From my bedroom window

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buzzy	From my bedroom window Happened to glance out this afternoon and saw this handsome chap (and I had the camera reasonably to hand!). Notice his big canine tooth! Henry
Rob R	Nice pic!
Mistress Rose	Is that a muntjac? If so I am afraid the only good thing about it would be bambi burgers. They are very destructive, so don't encourage them.
Treacodactyl	It's a male Muntjac, looks fairly young from the photo but hard to say. Very tasty.
Mistress Rose	Agree with that. Havn't actually seen any thank goodness.
buzzy	Oh, I don't have to encourage them - they are here to stay. I know they are destructive, in woodlands especially, but in my garden they don't do a lot of harm, and I'm happy to live and let live. Henry
Bodrighy	Had one run across the road in front of us yesterday on the way down to Dorset. Getting more common now. Pete
Cathryn	There are no deer here. I wonder why.
jamanda	I wonder if they need more woodland? Your landscape is more geared towards sheep. We have roe on the Commons, but I've never seen muntjac here.
Falstaff	We have a fair amount of woodland screening to roads etc around here and Muntjac are quite common. I see them as roadkill 3-4 times a year.
dpack	they are good eating and well worth picking up ,dont worry about bleeding out or it being a bit mangled , if roadkill is sorted/cooked/processed fairly soon after dispatch by volvo (other vehicles are available)"fussiness"is over rated. imho these ones are nicer than red or roe in flavour ,maybe not quite as delicate as fallow a bit small for a feastbeast but they make good jerky or stew or small pot roasts ps the skins are a decent hand luggage size
Falstaff	Thanks dpack, don't get me wrong - I'll pick 'em up if I can stop the car ! The little sods just seem to commit Hari kari on the flat out "You've got to be joking" stretches !
Mistress Rose	Deer are spreading into Wales. When son went there with college, best part of 15 years ago, the foresters were asking the students about deer as they had no experience of them, and the students did. We are fortunate that we have mainly roe, and in acceptable numbers. We have to fence coppice, and they chew the tops of seedling trees, but generally some of the seedlings get away, so although there is a slight angle at the bottom, we have trees of a wide range of ages. Fallow are the worst of the ones I know about. They will devastate an area in a night as they go in herds, not ones and twos in the woods. We may have a few muntjac, but so far we haven't seen too much damage by them.
Jam Lady	We have deer also, white tail deer. Picture from February 2015-
vegplot	They're small enough to onto a large family BBQ.
Mistress Rose	I don't know much about white tailed deer Jam Lady. Are they on the increase where you are, and are they as destructive as our deer?
Jam Lady	They are big animals. An adult male deer usually weighs about 150 pounds. Female deer weigh about 100 pounds. Their population is huge - no predators other than automobile and hunters. Frequently see does with twins, even occasionally triplets because they are so well fed on suburban backyards. Browsers, not grazers so the deer are killing forest regeneration by destroying the sapling trees and reducing undergrowth to a park-like appearance. Here's a link with lots more information: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/fs1202/white-tailed-deer.asp
tahir	We may have a few muntjac, but so far we haven't seen too much damage by them.

Had (I reckon) a 20 yr old apple tree stripped of bark to the height it could reach by a muntjac this winter, trunk is totally clean.

Pilsbury

We may have a few muntjac, but so far we haven't seen too much damage by them.

Had (I reckon) a 20 yr old apple tree stripped of bark to the height it could reach by a muntjac this winter, trunk is totally clean. if you happen to want venison jerky just let me know lol tahir

Thanks for the ogffer but it won't be halal will it? sean

I think that Pilsbury was offering to jerkify the one that's damaged your trees so whether it's halal or not would depend on you. Treacodactyl

They are big animals. An adult male deer usually weighs about 150 pounds. Female deer weigh about 100 pounds.

About the same size as Sika over here then, smaller than a lowland red and much bigger than a Roe.

I've got roe and red on my woodland, muntjac haven't managed to hitch a van ride down to me yet.

I just need to sort out some extra freezer space. Razz

Pilsbury

Lol i was indeed offering to save your trees buzzy

We may have a few muntjac, but so far we haven't seen too much damage by them.

Had (I reckon) a 20 yr old apple tree stripped of bark to the height it could reach by a muntjac this winter, trunk is totally clean.

I have more problems with the Rabbits stripping the bark off the Apple trees. If I forget to check the netting guards, and we have snow -- disaster. They have killed at least three. They stripped a young Ash (to about a foot above ground) a few years ago - as far as I could tell they had completely ringed it, but it still survives.

The Muntjac had a go at one of the Apple trees a couple of years ago, but did it no serious damage.

Henry tahir

I think that Pilsbury was offering to jerkify the one that's damaged your trees so whether it's halal or not would depend on you.

Ah, gotcha. We have a regular shooter nowadays. He's very good but you still get the odd bit of damage Mistress Rose

I had read about the damage white tailed deer did I think Jam Lady. Sounds as if a really serious cull in needed, same as deer in the UK. Jam Lady

The issue, Mistress Rose, is that New Jersey is a well populated state.

Total population in 2014 8,864,590
Pop. Density (per sq. km.) 451.99
Pop. Density (per sq. mi.) 1,170.64

Some communities have arranged for sharp shooters who are permitted to carry out the cull at night, jack-lighting the deer with spotlights. I think there is something about this in the link I provided.

There are also Bambi lovers who argue that we humans have invaded the dear deers habitat and we should learn to live with them and with the bears (yes, there are bears around here too.) That hunters are evil people who just like to kill and this is bad and nasty and not nice.

The conspiracy theorists insist that the state fish and wildlife commission is working to keep the deer population high so they can sell more hunting permits.

I have seen deer one at a time, in small groups, and more than 20 in a herd. The image I posted was taken through my kitchen window. Old books refer to deer as timid creatures of dawn and dusk (fancy word is crepuscular, I believe.) They are no longer timid, appear morning, noon, and night. I like to see them. I enjoy eating venison. I am disturbed at the damage they cause in the woodland. Major issue with no simple answer. sueshells

We have muntjac in some numbers round here (North Bucks near Buckingham). There is a disused (soon to be reopened) railway line with a public footpath alongside and, last year, I turned onto the path with my dog and surprised two adult muntjacs with a tiny fawn. When the mother spotted me she shoved the fawn into the grass beside the path and legged it. I was able to get a close up view of the little animal as it lay, completely still, where Mum had left it. Have to say that it was very cute indeed! When we returned from the walk it had gone so i assume that Mum had retrieved it once the danger had passed.

Another time I found the chewed remains of one in a field nearby - just the hindquarters. Not sure what would have done that? Mistress Rose

Interesting Jam Lady. We have the same problem about culling in the UK. It is fine saying that we have invaded their territory, but certainly here their territory has increased enormously. When our in-rotation coppice was cut 14 years or so ago deer fencing wasn't really needed as the population wasn't that high, but now, in spite of culling, it is really needed.

Sueshells, the deer could have died naturally, have been killed by a car, a hunter who couldn't find it, or a poacher or killed by a dog. It could have been scavinged by anything, most probably a badger or fox. Not sure if a badger or fox would be able to kill anything other than a very sick or injured mutjac.

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