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.

Deer of Miyajima

Miyajima, the popular tourist destination in the Inland Sea near Hiroshima City is home to many deer.

Since ancient times the island has been sacred, and it was only relatively recently that people were allowed to live there. Even now only the village around Itsukushima Jinja, the World Heritage site in the north-west of the island, is the only developed area on the island.

One consequence has been that the forests of Miyajima are virgin, a rarity in Japan. Another consequence is that the native deer have never been hunted, and so have no fear of humans.

The deer wander anywhere they want, and now that the hordes of tourists can buy food to feed the deer, they come into the village every day.

At night they return to the mountains and forest, and so are still wild, though at the same time quite tame.