Between mid-October and mid-November, a special spectacle takes place in our forests.

The peak is usually around the end of October—but that depends on many factors. So we are definitely in the right time frame.

This is the time of the fallow deer rut—a special concert of nature. And who knows, maybe cranes and wolves will join in—for a concert of nature.

It goes without saying that we don't just drive through the forest to this extraordinary event. Instead, we are accompanied by experienced hunters and/or foresters. We drive the vehicles close to the destination and then walk to the target area under the guidance of the professionals.

For those who are already concerned - the distances involved are not particularly long. However, we do not want to disturb the animals, nor will we do so. Instead, we will quietly approach on foot to listen to this spectacle.

An experience that will truly leave a lasting impression!

---

General information

Source: Pirsch.de

An annual natural spectacle is the fallow deer rut from mid-October, which is very impressive, not only from a hunting perspective. Observations at large rutting grounds are particularly impressive, when several hundred does and a few dozen dominant stags concentrate in a small area. The fallow deer rut is also very appealing because it is less sensitive to disturbance than red deer and the animals are active practically all day long during this period. In sparse old-growth forests, the peak season for antler shaving can therefore be experienced particularly intensely.

Even though the peak mating season does not begin until October 20, the pre-rut phase is already decisive for a stag. This is because whether stags are ultimately successful depends in part on their ability to dominate during the pre-rut phase. Deer that can occupy high positions in deer herds will also be more assertive during the rut. This corresponds primarily with body mass, which in turn is a prerequisite for strong antlers. A 50 kg fallow deer is simply not physiologically capable of pushing four kilograms of antlers. Strong deer, on the other hand, can. Under ideal conditions, they can even reach five kilograms and more. Accordingly, they can form up to 10 g of antler mass per day. For weak deer, it is only about half that amount.

Strong stags usually arrive at the rutting grounds before the actual rut begins, i.e., in the first half of October. Younger and weaker stags often arrive a few days later. Stags generally tend to return to the same rutting grounds year after year. However, if there are other rutting grounds nearby, they will also be used. The attractiveness of a rutting ground depends primarily on the rutting activity there. Does and stags tend to leave a rutting ground if there is little activity and look for another one. This characteristic also favors the formation of large rutting grounds.

Whether a stag can secure many mounts depends largely on whether it is able to occupy a central area of a rutting ground. These are highly contested among stags. Individual deer often only have areas of less than 100 square meters at their disposal, with a rutting hollow at the center. These areas are intensively marked and defended against other deer. However, this does not mean that these areas are never left. Studies show that only about one-third of all matings take place in the deer's “own territory.”

The center of a rutting ground is very attractive because that is where the female deer are concentrated. From the age of five, fallow deer are able to occupy a rutting hollow and defend it for up to two weeks. However, the road to becoming a successful rutting stag is very long. Less than a quarter of stags even reach the necessary age of at least four years to be able to actively participate in a rut. Only about ten percent of fawns manage to reproduce successfully later in life.

If a fallow deer population is normally structured in terms of age, stags between 6 and 8 years old dominate the rutting season. They can successfully occupy rutting hollows and are also involved in most conflicts. Many confrontations are decided in the early stages and do not even lead to a fight. Over 80% of confrontations end this way. This is because stags are very good at assessing the condition of their opponents through ritualized elements (such as parallel walking).

However, intense rutting behavior can still lead to fierce fighting. When many evenly matched stags gather, the dominant males engage in combat approximately every two hours on average. There are also documented cases of stags fighting well over 20 times a day. Statistically speaking, the initiator of a fight is about twice as likely to win it. This suggests that fallow deer are also very good at assessing their own fighting abilities. So if a fight looks promising, it will be fought. While the sizing up of opponents can take a long time, the actual fight is relatively short, lasting up to three minutes.

Since deer consume little or no food during the rutting season, they experience drastic weight loss. On average, they lose a quarter of their body mass during this period. This is also the reason why fights between unequal opponents usually only occur towards the end of the rutting season. By then, even less powerful deer are able to challenge the increasingly exhausted dominant males. Nevertheless, the reproductive success of middle-aged and young deer is very low overall. In one study, these deer were involved in less than one percent of matings with does and often only play a secondary role (Jennings et al. 2004).

Very old deer prefer to stay on the periphery of a rutting ground. There, they try to monopolize individual animals or smaller herds of does without attracting too much attention. Not infrequently, they defend them from rivals in a similar way to red deer. The “red deer strategy” therefore also occurs to some extent in fallow deer. However, their reproductive success usually remains modest. In general, the reproductive success of fallow deer declines from the age of nine. The aging process now progresses rapidly and the natural end is near. At the end of a deer's life, a successful specimen may have sired over 100 calves. (McElligott & Hayden 2000).