The Findowie Four

When the gate mysteriously opens itself and the stags escape

Duggie and his dad are away sailing for a few days. They are off to the Islay whisky festival which they do every year. Daisy is home from University and my dad lives on the farm too so there is plenty of help if needed. Alan (really the only fully trained farm professional on Findowie farm and knowledge on all things deer) is also a phone call away.

All I have to do for the few days that they are away is do the rounds to check that the deer and cows are happy and well.

One of our new calves with their mum

This was all going well until…

Daisy and I were doing our daily checks and we noticed on our drive round the farm that the Dressage Field was empty and the gate was wide open. There should be 8 glorious stags in there and not a field full of eerie silence.

My tummy sank.

We then spotted a flash of red in one of the fields where I had left the gate open. I left this field open as there was a wild roe deer in there and I wanted to make sure it could get out. Instead of a roe deer there were four of our stags. Hmmm. What is going on? How did they get out the dressage field, down the hill and into the big field by the river?

Two of the stags that decided not to go on holiday safely fenced in

I called Duggie to ask if he knew anything. Bearing in mind that he is at a whisky festival I was not sure what sort of answer I was going to get but he assured me that there should be eight stags and they should be tucked up nicely in the dressage field. Go and find the other 4. Now this is easier said than done. We walked through the field to make sure the missing Findowie Four were not just sunbathing or asleep under a tree or in the long grass. No matter how hard we looked, they were not going to magically appear so had to face the fact that they had gone exploring.

Now if they were sheep they would not have gone far and would be easy to spot. All we would need to do is herd them into any field and they will be fine. Red deer however are native and unbelievably camouflaged. They are also ridiculously difficult to herd about. You will never find a farmer herding red deer down a road in the same way that you can with sheep and cows!

Everywhere I looked my eyes played tricks on me.

I thought I could see antlers but they would be branches.

I thought I could see a flash of red but it would be grass.

I thought I could see movement but it is a rock.

Aaaaaaah!

In the mean time we had to get the herd of yearlings into the field with the four stags so that we could open the gate for the missing four to hopefully come through from the river side of the farm. By this point Alan had joined us so the horrible feeling in my tummy lifted as he will know what to do. ‘Just drive down in the Polaris and call on the deer. Open the gate at the far end which leads into the field with the four stags and the herd will follow’ This seemed to sound easy. However, as always there is never a dull moment. Daisy and I set off in the Polaris calling out ‘come on deer’ while they looked at us with doubt. Eventually they decided to go full speed after us. They were probably thinking that we might have feed as we fed them all winter. Daisy jumped out and tied open the gate for them and we went through hoping that they would follow in hot pursuit. No. They stood there and watched us. Deer do not really like going through gates. (Obviously apart from our stags 🙄) They have to wait until one brave deer decides to take the plunge before they all follow.

What happens next always makes me laugh as they do not jog through like sheep or cows in a calm and orderly fashion but they leap. They literally leap over nothing through the gap where the gate is open. I am not sure what they think they are leaping as there is nothing there but most deer do this and jump the space where the gate was. Luckily there is deer fencing everywhere so they cannot leap out the field but leap through the gap.

Eventually everything was where we wanted them to be. Apart from the missing four of course whom I have now decided to call The Findowie Four as if they are an item on the news. It certainly feels like headline news in the world in my head anyway.

Duggie then calls back to confirm that his dad had not put the chain across the gate when he had been in with the stags and the gate must have opened itself in the wind. This was a relief as it was all very worrying as to how they got out. I had half imagined the stags out with the tool box planning their great escape.

The latest news report is that The Findowie Four have been spotted on our neighbours farm so they are just across the river. The river is extremely low at the moment so easy to cross back over.

Hopefully they enjoyed their break and decide to come back to join us. When they come back I wish I could ask where they went? What they did they do? What was the chat with the sheep on the neighbours farm?

As they say ‘never a dull moment’

Thank you for reading to the end x