Sounds of the Season

In most locales it's the leaves falling and blowing around into piles, the winds from the south that suddenly turn to the Northwest, the many flocks of birds gathering up and heading south some so close you can hear their wings, while others so high only the faint sound of one talking to the other.

Here at Bur Oaks it's all of the above along with the sound of the Red Deer Stags "Roaring". Yes, it is the rut (breeding season) and they are extremely vocal. Each Stag tries to be louder, lower, and roar longer than the other. It is the manner in which they attract the opposite sex, female (the hind). This all begins between Sept 1st and 15th, by the end of Sept they are all practiced up and are at their very best.

By the second and third week in Oct. they become hoarse and sometimes nearly lose their voices. It isn't just their voices that become weaker. When our stags come in to get their antlers removed (that story for another time), before they go into the breeding groups with their respective hinds they weigh between 600-700 pounds. By mid Nov. when they are removed from the hinds they will weigh about 400 pounds. They can and do usually lose approximately 1/3 of their body weight during the rut.

Red Deer Hind gestation is 233 days, so I predict that from May 20-25, '09 we will be seeing lots of spots being born. They will start arriving about May 10th and can arrive up until about the second week in July.