Rotten Meat

Just settling down to second half of "VERA" last night when a local farmer phoned to say he had found a deer trapped in a fence and had put it down. Did I want it? Not really, plus the fact I had had several glasses of wine and was not able to take the Ranger and collect it. He volunteered to bring it to me and on his arrival I discovered the animal was a 3 year old roebuck. I promised him a hauch for his trouble and he left leaving me to do the dirty business. The animal was in a terrible state. He must have found it in the morning and left it on his vehicle for a few hours before contacting me. Big mistake in this weather. I gralloched it and left it to cool down overnight but the damage had been done. Under the skin the flesh was turning green and the ripe smell was overpowering. I took it into a deep part of the wood and left it for the foxes and buzzards. It will have pretty well disappeared in a couple of days. The image below is of another deer I had to put down after finding it trapped in a wire sheep fence. I probably have to deal with half a dozen similar cases each year.