A gruesome Discovery

The atmosphere in the woods where I see the deer was muted this afternoon.  No roaring of the dominant stag, even the birds were quiet.  A persistent light rain pattered agains the leaf canopy while I remained dry beneath.  It took some time to come across any deer.  This is the 10 pointer from previous images, but this time he had started to dress his antlers with thin strands of long grass.  You might also be able to see the absence of the end of his right bow tine.  I must admit I only noticed this on reviewing the image on my computer.  He was alone so had obviously lost the hinds I'd seen him with last week.

The only other deer I saw were a hind and calf in another area who soon disappeared into deep undergrowth on becoming aware of my presence.

It was on my way back to the car that I noticed some movement in deep grass off the track.  A bird was pecking away at what looked like a mound of earth.  It was unusual behaviour so I tried to get closer to investigate.  It was then I began to doubt my first identification of the mound and I soon realised it was a deer.  Actually a dead deer, a stag and a young one with only 6 points (see extra).

Obviously it is the rutting season, so my immediate thought was a casualty of the fighting between the stags, but I can't be sure.  I couldn't see any puncture wounds, save for the loss of his right eye.  It was also an area with little space to engage in rutting, though it may have survived from fighting in another area long enough to die in the deep grass.