To my left, somewhere in the wall of dense scrub bordering the firebreak, came the call of a yearling red deer. I had already stopped in a patch of thick shade up against a protruding bush. I was on a long hike up kilometres of the eastern boundary of a large property, looking for troublesome wild dogs.
In doing that, I walk slowly and stop regularly to assess my surroundings and any promising spots to sit and call. Whenever I stop, I seek a patch of shade up against a tree trunk, post or bush to help obscure my presence.
The call came again, but closer or perhaps it was another yearling. The gentle, high pitched ‘moo’ was just a contact call and not an alarm. The breeze was in my face and I was blended with the surrounds, so I waited.
Clearly, some deer were on the move and would more than likely appear on the firebreak in due course. While searching for dog tracks and scat, of which there were plenty along the firebreak, I had noted an abundance of fresh deer tracks as well, both stags and hinds. After a few minutes a deer head poked out onto the firebreak
