Poor Park, Essex
I noticed movement and instantly knew it was a muntjac although I couldn’t see it. These were my local woods and I knew there were a couple of individuals. I was carrying my video camera and sneaking through the waist-high grass.
I stopped and listened. The muntjac did the same (or so it seemed) and for what seemed like a very long time nothing moved and all was quiet. The sun was warm and there was next to no wind. I lowered myself down very slowly from a low crouch position to kneeling. Still nothing. My eyes searched the areas in front of me. Nothing.
I had heard that blowing on a blade of grass through your thumbs produced the same effect as the crying of a muntjac fawn. I had never tried this out – but now seemed a good time to do so.
I slowly put the camera down and picked a blade of grass. I put it between my thumbs and prepared to blow. I took a deep breath. A satisfactory, loud squeaking sound came from between my thumbs… then… all hell broke loose! I saw the grass move and there was a thunderous noise as something came through the bushes directly at me. In a blur a brown thing the size of a dog rushed past me. I felt the wind and I smelt a smell. I threw myself back and to one side instinctively and I’m pretty sure I yelped at the same time!
I lay on my side slightly stunned. Had I just witnessed what I thought I had witnessed? I checked the camera. It was still running! I played it back. It showed a picture on it’s side after I had laid the camera down on the ground to pick the blade of grass. It had recorded the screeching of the grass blowing through my thumbs. It had recorded the commotion and a brown shape of a creature charging through the brush barking at the same time. And, embarrassingly, it had recorded a human yelp and, might I add, a few expletives. Yes! I had definitely just been charged by a sabre-tooth deer!
extracted from “Master Tracker” – published by Apple Books
