Human contact is a death sentence for young roe deer
for some time, suddenly and without warning, turned on its captor and virtually gralloched him!
I am inclined to be somewhat sceptical when I hear the phrase, ‘there are too many of … ‘. Most commonly I hear such comments in regard to birds of prey. However, there is an almost universal view that there are now too many deer in our landscape. The allegation refers not just to red deer but to roe deer too. These days, many red deer have forsaken the hills and glens and returned to the forests where their ancestors dwelt along with roe deer.
We sometimes forget that our native red deer were not originally residents of the wide open Highlands but were originally woodland deer like the roe. However they became Monarchs of the Glens when they had to seek pastures new in the hills and glens during the 18th and 19th centuries. During that period of our history, their woodland habitat was decimated by the heavy demand for timber that existed at that time as the Industrial Revolution rolled into action. And of course wars, which also required much timber to build fleets of wooden warships, were all too often the order of the day!
That red deer somehow managed to adapt to the harsher conditions of the open hill is a matter of fact but evidently roe deer were unable to adapt to such conditions and as a result,their numbers plummeted. Indeed, it was only with the formation of the Forestry Commission in the immediate wake of the First World War that a life-line was thrown to the diminishing population of roe with the planting of a new generation of forests.
The success story of roe since then is such that now these otherwise shy and retiring animals are even present in or near some of our larger towns and cities. Foresters complain that the burgeoning populations of roe deer are doing untold damage to young trees and so regular culling is a constant necessity. The solution proposed by some, of course, is to reintroduce lynx to the forest landscape after an absence of many centuries because their main prey is roe deer.
Personally, I have serious doubts about re-wilding. Whilst I am aware that lynx are forest dwellers and seldom hunt over open ground, with sheep farming now so widespread in both Lowlands and Highlands, such an introduction could end up being a serious cause of conflict.
These next few months are likely to be testing for both roe does and for roebuck. The does must nurture and protect vulnerable kids, whilst until he has established a firm grip on his territory and begun the process of producing next year’s family, the buck’s territorial dominance will naturally be threatened by rival fellow bucks. It is I suppose all part of nature’s eternally rich tapestry!
Should she discover the tiniest trace of the alien human scent upon her off-spring, she is likely to abandon it