Red Deer Camera on Saaremaa 2022 - 2023 - 2024

[Fleur]

viewtopic.php?p=913780#p913780

[rongike]

Jesper is back: https://hirvecam.blogspot.com/2022/04/jesper.html

He was the first to taste the hay, with Timothy and Nilson


Timothy, Travis, Troy


Mark and Jesper fighting, Karl, Nilson


More: https://www.tumblr.com/rongike/734778500042637312/

Biker, Fleur, IceAge

[IceAge]

16:41

[asteria]

Timothy has two antlers at last!

[IceAge]

23:07
fox on the right



23:10

[rongike]

Troy with multiple antlers






More pictures of the night: https://www.tumblr.com/rongike/734871889142480896/

[IceAge]

17:45

[Biker]

.


18:01 three stags eating hay, one standing in the background.
behind the feeder, no carrots there anymore



IceAge, rongike, asteria, Fleur

[Biker]

.
18:08

[Carla]

hello everyone. where do i find the camera??

and is the winterbirds camera already there?

[Hellem]

hello everyone. where do i find the camera??
and is the winterbirds camera already there?

Carla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eLuf16hSzM
The winter birds cam isn't working yet

[rongike]

Nilson and Ford with decorated antlers


A hind and calf, Timothy, and I think Jesper and Karl fighting in the back


Timothy is the new hay monster


More: https://www.tumblr.com/rongike/734956044303925248/

05:27 The camera stopped.

Carla, when they turn it on again the link can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Riigimets/streams

[rongike]

I'm sorry, this is a bit of a weird post. I didn't know if I should share it, so if it's too confusing/long feel free to skip!

I don't want to ruin anyone's mood, but I've been worried about the stags this season. So few of the older stags have returned compared to the beginnings of the previous 2 seasons. At first I thought it was just the warm weather but now that most of the younger stags are back, I'm starting to assume that the hunters have come here to collect trophies.

So, while thinking about this, I started to make some lists and I figured I would share them here too if I already made them.

First I made a list of the losses between the previous 9 seasons. I only included stags who have been regulars in the herd for at least 2 seasons, because I think those who are regulars for just 1 season are more likely to find new homes during the summer and not return the next season. Also my data for seasons 1-7 is only based on what I found in the forum, so I don't know how accurate it is, but I still left out a few of the stags I added to Hirvecam who did not seem like frequent visitors in their seasons. I also didn't include the stags who disappeared in the middle of the season.

Season 1: all 5 stags returned in season 2.
Season 2 (2014/15): 1 of those 5 (Frank) didn't return in season 3.
Season 3 (2015/16): 3 didn't return in season 4 (not counting Brian).
Season 4 (2016/17): 5 didn't return in season 5 (not counting Joshua).
Season 5 (2017/18): 3 didn't return in season 6 (not counting Ludwig and Fergus).
Season 6 (2018/19): 5 didn't return in season 7 (not counting Rudolph who disappeared in January).
Season 7 (2019/20): 3 didn't return in season 8.
Season 8 (2020/21): 2 (Belfred, Lurich) didn't return in season 9 (not counting Winston who disappeared in March).
Season 9 (2021/22): 4 (Craig, Harold, Sigmund, Simon) didn't return in season 10 (not counting Adam who died in March).

So the highest number of losses in the past has been 5 stags per season.

Season 10 (2022/23): 10 stags who have been frequent visitors for at least 2 seasons have not yet appeared in season 11. They are: Daniel, Elias, Forest, Julius, Norman, Rasmus Hubert II, Roland, Sander, Trevor, Tristan.

Based on this criteria only 9 stags have visited so far: Evert, Ford, Homer, Karl, Mark, Nilson, Timothy, Travis, Troy.
(Jesper and Gunnar only became regulars last season.)

After I made this list I also started wondering which of these 10 stags could still return, so I started making another list of who is more likely to return. I considered 2 things: how likely they are to have grown antlers that hunters desire for trophies, assuming they are not broken, and based on their previous visiting habits how likely they are to still be wandering around and just not have returned to the feeding ground yet. Both are in a scale of 1 to 5, so 1/5 for antlers means they are more likely to return, and 5/5 for wandering means they are more likely to return. But this is just my assumptions, anything is possible! Let's still wait for everyone!

Here's the list, starting from the most likely to still return:

Norman: antlers 1/5, wandering 3/5
Elias: antlers 3/5, wandering 5/5
Tristan: antlers 3/5, wandering 4/5
Daniel: antlers 4/5, wandering 5/5
Trevor: antlers 3/5, wandering 4/5
Forest: antlers 4/5, wandering 2/5
Julius: antlers 5/5, wandering 5/5, he could be easier to catch because of his knee injury
Sander: antlers 5/5, wandering 3/5
Roland: antlers 5/5, wandering 1/5
Rasmus Hubert II: antlers 5/5, wandering 1/5, he is the oldest.

For comparison, out of the stags who have returned I would probably only give the highest score of 3/5 to Ford's antlers. Nilson and Evert have broken tines but I don't know how well hunters can see that so maybe they could get 3/5 too. Travis and Gunnar would get 2/5, maybe also Karl if the hunters can't see his missing tine. I think the others are unlikely to be hunted for their antlers but all deer are also hunted randomly to fill a quota. Timothy has very asymmetrical antlers and the others just have smaller antlers.

[IceAge]

Thank you very much, Rongike. You do a lot of work and I find it very interesting.
Can't anyone from the Looduskalender help you? In Germany, hunters register the animals they kill. If that's the case with you too, you can record dead stags in your statistics and you know that they won't come back.

[asteria]

Why hunt for antlers when they can be just found on the ground by the end of the season?

[rongike]

Thank you very much, Rongike. You do a lot of work and I find it very interesting.
Can't anyone from the Looduskalender help you? In Germany, hunters register the animals they kill. If that's the case with you too, you can record dead stags in your statistics and you know that they won't come back.

I think they have a site like that here too, but I don't want to look there, I would rather just wait and see...

Why hunt for antlers when they can be just found on the ground by the end of the season?

They want to cut the antlers out with the skull and put them on the wall.

[IceAge]

21:01

[Biker]

.
not strange, your thoughts, rongike .
I think we all basically know what these feedings are for, among other things:
these well-fed deer grow more beautiful antlers.
In any case, it's a complex, delicate subject.

17:36

[Trine]

Why hunt for antlers when they can be just found on the ground by the end of the season?

"The hunting trophy culture is part of a hunter's ethical beliefs, which shows appreciation for the hunted game" (the web page of the Estonian Hunters' Society).
So it is supposed to be appreciation, to be killed for antlers

[Biker]

.
21:34


Trine