The Rut.

     
                                                        
                                                                              The Roe Deer.

We are coming up to the end of the month and the weather has been fantastic, if you like it hot. The temperature has been well up in the 70s and 80s this is a bit to hot for me. However there is one animal that likes these hot and humid days and if there is a chance of the weather turning thundery then it likes it even more. What animal you might ask likes this weather, well it is the Roe Deer ( Capreolus capreolus ) the European roe deer is a relatively small member of the deer species in the U-K, standing at around 30inches high with a body weight of 33 - 77 lb. Its coat, referred to as pelage in the summer is of a bright red colour like a fox. In the winter months it turns to a dark grey. Both sexes have a white rump patch that they flick out when alarmed. On the female ( doe ) it is heart shaped and on the male the ( buck ) it is kidney shaped. They also let out a bark like a dog when alarmed.
                                           

A Roe Buck in its
summer coat.

A group of Roe Deer in
their winter coat.

 Only the male has antlers that are short and erect that grow from its pedicles, a part of the frontal bone of the skull and at the base of the antler is the coronet.

Antler terms of a Roe Deer.

 The antler is cast each year usually between October and December with new growth commencing straight away and being completed by March or April. When the new antlers are growing they are covered with velvet, a thin layer of tissue containing nerves and blood vessels. Once the new antler has reached its full size the velvet starts to fray and fall off. This is an irritation to the animal and it will find a tree stem that it can rub its antlers up and down on to help get rid of it quicker.

A buck shedding its velvet.

This is called fraying and to the owner of a wood that is managed for its timber the damage to trees especially in a plantation can kill a young tree or inhibit its growth. As the animal ages its antlers improve, they grow thicker and develop the tines ( points ) on each one: brow, top and back point with the pearling becoming more pronounced. The coronet also gets bigger and when the animal has reached maturity at about seven years of age they will eventually meet. Some males never develop their antlers or only grow single spikes.  These are often referred to as 'Murder Bucks'.  The reason for this is that in a fight with another buck because its antlers have no points on them to catch in the antler of the other animal, it can cause severe damage to the other animal that may result in its untimely death. Sometimes an animal may have a problem with the growth of its antlers. It may be hormone related or due to a number of different reasons and it becomes malformed or it becomes a perruque. The deer manager in each of these circumstances will endeavour to remove this animal when carrying out his culling duties.

A Roe Buck with a good head.

A Perruque.

A Murder Buck.

A malformed head.

                                                                                  The Rut.

It is at this time of the year that the bucks become restless and let off steam by increased fraying activity and barking loudly at other deer. Sometimes fights will occur if there is more than one male in an area and there is a doe present. If a buck finds a doe in his area and she is ready to mate then a very hectic chase begins with the buck following the doe. During these chases and at other times when the doe wants to attract a buck she often makes a high pitched squeaking noise and the buck responds with a wheezing sound like someone with asthma. Quite often these chases take place around a stump of an old tree or a bush or an anthill and as they run around it they make a circular or a figure of eight track. This is referred to as a roe ring. After a while the doe may allow the buck to mount her. After several attempts, if she is ready, then she will allow copulation to take place. Although the mating with the buck of her choice may have been a successful one she may do it again with one or more bucks. The doe is monoestrous, only coming in to season once a year. The rutting activity is most likely to be seen during the day when the weather is warm and dry or thundery, hence this time of the year being called the rut in the roe deer. The roe deer breeding calendar is different to other deer species like Red, Fallow and Sika that have their rut in October with the fawns being born in June and July where as in roe deer the young are born in April, May and July.

Mother and triplets.

A Roe fawn.

                                                                             After the Rut.

Once the rut has taken place and all activity has ended, usually by the middle of August, the bucks seem to disappear for a period of (3 or 4 weeks ) although some individuals may continue to pursue any doe in the area on the off chance that she may still be receptive. Sometimes in late september there is again signs of rutting activity and this is known as the false rut. It is usually the activity of very young bucks and seldom lasts more than a few days. The doe if she has been successfully mated will take nearly ten months between the rut and giving birth to her young.  The roe deer uses a method known as delayed implantation this means the fertilised egg she carries inside her increases slowly in size, and from August till December it remains floating free in the maternal uterus. In mid December the embryo is still small about 20mm in length. Around Christmas time it then becomes attached to the wall of the uterus and it will then develop normally, to give birth towards the end of April through to July.