OT Coffee House

Hi folks,

A frosty and foggy morning here in London.

So to answer people’s questions.

Muntjac are an invasive species in the UK and damage understory foliage which really helps birds. They Also love getting at crops like turnips / swedes and sugar beat.

Muntjac breed very quickly:

-          7 month cycle

-          Females can get pregnant from 8 months and can conceive within days of giving birth

-          Breed all year round

So, control is a major issue for numbers as females can reproduce 3 times in 2 years.

Sizewise - Adults are 10kg (22lb)  to 18kg (40lb) and  44cm (17”) to 52cm (20”) at shoulder (And in fact the larger end of those measurements is quite rare).

 The other thing I would say is they are quite a primitive Asian deer so don’t have very developed front shoulders and because they are not a large animal I tend to shoot them through the shoulders (They hang around cover and can really bury themselves if they run and if you go for the heart / lung shot behind the shoulder you don’t have much margin to get it wrong and not be in the smelly stuff).

 So, between 6 of us, we can use the meat as not much meat on each deer. I have 3 freezers, for example as well so will last a while.

ATB,

Scrummy