Taken in Anija Rural Municipality, in Harju County and only around 40 kilometers from Tallinn, the nighttime camera footage shows a lone roe deer charging across a snowy landscape, with the two predators in hot pursuit.

Viewers can decide for themselves how the chase might have panned out from the video from the Estonian hunting society, in the player below.

There are an estimated 29 wolf packs in Estonia at present, making for overall numbers in the hundreds, but their food base as apex predators is becoming increasingly scarce, including roe deer numbers.

According to the Environmental Board, the population of roe deer on the mainland is so low that hunters were advised to significantly limit hunting this season.

Meanwhile, the board has upped the hunting quota for wolves to a little over 100 animals, albeit over a culling season half as long as usual as the result of a legal challenge.

As a result, hunters say they remain uncertain whether it will be possible to sufficiently curb the wolf population to an optimal level.

While nearly 21,000 deer were hunted in Estonia in 2022, the catch from the most recent hunting season was below 4,800.

New roads not only linking to local places, plus a growth in traffic, also account for some of the deer deaths each year.

How well the roe deer population recovers and whether the restricted hunting and predator control will bring balance to nature will become clearer as spring fully arrives, Maaleht reported, though the survival of wolves and other predators which depend on roe deer is likely to come under greater pressure still.

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