Fallow Rut 24

[Chill 123]

Hi all
any one seen any signs of the Fallow rut beginning ? I have seen scrapes but not a lot of movement .I know its a little bit early to hear grunting . With the forecast of high temperatures in the coming week , in past experience this has put a dampener on a good rut. I would welcome your views and observations . If you can add what part of the country you are commenting from ?

Chill

 

[VSS]

First grunts from my park bucks yesterday.

 

[paulbshooting]

Bucks are about but no grunting or obvious rutting here in south hampshire, on my ground anyway

 

[Donkey Basher]

Bucks are about but no grunting or obvious rutting here in south hampshire, on my ground anyway

Ditto

 

[Klenchblaize]

Nothing yet from my black, white and sand coloured bucks.

K

 

[griff]

Was down in Cheltenham last week(4th Oct), grunting just getting started, plenty of spikers, the big boys haven't shown up yet..
Shot 14(meat gathering for the shop) only one had that lovely irredescent yellow gunge,you know, the stuff we would love to rub all over ourselves..

 

[NoIDeer]

They were strutting around, chasing, belching etc. nothing full on at Bradgate Park, Leics. last Sunday. The reds were still at it too, in fact one confused stag was rounding his does up!

 

[Ratel]

Buck on stand grunting for an hour last Friday evening.

 

[VSS]

Going at it pretty strong this morning.

 

[cjm1066]

Frist groaning on Sunday in Rockingham Forest

 

[DavyG]

Was down in Cheltenham last week(4th Oct), grunting just getting started, plenty of spikers, the big boys haven't shown up yet..
Shot 14(meat gathering for the shop) only one had that lovely irredescent yellow gunge,you know, the stuff we would love to rub all over ourselves..

I think you’re on the wrong forum sweetie…

 

[Chris11]

Rutting down with us in Hampshire the weekend, grunting and a few bucks we took were definitely starting

 

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

I heard grunting in Devon on Saturday and on Sunday I took a pricket with both spikes freshly snapped off.

 

[wirehair]

A lot of grunting in Perthshire last week.

 

[Shootgun]

They were grunting yesterday morning in East Sussex

 

[VSS]

Bucks fighting like mad this morning.

 

[pendle]

First grunts from my park bucks yesterday.

They have been grunting in the valley since early last week

 

[paul k]

I’m interested in this thread as I was out in Tatton Park on Monday (14th) photographing what I believe to be the tailing off of the red rut. Only a few stags were actively controlling groups of up to 40 hinds and roaring and quite a few of the bigger boys seemed disinterested and were lying down giving the occasional roar. They had apparently started in the last couple of weeks of September and I assumed that the biggest stags were rutted out.

The guy on the gate said that the fallow rut hadn’t started and I saw a few middle aged bucks still in loose bachelor groups, and a couple of big bucks lying out on the meadow completely alone and no croaking to be heard. This and the generally warm weather led me to believe that the big bucks lying alone were possibly about to establish territories and that a couple of cold nights would probably kick it off. However, on another forum a couple of people reported fallow bucks in Tatton Park fighting and croaking some weeks ago, they might have confused them with the reds, one would hope that people with an interest in deer would know the difference but it got me thinking. On the other side of the argument when I reviewed some footage of a red stag I noticed a mature fallow buck with a limp in the background that might have suggested a rutting injury but of course there are many ways that it might have been injured. He was with a small group of does but no rutting behaviour.

I know that there are regional variations and most of my experience is in Wales where I wouldn’t expect any real activity in September and in a typical year the middle of October would be at some point in the rut and I'm pretty certain that the fallow in Cheshire would not be out of sync with those in North Wales.

Any views?

 

[Del Boy]

Fallow Bucks on my ground just started grunting this week. Hampshire/Berkshire border.

 

[dryan]

Full on rut here. I somehow drove the landrover into a gulley and got stuck in a 45 degree position early this morning. Whilst waiting for a buddy to come with a tractor (not the 1st time ), I heard a buck grunt like mad, at points I'd say only 30 metres away from me in a wood. Went up to the same spot this evening and was able to get up to edge of wood to cover the area he was in, but he seemed to have moved further into the forestry so no luck!

Somewhat cautious of getting too close in the wood, has anyone ever been charged by a buck during the rut. Our fallow here do up to 90kg larder weight so Id imagine 110+ when alive.