Fallow buck and its hunting, for example by calling during the rut

The fallow deer plays an irreplaceable role in hunting grounds. It occurs almost all over Central Europe from the lowlands to the highlands. Its origin is from southern Europe to southwest Asia. The European fallow deer is a widespread species of cloven-hoofed game, which is commonly hunted both in the wild and in hunting grounds. Farming has a rich history, where it was imported and hunted for attractive trophies.

The fallow deer is not a very large animal. Its weight varies from 40 to 90 kg depending on the conditions. The height at the withers in males is 100 cm and the body length is 130 to 175 cm. Of course, its coloring is interesting and definitely not boring. Danek has countless color variants. From white, the usual spotted to black. In summer, the fallow deer is typically bloody on a rusty to brown background and changes color to a dark color with less prominent spots.

Fallow bucks shed their antlers at the end of April, in May, and young individuals only in June. Soon they will start to grow new ones. Fallow bucks get rid of skin on the antlers sometime in August or September.

Why hunt European fallow deer

The fallow deer is undoubtedly a very attractive game. Its antlers reach respectable dimensions and shapes, ideally shovel-shaped. Such fallow deer are called shovelers and stronger shovelers. The strongest antlers have a fallow buck between 6 and 10 years of its life. After these years, there is a retreat of strong shovels in favor of smaller and even more bitten ones. They are called "returners".

The best time to hunt fallow buck is during their rut, which starts at the beginning of October and peaks in the second half of October. Fallow bucks visit their favorite roosting grounds, which are mainly old growth forests or clear open spaces. Strong fallow bucks fight among themselves. This can have a mystical effect, when from the forest at night there are sounds typical of the impact of antlers, similar to the beating of trees against each other.

During their rut, you can hear rough calls from the woods, the so-called roaning, when fallow bucks typically call like this and let their mates know who is the boss here. Such a fallow buck gathers around itself a group of fallow deer females in the number of about 8 pieces.

Fallow buck and his hunt

The fallow buck can be hunted either by high tree stand or by game stalking. A fallow buck is a very smart animal, so you need to be careful when hunting. The fallow buck is undoubtedly hard to shot, so you can expect it to go far if you shot it badly. The usual calibers of the 6.5 mm, 7 mm, 7.62 mm, 8 mm and 9.3 mm series are hunted.

Its staying places are often forest complexes. On the other hand, during the summer, most of the time it is found in vast fields, where its antlers often protrude from the grain growth. He likes to look for canola and corn fields. Of course, after harvesting these crops, the fallow deer moves to the forest. He doesn't mind mature forests, but neither does he mind thickets.

Did you know that fallow deer can be calling during the rut?

Calling game as such works for many species of game, but some species are not so common. Fallow bucks calling works just before, during and just after the rut. That is, during the month of October, depending on local conditions. For example, a fallow deer females decoy works very well when a fallow buck comes after a fallow deer female. You can also try the fallow buck calling, which imitates the rival in its territory.

Of course, fallow deer are curious animals like any other, so they will come to look at you out of curiosity even outside of heat if you imitate the contact grunt of another male. On the contrary, during the rut you can imitate and provoke a territorial fallow bucks, which will certainly not leave you without a response.

In any case, these are other options for hunting European fallow deer, and you will definitely enjoy this type of hunting. Wild boars are expanding into new locations where they were not before. Thanks to this, hunters get new hunting opportunities and diversification of hunting experiences, and can thus try hunting with the help of a fallow deer and communicate with it in this way. It can be an alternative to deer baiting, but not everyone has the opportunity to be close to a deer rut and thus enjoy exceptional natural scenery.

We hope you found this article useful.

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