**3. Results**

The results of the descriptive statistics are summarized in Table 1. All the animals were killed between the end of January and the first of March, therefore, according to the reproductive physiology of the species, hinds were approximately at the third to fifth month of gestation. Age ranged from approximately two up to five years. Plasma levels of progesterone ranged from 1.9 to 7.48 ng/mL with a mean of 3.86 ng/mL (SD = 2.14), while plasma cortisol ranged between 0.4 ng/mL and 2.97 ng/mL (mean = 1.44 ng/mL SD = 0.96). On the other hand, the ranges of hair cortisol and P4 were respectively 0.03–0.55 pg/mg (mean = 0.29 pg/mg) and 41.68–153.57 pg/mg (mean = 73.05 pg/mg).


**Table 1.** Descriptive data of the red deer hinds and quantified hormones.

P4: progesterone; CORT: cortisol.

The Spearman rank correlation analysis, reported in Table 2, did not show any significant result aside from a significant correlation (*p* = 0.042) between hair concentration of P4 and the date of death, and a weak correlation, not statistically significant, between plasma concentrations of P4 and CORT.


**Table 2.** Spearman rank correlation coefficients (ρ) table with *p* values (95% C.I.).

Date of Death was reported according to the Julian calendar.
