Had a really nice walk through Ashridge Common yesterday, had to be careful I didn't get lost as it all looked the same and it is vast forest land. It did get a bit creepy as I thought about the film Predator and the monster in the trees!
There were signs on the way in warning if your dog is not dog safe, please keep him on a lead, which I did, even the terrier with a picture of a mauled deer. Anyhow, after walking a good couple of miles, camera at hand, not a sound to be heard I came across a clearing where there were about 15 deer gathered. I snapped away, the picture quality wasn't good as I had 2 dogs in hand and was clambering over falled trees to get a better view. They didn't like the flash and ran off, but I managed to catch them.
Incidentally, I had to pick son up from Ashridge golf club and say outside waiting for him, when the players come in, 100's and I mean 100's of deer come out of the woodland and graze on the course, such a beautiful sight.

and more deer

then they were off. Just re reading my post above, the grammar is poor due to mis typing, I do not say falled trees! FALLEN TREES!!

Cracking photos Lurch. Love to come across the deer in little clearings like that. Such a magical sight.

I saw some Deer while I was on holiday last week ...

These were standing in the middle of the road ... couldn't see Santa anywhere !

Hi Helen, I guess you needed a tight hold on the leash. I've wondered what Cailean would do if we encountered deer which are plentiful here.
I took one of your pictures to the picnik web site and adjusted it with the auto-fix. I'm not sure if it will show up well here since I didn't have an original. Thought you might like to know about this site and how useful it is.

thanks mysdeerie!

Murphy wasn't actually pulling on the lead, then again he wears a halti and doesn't bother at all now with anything, off lead is a different matter. He looked, ears pricked up but he probably felt outnumbered! Had I let him off (I wouldn't have) he would have been off like a shot.
Murphy is a hunter by nature, he has caught many a bunnie, squirrel etc, has never been taught to hunt. He works with the Border Terrier and together they are good workers. All this happens on walks, it is just in their blood and instinct takes over.

All I can say is thank G*d for halti's!!

You lucky thing Lurch, to see so many deer and to be able to photgraph them is even better.
I am very envious of you, I love deer.

Alans father thinks I am nuts (no comments please). I get very excited when I see deer up
at his place in Kintyre. To a lot of Scots, deer are a common sight and they are quite often
thought of as a nuisance. They can cause some serious road accidents and they do quite a lot
of damage to gardens. I wouldn't mind seeing some in my garden though, I think they are one
of the most beautiful animals.

When we drove out of the golf club it is a 60mph road, no street lights, Callum said "Watch out" A deer ran in front of my car, about 10 feet in front of me. He said that the man he played golf with that day had twice hit one there and it caused real serious damage. It is known as a Deer estate, there are tonnes of them, especially on the 18th fairway outside the clubhouse. You will have to look it up, Ashridge Golf course on google.
When I was in Australia it was Kangaroo's that did it for me, I got so excited about seeing them, to me they were amazing and fast, but to Australians they were like, oh yeah!

CiCoch wrote:

Now that is a real deer! Funny Santa was around anywhere, could swear that is Rudolph!

I used to see lots of Deer at Cannock Chase, strangely I never saw any over there until the day I had Ben and ever since they just seem to be everywhere. He has chased a few when he saw them before me but luckily they just run into the thick vegetation/bushes and Ben is reluctant to follow them in.

It used to be fascinating wathcing them in the Rutting Season. You could hear them for miles.

Great photos. Apparently there are a lot of Deer roaming round Tassie which the huntrs love. Haven't seen any myself except for ones bred behind fences.

Where suposed to have deer round hear(Mudjac), some plonker relesed them a number of years
ago, in the hope of them breeding so they could shoot them,
needless to say the have remaind elusive, and only a few people have seen them,

but just down the road in chorly, theres red deer roming loose everywhere, they have started
moving from the estate and now rome where they shouldnt,
went to a friends house up there last year, to walk the dogs - walked through a field
where she has walked many timesbefore and never seen any, and the dogs ended up flushing a doe and a stag,
4 borzois and one lurcher took off in hot persuit - dont know wether it was short of a miracle
or because the dogs thought the deer was to far away, but all recalled in seconds,
just glad they did - the deer was heading towards the road,
it was quite a nice sight to see though, i think deer are quite magnificent animals.

We have Muntjac here in Hertfordshire too, funny looking little things. You have to be so careful with them as they have really sharp, long front teeth and little horns and can cause alot of damage to a dog. This happened to me, 3 weeks before the breed show 2 years ago, Murphy shot after somethng, golfers said it was a red dog, I just knew it was a muntjac, sure enough he came back 10 minutes later, with a gaping hole in his throat, had to be stitched under anaesethic, total cost somewhere around £450, thank heavens for pet insurance.
I just wonder where you stand if your dogs would have caught the deer. The law states that it has to be proved you were out for the purpose of hunting, so surely you can't get prosecuted if one pops up somewhere? I think we've had this discussion before. Trouble is, where on earth can you take a dog for a run if the wildlife is so protected they are literally everywhere.

Muntjacs usually live in woodland and once inside the woodland, it is in it's own ground, the dog tend to lose them here, thank G*d.

Would have been probably in deep c**p if they would have caught it,thats if anyone had of seen
think you have to prove you wasn't out intending to hunt,and was doing everything in your power to stop the dogs, if they did catch it, i would have had to do everything in my power to make sure no one saw me moving the deer.

but at the end of the day - what do they expect us to do, we own dogs that where breed to hunt,
its hard enough finding safe places where they can have a good run, where you can relax knowing there going to be safe.

I think thats it Chook, but I suppose it could be difficult to dis-prove intent even if it was a genuine accident. Have heard one or two good stories on this sort of thing.