The cloven hoof

      Everything is laid bare in winter and animals that pass on the lush headland grass in summer pass in secret and are hard to see in all of the tangle and profusion of growth. However the firm mud on the headlands in winter tells a different story and here there a very clear muntjac deer hoof imprints
      Needless to say the two Jack Russell Terriers don't need any hoof prints to know that the deer are there, they can smell them and set off following their scent trails completely ignoring the whistle and calls for them to return.
      Typical Jack Russells in other words. Usually it takes the loud rustling of the training treat reward bag to persuade them back so they aren't really training rewards but training bribes.

      One reason I don't want them cornering and confronting a muntjac deer is that the deer sport a set of very fine tusks and a friend's whippet saluki cross chased and cornered a muntjac and got severely gored and torn. Think of a small set of wild boar tusks and you are about right, not forgetting the antlers.
      Anyway, I keep telling them that a really good and long established wood pile can provide hours of rooting fun just forget the deer.