Video, image from web camera and text Tiit Hunt, www.rmk.ee
Translation Liis
The deer bulls still visit the feeding ground at the habitual rate from the winter. There is no fresh grass yet and the silage still tastes as good as before, and carrots would be nice even in summer. When the heat wave comes that gets the grass growing even in Saaremaa the visits of the deer at the feeding ground will become rarer by each time.
At the moment the antlers of the stags look very different: some have new small rounded knobs or the beginnings of branching ”woolly” antlers, others even have last year’s crowns, still usable even for contests between rivals and a third group of stags that have recently shed their antlers have neither one or the other.
As the video shows deer use, depending on the state of the antlers, various methods for solving grievances and establishing rank between themselves.
Those who still have the antlers from the mating period last autumn well fixed on their heads use them as purposefully as in the mating period.
Growing antlers, soft and covered with fur, are not fit at all for wrangling and so the stags in this somewhat tricky situation need to establish themselves by other means.
Immediately in the beginning of the video we see two stags with laid-back ears trampling on two legs and kicking with the forelegs; in this way problems can be solved and the antlers in their growing stage will not be damaged A milder version is when the animals simply throw their heads back with ears folded back.
The familiar most powerful stag of this forest, Hubert, shed his antlers at the end of February last year and the 19-pronged crown this year one week later – on Women’s Day. The younger antler-bearers drop their ”sticks” only in mid-May.
So the deer camera closes for the season.
Uno Vait, RMK’s hunting specialist, cared for the food for the red deer, together with his colleagues. The support from RMK has been eminent.
Technical support for the camera system: Omar Neiland and HATCAM
Transmission of the stream was organised by Olle Koert and OÜ Teetormaja, www.tt.ee
Coding of the stream and splitting for viewers EENet, www.eenet.ee
Our thanks also to the interested audience and attentive members of the LK forum who documented events at the deer ground.
Until meeting again in autumn!
