This Winter (January and February until now) has been tough with high winds, large snow dumps and freezing rain. We are feeding the deer hay and grain every day (approx 500g) of corn, oats, dairy ration and sugar beets and this seems to be working well. It seems to be the best protection for all kinds of bad weather and allows the deer keepers to sleep at night.
Max up to his belly in snow
Murph enjoying sunshine
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Here’s a good look at Max in rut (mating season). The dark colour is caused by secretions of a waxy fluid from the orbital gland located below the eye. He has stimulated this gland by rubbing his head on tree branches and rocks. The fluid smells like rancid butter and is part of the bucks’ scenting ceremony that is designed to attract does.The photo also shows the thickness of his neck. The bucks have not been eating much as their throats are swollen. Gradually as the weather gets colder, their appetites return.
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The head deer keeper, Allan, has reported an unusual occurrence in the herd hierarchy. He thinks this may be occurring because Bash has had a surge of testosterone and looks like he did during the Fall rut (golden head colour, thicker neck, flaring orbital glands, thrashing trees and rocks, defending his territory). He is the only one of the bucks in this state and is bullying all the others with particular focus on Max. Max has lost his status as herd leader and seems to have fallen into fourth place, acting as if he has already lost his antlers (an event that usually occurs in early April).
Bash got his name for being bashful or timid when we first took over caring for the bucks. However, now he is “bashing” the others aggressively and giving new meaning to his name. He is certainly intent on taking over Max’s spot as leader and is anything but bashful when it comes to his behaviour towards the other deer.
His overall health appears to be good and we see no reason to think this behaviour is caused by ill health. Another positive note, Bash is not displaying any aggressive towards the deer keeper.
We have been unable to find any reference to a spring rut or any other reason for this drastic change in appearance and behaviour.
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Max, Apr 14
Max cast off his antlers this morning, and the set were also easy to find. We were a bit worried about difficulties retrieving the antlers at the new site, but so far so good.
In what has become a tradition, Max’s antlers will be presented to Don Murphy (President & Founder of Fallow Deer Reserve) as a belated birthday present. In all the excitement, we missed Don’ s birthday on April 3.
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The first to cast off his antlers, oh so 2007, was Gulliver. This was at about 10 or 11am this morning and we are happy to report that we have found both. They are wider and about 2 or 3 inches longer than last year, when Gulliver also won the antler sweepstakes and dropped those first on April 8.
However, being first is not all it’s cracked up to be. Without antlers, poor Gulliver is getting bullied by the others who still have theirs, and he had decided to separate from the herd and hang out in the forest near the spring creek. We found him there this afternoon and gave him his own special carrot nosh.
If last year’s order is repeated, Max will be joining him in this self-imposed exile within the next 48 hours.
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Trio
Max at the lick
Spring has finally arrived and the snow has melted enough for us to get into the enclosure and start raking up the winter’s hay to make way for grass. After several hours, we looked at the mound of raked hay and found these three making themselves at home.
It’s been a long wicked winter but the herd is doing well and enjoying new mineral licks which we introduced this week to help prepare the bucks for antler growth. Thanks to everyone who has donated funds to make the purchase of such licks possible. Special thanks to Annie who donated 50 pounds of carrots on the occasion of her birthday on March 22, 2008.
We are anxiously waiting for the antlers to start falling but nothing so far. All antlers are still attached! Last year, Gulliver was first losing his on April 8, 2007. We’ll keep you posted.
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When people visit the Reserve, they always express surprise that we can identify the individual deer. Aside from KoKo who is easy to recognize given his chocolate colour, at first sight the rest of the deer look very alike.
Having worked with the bucks for over 19 months, we know that each one is quite different and unique in both appearance and personality.
Here’s how we tell them apart.
Max, the leader, is a large deer with one of the largest sets of antlers and a golden colour especially on his head and back of neck. He often stands in the middle of the herd, but never gets challenged by other bucks. (A challenge is when a deer lowers his head and antlers and moves towards another in a determined way. Sometimes the deer will tilt his head and show one eye to the other deer. )
Dandy, is usually the second in command. He is probably the largest deer in body size but his antlers don’t have the wide palmation of the other large deer. He is very calm.
Mike is next in herd hierarchy but sometimes he vies with Dandy to gain status to second. He looks quite a bit like Max and has large antlers. However, his right brow antler is bent over his right eye in an odd way caused by a collision with a barricade when the deer were being moved to Florida from Scotland Road in May last year. Mike is very social towards people. We hope his antlers return to normal this year.
Gulliver is another large deer with the largest palmation of antlers. He seems to be the big brother of Moki (one of our youngest and smallest) who is a constant companion. Gulliver will often let Moki “play fight/challenge” with him but never exerts the full power he could if the fight were for real. Gulliver likes to chase smaller deer at feeding time, doing his best to get all the food for himself, but he never challenges a deer that is larger than himself.
Murph is a large deer with exceptionally long antlers with good palmation and many spellers (or branches). He has a dark coat, but not quite as dark as KoKo. He is very independent and spends time away from the herd on his own. He is not that interested in people…can take or leave ‘em.
Bash is a large light-coloured deer with large antlers that have many spellers and very straight brow antlers. He, too, is somewhat independent and will leave the herd to go on his own. He likes to bully Buddy who is also light-coloured. Bash used to be very frightened of people, but he is becoming very social these days.
Ty has a compact body, a muddy brown colour and very wide palmated antlers with many spellers. Like Bash, he was very fearful of people when we first started working with the herd, now he doesn’t seem too worried by us. He never challenges large deer for food or water, but bullies all the other deer the same size or smaller than him.
Buddy is a medium-sized light coloured deer. His brow antlers turn inward instead of straight ahead which gives him a slightly cock-eyed, cute appearance. His personality is carefree and he’s very curious about people and what they are doing whether it be building a shelter, digging or hauling water. He will run away from food to get a good view of human beings at work.
EGee is a medium-sized deer with shorter palmated antlers, few spellers and long straight brow antlers. He has a dark brown winter coat with a splash of white on his right side where he was injured last winter. He is very social and calm and only occasionally will he bully George or KoKo at feeding time to get in the best position.
George looks like the other medium-sized deer in appearance except for his antlers this year which have little or no palmation. Our theory is that this odd antler formation was caused by the anti-inflammatory medication he was given last winter after suffering a “shoulder” injury. We hope that his antlers return to normal this year. George is definitely the most social of the deer and he can be a nuisance if you are working inside the fence as he has no fear of people and will invade human space quite easily.
KoKo is our most recognizable deer because he is very dark in colour and even in summer he has very faint “spots” on his chocolate-coloured back. He has a compact, you might say round body and he is very social and calm. He is the one most likely to be hanging out in the shelter of the woods rather than the person-made shelter attached to the barn. He seems to like to hang out with Ty or Buddy.
Moki is one of our youngest at 3 years of age. His antlers are palmated but smaller than all the other deer (except for Spike). His right brow antler bends to the right and this winter he lost the top of his left ear as a result of a tussle with Spike towards the end of the rut.
Spike is the other 3 year old with antlers similar to those of Moki. He is the only deer in our herd with a brown tail which makes him a “menil” fallow deer. Spike is social and curious and likes to hang out with George and fight with Moki.
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Resting after his performance on Sunday in fallen maple leaves is Max, the herd leader, secure in the knowledge that thanks to you there is food in the larder and hay in the barn.
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et a sneak preview (via photo) of the herd’s new home. Our 13 bucks will take up permanent residence here in June, after a 10+ acre fence is installed and as soon as each has lost his antlers and before velveting begins. The colder weather has the herd eating hay now in addition to apples, corn and carrots. Recently we tried them on pumpkin which some of them enjoyed, too.
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We are located near Kingston, Ontario. Visits by appointment only. To plan a visit, please telephone (613) 386-3673 or email us contact@fallowdeereserve.orgCaring for each deer costs approximately $200-300 per year and this amount will increase as the herd ages. All financial donations over $10 will receive an official income tax receipt.
Please make donations via cheque payable to FALLOW DEER RESERVE and send c/o 204 Simmons Road, RR2, Odessa ON K0H 2H0.
