Apparently I have just sworn some sort of blood alliance with a roe deer

[bunn]

The roe deer had become muchly entangled in a bit of old electric fencing, which had wrapped into a mighty tangle around its horns. I fetched Maggie, the owner of the field, and she lent me some wire cutters and stood on the remains of the electric fence to try to prevent the deer thrashing around too much while I cut the fence off the deer.   The deer was not happy about this procedure, and thrashed wildly and made a terrifying roaring noise, but in the end, we got the fence off, and the deer ran away, so I'm guessing it was more or less OK.    It had a couple of visible wounds, but nothing major.

 I got soaked, because it was hailing and the grass was wet.  And I had to haul the dogs off the deer when we found it.  Fortunately, Rosie is a bit scared of deer and Brythen has no idea how to hunt (seriously, he stood next to the struggling deer jumping up and down and yapping like a puppy: his best effort was to grab its ear), so I was able to haul them off relatively easily and attach them to a tree while I sorted the deer out.  I was worried, to start with, that they had driven it into the fence, as they both shot off when they first saw it, but given how enmeshed it was when I got there, which was only seconds after the dogs, I don't honestly think it was them, I think it must have been caught already.

Electric fencing is phenomenally tough stuff!  Both secateurs and wirecutters struggled with it.   The deer had cut itself, and the blood was over my hands, and somehow I cut my hands too although I'm not sure how I did it.   I hope roe deer don't carry any nasty diseases.  I've just rung my doctor in the hope that she will say 'no, roe deer are the most sterile of all animals'. Fingers crossed.

I should do some work now.  Perhaps when I've stopped quivering.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

You're really brave (says the city girl) and competent. I guess roe deer are not very big, but they are wild animals with horns! I hope there is no problem with infection. I am sure you scrubbed really well and put disinfectant on your hands.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

This one was definitely wild. One could almost say he was livid. :-D

I have used a handwash that says it kills 99.9% of bacteria, I hope that will do the job!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Oh lord... That is a scary enough situation to deal with even when you're not out walking with a couple of sighthounds. Thank heavens there was someone handy with wirecutters! I hope you're not too badly injured.

We only ever had electric fencing tape in our field, and luckily deer and ponies always managed to snap it and escape when they got caught up. But I've seen so many deer come to a bad end caught between the top two strands of barbed wire above stock-fencing. Sounds like this one was incredibly lucky you came along.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

This was that sort of orange plastic string stuff: it was put up when they had cattle in that field a couple years ago, but since then the ponies next door have broken into the fields on several occasions and trailed the string everywhere. It's awfully tangly, but it hadn't occurred to me (or Maggie) that it would be a risk to wildlife.

We bundled it up into a big pile and she's going to get the chap who put it up for the cattle to come and take it away.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Be worried if you start developing a taste for all things green or growing horns!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

My doctor said 'come in and see the nurse' the nurse rang a vet of her acquaintance, and both of them feel that superficial mingling of blood with roe deer is unlikely to be problematic.

None of them mentioned horns as a possible outcome! (I do already rather like salad though :-D )

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Eep! Well done for freeing it, hope your hands heal swiftly.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I'm sure they will. They aren't deep cuts, just scratches from a bramble that had got tied up in the string, plus one slightly deeper one where I suspect I somehow managed to jab my left hand with the secateurs. Whoops!

[sally_maria]

I'm very glad to hear there shouldn't be any serious ill-effects from your heroic efforts - I hope your hands heal soon.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a wood carver. Just a couple more small finger scars to add to my burgeoning collection!

[andrewducker]

Wow. Nicely done. Glad you didn't get hurt worse, and both you and the deer came out mostly intact!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I really hope the deer was OK, it had a much tougher time than I did. It had a cut mouth and ear. But it seemed like it would be most unappreciative of any attempt to take it to a vet, and it was quite strong enough to run away!

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Get ready for the call to defend Féerie.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

NO. if there is one thing that I realised in my post-deer exhaustion, it's that any kind of heroic endeavour is well beyond me, I would get to the first corner and collapse in exhaustion before I met the foe :-D

[r-blackcat.livejournal.com]

The real hero is the one who doesn't want any heroic deeds at all - and still does it when need comes. Here's to the deer's freedom! And to the health of both of you. (Actually, for a Big City's girl like me, the story of cutting a deer from a fence sounds like a fairytale. Even in a countryside close to Moscow the most exotic beast I ever saw was a hare - and it was once in my life.)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Hares are magical too! We don't see many around here for some reason: lots of deer, not many hares.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

You are brave. That is a major good deed of the day. Hope the snail mail has arrived safely.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh! yes, it did thank you - I think my terrible handwriting had misled you about the village name, but the postman worked it out from the postcode. Thank you for the lovely card, I have it on the mantlepiece!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you got it safely. I was worried if I'd read the address correctly. I just love my Aragorn!

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

A meritorious deed! You might want to ask about a tetanus shot. Rabies should be unlikely in the UK for a land mammal.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I've had five tetanus shots already, and I'm told they now consider that you are covered for life after that. Yes, thankfully no risk of rabies!

There is apparently a very small chance of Lyme disease, but the only known cases of people getting Lyme from a deer are in the US, where there is a lot more of it about, so it seems unlikely. And my cuts were very small ones so I don't suppose there was a lot of contamination!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Good for the deer you were around!

My husband had a cat once who stalked deers. he was a very larget cat, but I still think he thought he was a lion...

[bunn.livejournal.com]

We had a cat like that! It's the one in my icon. I used to go out walking the hounds, and the cat would insist on coming too, and if he saw a deer, he would charge off after it, just like a tiny lion. I had to be so careful the dogs didn't go with him...

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

What a cutie! Yes, Ullseman did that too. He was a big, black Norwegian Woodcat, but still small compared to a deer. :)

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

Even now, your name is being sung -- perhaps roared -- among the roe deer people.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, there's an image :-D

As long as I can stay here safe in the warm a long way from any roe deer, I am quite happy with that!