The Curious Case of the Deer in the Night - or - Thanksgiving for the Animals

** WARNING**

This post has
content and pictures
that may be offensive to some people.

*   *   *   

Last night we rolled in around 11:00 PM after an incredible Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house. As we came down our driveway we found a dead yearling doe in the ditch next to the fence. Evidently she had been chased across the pasture and cornered in an area where the fence is almost 5' high. We are speculating that she caught her front feet as she tried to clear the fence and slammed into the ground, breaking her neck. There were no signs of struggling, so thankfully, she did not appear to suffer. 

In the midst of tryptophan torpor we left the deer, planning to deal with it in the morning. We weren't sure whether we needed to contact legal authorities, or what steps we might have to take to dispose of the deer. Our ground is rock hard.  It is next to impossible to dig a hole to plant a shrub, let alone bury the carcass of a deer.  Mr. Dreamy made a few calls this morning and it was suggested we call a critter control company. He also called the local waste management landfill. Then, he went out to look at the doe in daylight. Cancel those plans.

It seems the coyotes and carrion eaters had their own version of Thanksgiving. In 12 hours the doe has been reduced to a hide, the head, a few bones and some offal.

Deer are beautiful animals. It is sad to see one die. But, it is awesome, in its own way, to see the way nature provides. We watched the coyotes warily moving around the remains this morning, tugging at it and running off with prized pieces. A large flock of magpies have also been hard at work. It will be interesting to see what remains in another 24 hours.