The deer rut

It's pretty much over now, and the sounds of antlers clashing and the calls of the males (bucks) can no longer be heard across the park as the bucks in our herd of fallow deer try to assert their dominance over each other. It’s an amazing sight, and here are some of the great pictures we’ve been sent…

 Tim Cook

 

 Dave Vadis via Twitter

                                           Film and photos from Tim Holyoake via Facebook

During the rut the most dominant buck will take up position of the centre of the rut surrounded by females (does), he’ll then work to keep his position and group of does as other bucks challenge him. Not all the bucks will challenge, some take up positions further out and simply wait to see if does move toward them, and other bucks will break out into smaller groups.

It can look brutal, but they’re aiming to show their strength rather than cause injury. You might also see them walking in parallel to size each other up before rutting and often one will decide to back down if the other looks a lot bigger!

If you’re going to watch the deer, make sure to give them plenty of space and please keep dogs on leads.