Well, it certainly didn't turn out to be the run I had planned. About 7 miles into my 13 mile run, pretty much in the middle of nowhere saving a few farms dotted here and there I suddenly heard some ferociously loud growling. At this point I hadn't seen Rommel for the last 60 yards so I realised that it must've been him up to something. Because most of my runs are miles away from roads, Rommel is always off lead and it doesn't bother me whether he is in front or behind me when I run as he generally follows the track I am on regardless. However, just lately he has taken to running off after pheasants or other birds he sees in the distance so I just assumed that is what had happened. I immediately stopped running and started to call him but the growling was not stopping. Backtracking I realised that he had gone through the hedge between fields and I could just about see him wrestling with something on the ground. My first thought was that he was in a fight with a fox, I was pretty sure it wasn't another dog as we were more than half a mile from the nearest farm and no other people were in sight. The hedge was pretty thick at this point but I realised that it was not a fox as it was far too big. My heart then skipped a beat as my next thought was that he had hold of a sheep and I must admit my blood ran cold at this point, especially as I could hear a tractor in the distance; I had visions of an angry farmer taking pot-shots at him. Still trying to call him off from whatever it was, he wasn't listening to me mostly I think because he couldn't see me the hedge was so thick. I moved down another 10 yards or so where the hedge thinned out and then at this point I realised he had hold of a fully grown deer. The poor animal was flat out on the ground and still alive. I finally managed to call him off when he saw me peering through the hedge at him and the deer was trying to scramble up but was getting nowhere. I was really hoping by this point that the thrashing around meant the deer was in its death throes but unfortunately not. So, now what to do? The weather was terrible, a howling wind and pissing down with rain. The deer was on its side just the other side of a hedge bordering a bridleway which itself was transecting two large fields. There was absolutely nobody in sight and I didn't think there was any way I was going to be able to humanely dispatch it with my bare hands. So, I did the only thing I could do and retraced my steps back to the farm I had passed nearly a mile before in the hopes that the fields I was running through belonged to him. I finally got to the farm yard and I could hear a tractor working but couldn't for the life of me see it. Then, having caught glimpse of the thing, I couldn't actually work out how to get to it. It was a bloody farce to be honest. Working my way round the farm yard I eventually managed to get to see the tractor driver where I was able to tell him about the deer and luckily the fields did belong to that farm. I explained the deer was down, still alive but very unlikely to get back up again. He promised to pass the message on to the farm owner so I left him to it. Of course, heading back off on the run again I had to pass the deer once more (Rommel now firmly on the lead) and I could see that it was still breathing. I felt so sorry for it but I didn't think there was any more I could do so I carried on with my run. About a mile or so down the road (about 10 minutes after I had passed the deer again) I heard a gun shot followed a few seconds later by another shot. No shots beforehand and no shots after it so I only hope that what I had heard was the farmer doing the decent thing and humanely ending the deer's life. I have been thinking about what happened all day and I honestly don't think Rommel brought the deer down himself. The deer was not in the field we were running through as I would've seen it and when I saw it it was only about 30 feet away from the hedge which meant that he would have had to startle it and bring it down within the space of a few seconds and I honestly don't think there is any way he would've managed that. To be fair he is 21 kilos of pretty much pure muscle from the amount of running he does, but it was obviously a fully grown deer which was probably twice as heavy and certainly three times (if not more) taller than him. I can only assume the poor thing was already dying and I wonder if we disturbed whatever had caught it as we were running towards it. I guess I will never know although I feel guilty enough that he was bothering it while it was led dying but with hindsight, while the amount of growling sounded dreadful, he clearly was not attacking it with any force as he did not have any blood on him. I do think he was more 'playing' with it and probably couldn't understand why it didn't get up and run away as for Rommel all the fun is in the chase.On a more positive note, I have to say the run was fantastic. It is a route I have done several times before but, without doubt, it was my best running of it to date. Despite the weather and the going I felt strong and powerful and I finished my run feeling fresh. If it hadn't been for that rather traumatic event as above, it would've been the perfect run.
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