ROE BUCK - ROE DEER - ROEBUCK - Capreolus capreolus

Hunting season is open: 15th Apr. to 30th Sept.

Average Trophy size is 350-500 gr.

Hunting style:

• Individual – from High Seat or Stalking

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Suggested calibers: 243W, 7x57, 7mm-08 Rem., .270 or 30/06

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Description

Habitat
The Roe Deer is very abundant in some areas of Europe, but absent from the countries of Ireland, Portugal and Greece It was originally a forest dweller but has adapted to live successfully in cultivated fields and the small woods created by man. There are three sub-species of Roe Deer: the European Roe Deer, the Siberian Roe Deer and the Chinese Roe Deer. The Siberian form is larger than the other two, and has antlers with more branches.

Physical Description
The Roe Deer has rather short, erect three-pronged antlers forked at the tips, and a reddish body with a grey face. Its hide is golden red in summer, darkening to brown or even black in winter, with lighter undersides and a white rump patch. Only the males have antlers, which are lost during winter, but which re-grow in time for the mating season. When the males' antlers begin to regrow, they are covered in a thin layer of velvet-like fur which disappears later on after the hair's blood supply is lost. Males may speed up the process by rubbing their antlers on trees, so that their antlers are hard and stiff for the duels during the mating season. Amasingly, roebucks are the only type of deer that can regrow their antlers during winter. Being a small deer, the Roe Deer stands from 26 to 30 inches, (66-76.2 cm) at the shoulder, can weigh between 37 and 65 lbs (15-30 kg), and attains a maximum life span (in the wild) of 3 to 10 years. The Roe Deer will spend most of its life alone, preferring to live solitary except when mating during the breeding season.

Behavior
The Roe Deer is primarily a nocturnal animal, very quick and graceful, living on high ground or mountains, although it may venture to grasslands and sparse forests. It feeds on mainly on grass, leaves, berries and young shoots, and is happy to graze during the night. When alarmed, it will bark a sound much like a dog and flash out its white rump patch. Rump patches differ between the sexes, with the white rump patches on females being heart shaped and on males, being kidney shaped. Males may also bark when attracting mates during the breeding season, often luring multiple does into their territory.

Usually Roe Deer live singly, or in small groups of less than ten. The females have territories of about 1km square, in which they stay in for most of the year. The edges are marked by using the scent glands on the head and tail, and by urinating. The males are more flexible, and have larger home ranges, these develop into territories in early spring but are abandoned during the rut.

The polygamous Roe Deer males clash over territories in early summer and mate in early fall. During courtship, when the males chase the females, they often flatten the underbrush leaving behind areas of the forest in the shape of a figure eight called roe rings. Males may also use their 9-inch antlers to shovel around fallen folliage and dirt as a way of attracting a mate. Roebucks enter rutting inappetance during the July and August breeding season. The males simply chase females that are in heat. Roe Deer are unique amongst the deer in that they have delayed implantation of the fertilised embryo. Some females have their eggs fertilised during the summer rut, and gestation is delayed until winter. For those females not fertilised during this time a second rut occurs in winter where they have a second chance. After a seven-month gestation period, females will usually give birth the following June, typically to two spotted fawns of opposite sexes. The fawns remain hidden in long grass until they are ready to join the rest of the herd when there is one, and they are suckled by their mother several times a day for about three months. These are nursed for 4-5 months.