The Fallow Deer rut of 2009.

I missed out on the Fallow Deer rut of last year due to work commitments. When I had got out things just were not happening, so this year I was determined to keep a careful eye on proceedings and try to time it better. So on the evening of the 27th of October, when I expected things to be happening, I had a drive around the forest's, stopping at certain places to listen out for the tell tale sounds of the buck's bellowing on their rutting stands. Over the years I have got to now where quite a few stands are within the different forests in my area. It was very encouraging as I heard several different bucks bellowing in different areas.

First light the next morning and I was creeping through a block of mixed woodland in search of a rutting buck. I had heard it bellowing occasionally in the dark when I had parked up. Now it was a question of moving a few yards, then stopping to listen while all the while keeping all senses alert to the slightest movement or noise. It wasn't long before I came across a rutting stand but with no resident buck. So I moved on and then came to a much better stand that was obviously being well used.

I kept well back from the stand and just sat to watch. Although the bellowing had been coming from that area, there was no buck in sight. I suspected that it was a fairly small buck that was in its first breeding year as the bellowing had not sounded deep enough for a good mature master buck. As is often the case with these younger bucks, they get onto a stand and then after a bit of a show get bored and wander off if no doe's appear. Sometimes though after a while they may wander back to the stand, and this is what I was now waiting and hoping for.

A Muntjac crossed the back of the stand first of all, and then a Fallow buck showed itself. This was only a yearling, a pricket, and was just investigating the stand. Then another movement caught my eye. A Fox. I quite often see them at rutting stands and I think they get attracted by all the noise and the smell and just come to have a nose. This one came straight towards me and I was able to get a couple of quick shots before it realised the danger and slipped away. Then the buck that had been bellowing came wandering back through, and as I had expected was a medium sized buck probably in his first or second rutting season. He hung around for about quarter of an hour and then wandered off again. I took the chance and left too, having got a few shots to be going on with.

The next morning I was in a totally different area with open heathland on the edge of mixed forestry. I was again there before first light, and in the darkness could hear three different buck's bellowing within a mile radius. The first one I went for had moved off before I could get a sighting of it. The second one though I got to within twenty metres of! As it started to get light, a thick fog rolled in off of the sea and this gave me the chance to get into a very good position unseen under a tree on the edge of the heathland. I could hear the buck out in front of me moving around, but was only getting the odd glimpse of him through the fog. I could see that he was not a very big buck but I was hoping to get a shot of him in the fog. He then duly obliged just at the moment the fog opened up, walking past me no more than twenty metres away. He was so close that he stopped on hearing the shutter and looked straight towards me. Still though he did not see me because of the camoflauge and the mist, plus I did not dare move a muscle!

During all this time, I could hear another buck bellowing in the nearby woodland but had not as yet seen him. The sun finally came up above the horizon and then the other buck put in an appearance. He had sounded like he may have been a much bigger animal, and so he was. I had at last found a master buck! He came out onto the heath, rounded up a couple of doe's, and went back to the woodland. This was an opportunity not to miss, so the stalk was on! As it happened, he was over a rise and down in a slight depression right on the edge of the woodland. I have to say that this was one of the easier stalks, and I got into a really good position about seventy metres away, in about half an hour.

Over the next hour and a half or so, I took as many pictures as I wanted of the master buck and his doe's along with other smaller buck's that were hanging around the fringes of the stand. Once the sun was up properly, they all eventually wandered off into the safety and cover of the woodland and I came away very happy with what I had got and had seen. It was not the last I was to see of that buck though. As I walked back to my truck around the edge of the heathland, he came back out of the woodland and trotted across the heath probably in search of more doe's. In doing so, I was able to close the gap where he was going to cross in front of me, to about forty metres.

I got set ready to take a couple of quick shots, but when he saw me he just stopped dead and stared straight at me! I was able to get several shots as he stood staring, before he just carried on his way seemingly not at all put off by my ugly mug! I had had a superb morning but that was to be the last one of the rut. I got out again on the morning of the 4th of Noveember, but despite stopping and wandering around at three different areas, all had gone quiet. It did not mean the rut was over as this often happens with the wild Fallow. They get very active and then they seem to stop, only for them to get active and vocal again a few days later. It was however the last chance I had to get out during this rut, but I had got more than enough in two short but very enjoyable Autumn mornings.