Deer encounter

I came across a herd of about 25 deer, including young, in the Chiltern woods early this afternoon, very unusual at this time of day. First spotted them roughly 75 yards away in a clearing, near and very spectacular. They stood their ground but were obviously nervous. The dog was loose and very alert, she hasn't seen them at such close quarters before. I feared she might go out of control but she went down on command and I was able to walk over and slip the lead on. I was very pleased that the training held under pressure. We moved away slowly and the deer carried on. Quite an interesting moment.

Very good behaviour there Paul! We occasionally see Muntjac deer which are not much bigger than Vegas is and he always gives chase.

We have Muntjac round here, very small and known locally as "barking deer" because of the sound they make. The ones I saw were much bigger, maybe 2 ft 6 ins or more at the shoulder. They weren't Reds, perhaps Roe or Fallow ?