It's begun, i spent 30mins within 30ft of a group of 10 stag last week, the big boy a Royal, was thrashing the dead bracken with his antlers and occasionally doing a short charge at the others to show his supremacy, he was clearly the bigger and stronger male, the others were only a few years old.

At one point one of the younger fellas walk directly at me, i was hidden on the edge of the bracken, but within 16ft of me i was seen and he turned ond jumped through the air, alerting the others. For a moment they all looked towards me, then resumed feeding and practice rutting right of me, a few wandered off to their evening feeding place.

Mean while the big lad was in dip in front of me, he movements getting closer till suddenly he walked up and to my right and passed me no more than 12ft away, with nothing but a cheap mobile on me i tried a last minute photo, despite knowing it would be a terrible pic, the moment the shutter audio sound went off the Beast looked at me a thundered off into the wooded combe.

What an awesome experience

Meanwhile a week later one of this years young sits peacefully in the Autumn sun.

Till some nut with a camera scares it, mother will protect me.

Cool

Dangerous buggers tho'

I only ever had to deal with Sika and white fallow in rut so was never as bothered

We rode past 2 rutting males in the new forest on a night ride (weren't massive; def not reds though we have some in there) passed within about 3ft of them & they didn't even stop to look up. Separated at one point but just went straight back into it.

would've been awesome if I could see it properly (no helmet light & my bar light was fading)

We ride past rutting males all the time in car parks in the West Mids……

Stunning pic's there Sharki

BTW i will be in trouble with the missus because I was so impressed with the camera I have got one to, and she does'ntknow yet 😕

Good to see you back to

Seeing it in the flesh and hearing the noise is an experience I'll never forget.
Lovely pictures.

Went out this evening to a point i know the stags are very vocal, an exposed new plantation area, with alot of grass amongst the 6 ft tall young fir trees, a prime location for a stag to keep his hareem feed during the rutting season, saw them pretty earlier on and at least 3 stag were hanging around the larger male, one looking to be it's close equal.

They're very alert and active right now so getting close wasn't easy, best chance was waiting for them to be near a tree line and cutting up through the dark forest, which i did, using there deep rumbling calls as a guide to where they were.

He saw me early on and i didn't get too close as he didn't take his eye off me, not the biggest of stags and he won't be a Royal stag till next season but an awesome beast all the same.

After a few warning calls he grunted to the others and the moved off away from me, once they were out of sight i moved forwards to where they'd headed to, slowly and doing a 360 degree check every 10 metres i carried on, the calls stopped and i didn't see them again, just sight of a solitary young stag following the scent of the ladies.

Being within the stags rutting domain was a risky thing to do, i'm mad i tell thee.

I heard them roaring when i was out with the family on saturday afternoon, cant wait for my light's to arrive so i can get scared shitless by the roars at night when out by myself 😆

What a fantastic experience sharki 8) Do be careful though!

I used to work on the edge of a forest and regularly saw up to 50 fallow deer. It was interesting at rutting time with the bucks strutting around and sorting out the pecking order.

I also had the most amazing experience of watching two roe deer actually mating, despite them knowing they were being watched from a distance. Had my binoculars fixed on them and felt like some sort of voyeur.

Please post up any more pics you are able to sneakily take 🙂

Not on the tox but a somerset fella all the same.

I've rescently heard talk of a sika deer on the Q's so am quite keen on finding where, also i've pretty much tracked down the Munjac now, but trying to spot the little bu66ers is proving not so easy.

And i've now found two red deer stag antlers not a pair but now know where i'll be looking when they come to shed them at the end of the winter.

Wow – that's some fallowbuck 8)

Yeah, the muntjac are different. Have seen a few recently – Chilterns and the Test Valley. They are prolific breeders so there's plenty of them around. They bark like a small dog when alarmed.

Any chance of you holding on to those antlers for me please? Or passing them to oldfart?

Are there any sika deer in the West Country? Can't say I've ever seen any.

Had a fantastic experience a couple of weeks ago, did a good ride from Fort Willy & bothied at Meanachan. At dusk we could hear a couple of stags roaring from either side of the glen. Could only make out one of them as darkness fell though.
Gave me goosebumps it did!

I'll let you have one of the antlers Elaine, but incase i never find another i'd like to hold on to one at least, they're off to school tomorrow so my boy can show the class and tell them a little about them.

There was no Munjac seen during this years count, but they are about away from the main hill.

I was speaking to one of the hunt people during Thursdays hunt and she said there's been a sika spotted somewhere, would be nice if there is a few about to breed.

I love the rutt and can spend hours listening and tracking their movements, have found a few wallows now so will end up camping out in a tree and hoping for a good sight.

Well, last night things got tense.

I headed to where i've seen the stag living as a all male community, as it has a good wallow for them all to get muddy in.

Creaping through the leafy woodland wasn't to easy nad with bellowing soming from all directions i knew there was a few about there.

On getting to the wallow, i could hear a stag up in the hill more and one big one roaring from the other side of the combe floor.

Suddenly a clash of antlers alerted me to a little action down the combe from me beyond a small ridge, as i got over the ridge the fight was in the spring water but beyond some trees a little so i could only see there legs.

The hinds were very alert so i could advance further, then across from me a young 5 yr old stag appeared to me left, he was focused on the action below and didn't see me, i was to far from a tree so crouched and watch what he was doing. I was now more than aware there will of been more stag around me, hoping to sneak a chance with the hinds but it was too late i was there in the middle of.

The young stag rounded the trees and ran towards me, slowly raising my camera and trying to set a focus point the stag suddenly spotted me from just 10ft away turned and bolted away from me..Phew!! moment later a hind did exactly the same.

Meanwhile the two down below me were still at it and i became aware i really wasn't in the best place.

The fighting pair eventually sorted out who was the better and a harsh grunt signaled to his hareem that it was time to head up to the grassy feeding grounds above, i climbed and old oak and waited in hope for a return of one of the others, but with failing light and a wonderous orange sky forming i chose to head out and upwards.

By now there was bellowing from many directions and on the way back to the car, dark silhouettes of stag and hind appeared on the ridgelines all around.

The roars echoed across the hills as they answered each others challenges as warning retorts and to say, 'hey ladies, hear me roar'.

No pics of the deer only some fly agaric and the sky after sunset.

sharki – thanks so much for starting this thread. I have really enjoyed reading it and seeing your pics. Reckon you are wasted – get in contact with the BBC and put yourself up for presenting Autumn Watch!!

Being amongst that rut must have been a tremendous experience, allbeit a bit scary at times.

You need to see the size of the antlers to appreciate what damage they could do, they can even cause death 😯

Is there only red deer on the Q's? Any fallow?

Next year I must come down to spectate these amazing creatures. Do keep updating us. Thanks.

Maybe i am wasted but not one to self promote, perhaps i could be Quantocks version of Jonny Kingdumb.

There are no Fallow on the hills, around 680 red deer, moslty hinds and calves, around 70 young stag of between 2 and 4 years and a couple dozen older stags. I've not seen anything older than 7 years old, which i guess was due to the hunt culling them over the years. which maintains a healthy balance.

There are roe deer but they live in the copses in the surrounding villages.

This evening was non productive for rut pics, i got out late and failing light/piss poor weather hampered chances.

However!

I wandered up from a different angle making the most of the wind direction. Upon cresting Longstone the bellows became clear, in the distance a dark figure could be seen, head up and antlers back, the roar echoing across the hills in warning to others, it's coat was much darker than that of the hinds in his harem and he was much bigger. The thick neck fur was prominent as he strutted around.
I watched him chase of a few challengers and he roared, warning them to not come back, however their desperation to mate was strong and time and time again i watched him try to sneak up from different angles to get a girl alone, though failed every time.

The big stag was alert and ready for every challenger, at moments of calm he mounted his hind, she was in season at last..But constant challenges meant a successful mating wasn't made.

The drizzle came and the light was poor, so i decided it was time to leave, as i stood and walked back, many antkers broke the faint horizon, though these were young stag and not ready to rut, next year boy or the year after, then your turn will come and maybe , just maybe………….

some crap pics from the night.

Glorious animals!

Thank God that in the UK they are a protected species.

You won't believe it, but in some countries rich people are allowed to chase them with packs of dogs until they'e exhausted, and then let the dogs tear them apart!

In some other countries, it's legal for rich people to obtain sexual pleasure by killing them with high-powered rifles.