The Red Deer Rut
Walking from our farm we are blessed to see red deer virtually every morning as we walk our dogs up to the moors.
There are large herds of red deer on the moors above the farm and small groups and solitary deer are usually to be found in the fields above our farm. As the UK’s largest land mammal, they are a spectacular sight a
nd a real treat to observe. The stags weigh up to 190kg and can have antlers up to 1m long!
Red deer stags cast their antlers in March / April and grow new ones for the new season. These are fully grown by August / September ready for the rut.
The rutting season, from late September to early November, is the best time to see red deer near our farm. At dawn and dusk you can hear the stags bellowing from the farm.
A few days ago we witnessed a superb display of the rut just above our farm. The Stags at this time of year are pumped full of testosterone and are competing to attract and retain harems of hinds to mate. The stags bellow to attract the females and warn competing males of their dominance.
We witnessed a large young stag with a group of 12 females. A rival male with two females entered the field and approached the larger group. The two males engaged in an elaborate display of dominance, parallel walking up down the field for a full five minutes punctuated by loud displays of bellowing. We were about 50 yards away watching closely. Normally this display will determine who is dominant and the lesser male will be chased away, only these two were evenly matched!
The deer started to fight. The fight is like a sumo bout. The stags lock horns and try to push the other deer in a show of strength. They try to gain the high ground to give them dominance. These two fought for five minutes with the younger larger male looking dominant and we thought it was all over when we heard a large crack. The dominant deer had lost an antler, left broken on the field. The fight continued and remarkably the one antler deer still managed to see off his rival.
Both deer were steaming with the effort by this point, but the younger one antler deer stayed with the enlarged harem of 14 females and the other stag was sent packing. I cautiously entered the field and retrieved the broken antler.
This morning the one antler deer had a harem of 18 females just above our farm and had managed to lose his other antler in another fight, just leaving him with two small broken stubs!
On top of the moors I have seen the most dominant deer with harems of up to 200 hinds with dozens of young pretenders trying to get some action at the edge of the herd.
If you do come to stay at the farm, then feel free to ask where the best locations are for seeing red deer. Be aware that the best time is definitely early in the morning (i.e. about 6.30 am).
