Encountered on the trail

Came across this skeleton of a young buck Sika Deer yesterday as I was hiking across the Kitayama Mountains at the western end of the Shimane peninsular. Every time Ive hiked here I have seen deer, and one time when I slept out there I had them running by me all night as I slept on a small piece of open ground..

It may have died a natural death, or it may have been fatally injured in a territorial dispute with another buck. They no longer have any natural predators.

The name Sika Deer comes from the japanese word for deer, shika. There are not many in the mountains of shimane, but this little range of mountains is like an island and it is well populated with them.