last few days Angel has refused all food and seems a little fearful...usually, as tame and loving as a dog. My Mom spends and enormous amount of time with them and I just pray she doesnt lose one as we have already lost my Dad (her husband) and my Grandmother (her Mother) already this year. Our vet doesnt want to tranquilize her since she said they are so very sensitive to this. They are fed quality grass hay which they have available at all times, purina deer chow (antler max) which they dont seem to like very much and for treats my Mom feeds them nutrigrain bars, whole wheat bread, strawberries, peanuts, grapes and romaine lettuce. I have told her NOT to feed them bread anymore but, cannot think of anything else it might be. I would so much appreciate if you have any information or ideas at all for me to give her. We are having the vet come tomorrow and we are just going to hold her while they check her vitals. I would love to bring my Mom to your reserve to visit one day....she would be in Heaven seeing all the Fallows.

 

Our deer are all male so we don’t have a huge expertise with females but we have a few thought/possibilities and more questions:

• The doe could be still adjusting to the move and change in her environment. If she started to limp or had poor muscle coordination, we would worry about delayed capture myopathy in an extreme case. However, since the girls are so well socialized, it might be unlikely. How were they moved? Was there any trauma involved in the move? We have heard that Vitamin E helps with stress levels in a deer, so perhaps that might help. Keep in mind body weight. Perhaps the vet could recommend the dosage.

• Possibly the nutrigrain bars might be causing some fermentation or bloating in the stomach, too much refined sugars that affect stomach acids. You mention she is not eating, but is she drinking? Sometimes feeding the girls less is the kindest way to go, so maybe she is on a self-imposed fast to clean out her system. We worry about too much sugar and tooth decay as well. We don’t used any pre-mixed deer feed either. Why do does need antler max? This is designed for hunters who want to fatten up a deer before killing it, and the manufacturers are not concerned with the long-term effects on the animal’s digestive system.

• Any sign of problems in the mouth? Drooling, swelling around the jaw? We lost one deer this way as the infection caused by a tooth abscess went into his jaw. The vet could prescribe some anti-biotics. Will Angel take a piece of apple from your mum’s hand if offered? This is a good way to get the medication into her system.
• It is “rut” season for males (Sept-Oct) and possibly she is experiencing some form of heat. The hormonal changes may be affecting her eating as it does in males. Our guys don’t eat much for a month or more when it’s mating season. Is Angel losing weight? How is she behaving other than not eating?

• Is the feeding area very different in the new place? Could one girl be bullying the other for food? Remember they are herd animals and as the girls age they may show more dominant/submissive behaviours.

We hope this is helpful and if you ever come east, please visit.

2011 Calendars coming soon

Just sent the master of the 2011 desktop calendars to the printer and they should be available in about 20 days. This year's photos are captioned with the name of the deer shown. The cost will be $20 plus postage of $2 per calendar. Ten dollars of the cost can be receipted as a donation to the Fallow Deer Reserve.

This is a limited edition, so if you want to reserve calendar(s), please email your intention to jmcd@reztel.net

 

New Fencing

Fencing on the new one acre enclosure took a giant step forward on Saturday, October 2, 2010. Joined by Bernie Sagriff, Don Murphy and Allan Park sunk approximately 35 poles about 2 feet into the earth to add the new space to the southwest corner of the enclosure in about 2 hours! Your blog writer assisted, too.

We will be using the space as an isolation paddock for any deer that becomes ill or needs individual attention from us or the vet. 

While he was helping with the new fencing we were able to introduce Bernie to the bucks as well as to the signage that was added to the original fence built in 2007 with his help.

Another loss

At about 2pm yesterday afternoon we discovered Gulliver lying in a cedar grove away from the others. At first it looked as if he had injured his front leg and Allan went into the enclosure to see if he could get him to stand up. When he did, we saw that he had been gored in the lower abdomen and a grapefruit-sized portion of his bowels was hanging outside his body. In the shadows we did not see much blood and shortly after standing up, he lay down again with the wound hidden by the earth.

During the past week, the deer were losing their velvet and each one's newest set of "hard" antlers emerged. On Sunday we had observed Max and Bash and then Max and Moki fighting and heard the sound of hard antler on hard antler. We knew that Gulliver was not a fighter, but possibly had been caught by the sharp brow antler of others who are. We will never know just how he came to receive such a serious injury.

We called the vet, Dr. Brian Willows, who asked us to describe the colour and size of the material. He told us that any efforts we would make to try to save his life would be heroics for us, but not for him. There was no doubt that infection from such an injury would occur and cause a slow and painful death even if field surgery were attempted.

We called Don Murphy at work and talked it over with him. He also talked to the vet. We all decided that Gulliver deserved a quick and painless death, and that meant asking someone to put him out of his misery with a bullet. I called upon my neighbour, Bob Bird, who did not hesitate to offer his help.

Allan took Bob to the place where Gulliver lay. I stayed under the maple tree where we have spent so many hours with the herd and they with us. Several of the deer were lying on the ground near me in the shade. At 3:30pm I heard one loud retort. The deer jumped and ran into the woods as far away from the gunshot as they could go.

Gulliver was shot in the cedar grove with a single bullet to his head. He was looking at Allan who thinks that he did not see Bob nor his gun.

Don arrived and we shared some moments with Gulliver's beautiful body. One of our largest and oldest deer, he was the one who escaped from the Scotland Road farm during testing and had been on the lam for about 6 weeks. Don and Wendy spent hours trying to lure him back to the farm and finally accomplished the feat with apples, corn and headlights. After the fence at the Reserve was cut in November 2008, Gulliver was one of the deer who followed Don into the enclosure, returning to this home by his own free will, without need of dramatic capture.

With Don's help we took Gulliver's body to the deer burial ground. With the backhoe, Don dug a deep place. By sunset, Gulliver was lying safely in the earth beside Ty and Dandy.

We are grateful to Bob Bird of Wilton for coming to assist Gulliver at a moment's notice and for his skill and kindness.