Huge Deer

[HHazeldean]

Hi Everyone,

Please can you help me. I have seen a huge deer that is about twice the size of other deer and stands at about 1.4m to the shoulder. It looks like a Roe deer and I have never seen any other types of deer in my area. The tracks are about three times the size of an ordinary one. Please can someone help to tell me what this is?

 

[Trev]

Hi ,
Is it nearer ?

 

[JonathanD]

Sika....

 

[Shewie]

I think the largest deer on our shores is the Red but 1.4m is a seriously big beast.

Were there any spots or stripes, what shade of brown was it, tan or chocolate ?

 

[Dougster]

Sika indeed:

http://www.bds.org.uk/sika.html

Fallow are lighter and quite different:

http://www.bds.org.uk/fallow.html

 

[spoony]

Sika indeed:

http://www.bds.org.uk/sika.html

Fallow are lighter and quite different:



http://www.bds.org.uk/fallow.html

ahh whats this then? ;o)

 

[spoony]

Looks like a young male sika deer, the dark stripe down the back, darker underside, a pictuer of the rear would remove any doubt.....if the piccy is recent he was prabably born last may.

Top marks fella

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Hi Everyone,

Please can you help me. I have seen a huge deer that is about twice the size of other deer and stands at about 1.4m to the shoulder. It looks like a Roe deer and I have never seen any other types of deer in my area. The tracks are about three times the size of an ordinary one. Please can someone help to tell me what this is?

need a better description, but sounds like a red deer.

 

[JonathanD]

This isn't a sika, more like a female muntjac........

It's a stock photo I got off the Sika Deer Units official site

 

[Shewie]

Folk are suggesting Sika but the sizes stated in the OP are way bigger than any Sika I know of. At 1.4m we're probably looking at a mature Red, are they about in Surrey ?

http://www.bds.org.uk/red_deer.html

 

[JonathanD]

Yeah, plenty of Reds in Surrey, they were re-released some time back if I recall.

 

[JonathanD]

Always dicey identifying similar looking animals by photo, I was judging it's size more, it seems very small in comparison to the road/track I'm always glad to be corrected.

No, you might be right. It won't be the first specialist site that has some dodgy data or a suspect picture in there.

 

[Neumo]

I saw a very big deer up on the South Downs, that was a lot bigger than the usual fallow & sikka I see most of the time. I thought it was a Red deer by the size & appearance but have been told that they dont live down here on the South Coast, so it was probably just an unusually big local. I have only ever seen the one that was this big & it was in a really remote spot (for the South East anyway).

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I saw a very big deer up on the South Downs, that was a lot bigger than the usual fallow & sikka I see most of the time. I thought it was a Red deer by the size & appearance but have been told that they dont live down here on the South Coast, so it was probably just an unusually big local. I have only ever seen the one that was this big & it was in a really remote spot (for the South East anyway).

It could have been a red, an escapee from a park, or one that wondered in from another county even..........it's probably a stag judging by your description, & outside the rut they do live alone, or in small batchalor groups.............trouble is, wild animals don't always read the books explaining where & where not, they should be.

 

[MSkiba]

Did it have a human riding it? could of been a pony?

 

[Oakleaf]

All covered on the DSC1 course ( love it or loathe it )

OP sounds likely to be a Red, if you have/ can see rear end - on a Red light colouration will spread up past the tail and onto the back - not far, but noticeable.

Sika - less likely to be that size - but unless you got it passing some reference point, am assuming 1.4 metres is a guestimate. Red/ Sika hybridise, but Sika will likely have a definate frown, more likely to have a distinctive colour shift along the side from top to bottom and if a male in velvet - black velvet ( if its orange its definately sika - but a subset not believed to be at large in wild )

A fallow could be in the ball park for size, but head gear would be definative - palmated antlers ( unless young pricket ), noticebly long tail etc.

Muntjac, roe, CWD all way smaller.

Muntjac would in both male and female have distinctive V ridge on front of head - so JD pic definately not muntjac.

Hope helps. Off now to deliver a part 1 course - where 6 guys will be attempting to ID all six uk species and gender from picture bank - difficulty of which previously mentioned in this thread!

 

[pango]

ahh whats this then? ;o)

Spoony, that's the fella that came nosing out of a Perthshire woodland when I was camping a few years ago. He was actually quite curious and came within 20 mtrs of me while taking up the very stance in your picture. I knew it wasn't a fallow, which were introduced by Victorian shooting estates but not so common here now. He too is probably a survivor of the Victorian killing spree!

My camera wasn't at hand and he scarpered as soon as I moved.
I'd no idea there were sika in Scotland and never did find a likely suspect, so many thanks for that!

Oh, sorry HHazeldean,
short of some exotic, your stranger is more than likely a red. Far too many of those up here... would you like a few mega-herds?

Cheers,

 

[Shewie]

I'd no idea there were sika in Scotland and never did find a likely suspect, so many thanks for that!

Had them come into camp and scare the bejuss out of us a few times

 

[spoony]

Spoony, that's the fella that came nosing out of a Perthshire woodland when I was camping a few years ago. He was actually quite curious and came within 20 mtrs of me while taking up the very stance in your picture. I knew it wasn't a fallow, which were introduced by Victorian shooting estates but not so common here now. He too is probably a survivor of the Victorian killing spree!

My camera wasn't at hand and he scarpered as soon as I moved.
I'd no idea there were sika in Scotland and never did find a likely suspect, so many thanks for that!

Oh, sorry HHazeldean,
short of some exotic, your stranger is more than likely a red. Far too many of those up here... would you like a few mega-herds?

Cheers,

Not my photo shamelessly copied from here but one of my all time fav pics
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?20207-Request-for-Deer-Recognition-Photos/page2

 

[alan whelan]

Did it look like this Red Stag

We got one last year it was just over 200kgs
Alan.