Thread: What does a sick deer look like?

Disclaimer, I'm a relatively new hunter with little experience. Trying to learn what I can.

Happened to be in an unusual situation today. I've managed to gain access to some private land, where the farmer is not interested in hunting the herd of deer on his block and quite enjoys their company. He's very kindly given me permission to take one, however after examining them through the scope they didn't look very healthy. I decided to not, as I wasn't sure it would be good to eat and I'd rather not kill his four legged friends "just incase". Gotta play it smart, ya know.

And so, the research phase. Based on what I've found so far, I believe they are fallow deer, but regarding their condition, I'm just not sure. Only going for spikers, they didn't want me knocking over any potentially pregnant hinds. Some red flags I noted: they were tiny, skinny little things. One bounded right up to us, we were sitting still and it clearly had no idea. Young male, about two points either side but couldn't have been more than 18kgs (using a GSP for reference). A few other spikers I was looking at had large growths (like tennis ball size) at the base of their antlers, almost as if there was something wrong with their coronet. Overall, the condition of the herd was thin and their coats looked terrible, many of them with bald spots, or at least very shaggy and patchy. We also spotted a few deer on the other side of the valley that looked far larger, healthier and had a more red brown coat, as opposed to the grey of the available ones. Note that these two groups weren't separated by anything more serious than a standard fence that I've seen them get past before.

The photo attached is of the group I was eyeing up, unfortunately the quality isn't much but maybe the colour will help identify them?

Potentially can be explained by poor feed and losing the winter coat, plus fallow are just very small deer? (again, little to no experience) I'm heading back out there in a few weekends so if the consensus is positive, will knock one over and get a closer look.