Shooting Times & Country

SPORTING ANSWERS

What makes a stag sneeze?

STALKING

Q I watched a stag during the recent rut and it was active and dashing about after a group of hinds, but spent a lot of time sneezing and shaking its head. My stalking companion couldn’t get a fair shot at it and we eventually gave up and moved on to another part of the hill where we got another beast. Do deer get colds in the same way that we do?

A I suspect there are a couple of possible explanations for what you saw. One is parasitic and the other is mechanical.

Hill deer get bothered by a maggot called the deer botfly. The maggot stage of the fly lives at the base of the animal’s tongue and in the nasal cavities. After they are ejected by the deer, they pupate in the

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