SPORTING ANSWERS
Mystery of missing roe teeth
STALKING
Q During the last few weeks of the roe doe season, we caught up with half-a-dozen deer — two mature, a youngish one and three kids from 2020. All of them were lacking at least two bottom front teeth. I boiled out the lower jaws and saw that in some cases there were no roots, only sockets, but in the older ones, there were little stumps left. The wear on the back teeth seemed to be normal. What do you think might have caused this?
A As their teeth wear, older deer often end up with a gap at the front of the mouth, which is part of the ageing process. Animals with this gap are often referred to as ‘brokenmouthed’. Conversely, young deer shed milk teeth and replace these with adult dentition, but this doesn’t seem to be what you are describing.
I suspect that this group of deer has found a winter food source to their liking and damaged their teeth, and possibly their mouths, getting to it.
Are there any food storage bins nearby, either for storing game feeds or domestic livestock feeds? Have there been any tender growing crops planted out that have had covers on them? Are there any polytunnels in the area that they might have raided?
As all the deer have the same presentation,
