Bag of antlers produced in court as sex of deer shot in field is disputed

A bag of deer antlers was produced at a sitting of Kenmare District Court yesterday in a vigorously-contested case over whether a wild deer shot in a local field was male, female, or a male without antlers.

John Foley, aged 47, of Tullig, Kenmare, Co Kerry, denied hunting an exempted mammal without a licence, a Sika stag, out of season, on February 1, 2015. The season for male Sika with antlers closed on December 31, but that for female or antlerless deer closed at the end of February, the court heard.

The court was told that a Cork hobby hunter, Barry Raymond, sitting “in” a hedgerow to stalk female deer risking a newly- sown field, heard a sudden shot after a young stag entered the field. The shot came from the public road and after it came a man with a knife, he alleged.

He said the animal was a prickett, (a male around two years old ) and had 8-10 spikes on his antlers. He took the number of a parked car and made a complaint to Kenmare gardaí.

Mr Raymond, an experienced licensed hunter, insisted he had a clear view at all times and was sitting “in” the hedgerow in lands directed by the landowner, and not behind it, as Conor Murphy, solicitor for Mr Foley, suggested during cross-examination.

“I saw the deer being shot, but I didn’t see who shot the deer,” Mr Raymond told the court.

His client would say he was there and did indeed fire a shot, but did not shoot the animal in question, Mr Murphy said.

Mr Foley said he was an experienced hunter with valid licences for hunting and shooting and had landowners’ written permissions. He had shot a female calf, not a male. He was using his knife to bleed the deer. Mr Foley denied he had shot the animal from the public roadway, and had been shooting from a wooded area at the other side of the hill to Mr Raymond.

Defence witness William Walsh of Fenit, Tralee, saw from 7ft away a deer without antlers in the back of Mr Foley’s van. He would have noticed if the deer had stubs or the antlers, he said.

Mr Walsh introduced a bag of antlers and a measuring tape to display the various stages of growth of a Sika stag antlers.

Judge James O’Connor dismissed the case, citing a conflict of evidence.