Roe Deer Rut in a Year of Extreme Heat: A Summer Without Rain and Roe Deer on the Brink of Exhaustion

View also the related album Roe deer rut 2026 

In some people's minds, roe deer are seen as a smaller relative of the red deer, or even directly as a "small deer." Visually, this might seem accurate, but it's quite misleading. The roe buck is a distinct species and is actually more closely related to reindeer or moose than to the red deer. It's not a diminutive version of a deer; it's a different branch of the family.

The visible difference is not only in appearance but also in the calendar. While the red deer rut occurs in the autumn, the roe deer rut takes place in the middle of summer. It starts at the end of July and peaks at the turn of July and August, depending on altitude, deer density, and weather. People often confuse these periods.

This year, I dedicated several days to the roe deer rut. And although it brought me the photos I was waiting for, it also brought an image that saddens me.

What the rut actually is

It all starts with scent. The roe buck detects by smell that the does in the area are starting to be in heat, and he seeks them out. When he finds one, he stays with her for several days.

Interestingly, the doe's actual heat lasts significantly shorter, roughly about a day and a half. So, the roe buck accompanies her longer than she is actually ready. That's why he spends time with her and guards her.

This accompaniment has its progression. At first, they graze together, rest, and occasionally there's a chase. Gradually, the chases intensify until they turn into the typical "figure eights." During this, the roe buck constantly checks the doe's scent. When he senses she is ready, she allows mating. The act itself is very brief and is repeated several times in succession, with literature citing up to twenty repetitions. Then both animals often lie down and rest for a long time.

And here's a detail that's interesting about roe deer. The does mate now, in July, but the fawns are born only ten months later. It's not because the pregnancy lasts that long. The fertilised egg stops developing and literally waits. This is called delayed implantation, and it doesn't embed in the uterine wall until sometime in December. Only then does actual development begin. Roe deer are the only even-toed ungulates that do this, and there's a simple reason: mating occurs when the does are in the best condition, and birth coincides precisely with May, when there's the most food.

Territory, dominance, and fights

A strong roe buck diligently guards his territory. He regularly patrols and marks it, either by scraping or by rubbing his antlers on branches and young plants. This leaves both scent and visible marks that clearly tell others who is at home here.

When you add chasing off rivals and pursuing does, it becomes an extremely physically demanding combination. And I think that's the point. It's a mechanism by which nature tests the strength of individual bucks. Only the most capable bucks get into the rut because they simply have what it takes.

Young bucks usually don't pose a risk to the local territorial buck, and he tolerates them. Interestingly, this is also confirmed by scientific literature: a real fight almost exclusively occurs between approximately equally strong individuals. It's enough to threaten weaker ones, show strength, or chase them away. But if the youngsters are too cheeky or too interested in a doe with whom the local buck is currently, he has no problem giving them a bit of a runaround.

When two similarly strong or similarly determined bucks meet, a fight can occur. It is often preceded by a ritual. They measure each other's determination by marching in a circle and parallel walking, trying to deter each other before even touching antlers. They assess each other's strength, tenacity, and willingness to fight for territory and the chance to mate.

Young bucks often do this, and for them, it's something between a game and reality. But I think it's important. They train their confidence and measure their strength with peers at a time when it costs them nothing.

Does also fight for territory

This is the part I probably like the most about the whole rut because I don't have a completely precise answer yet.

From my observations, it's become clear several times that not only bucks fight for territory. I've seen a doe chase another doe and try to drive her away with kicks. She was clearly trying to literally kick her away with her front leg.

When I checked this, I found something interesting. The classic view is that does are not territorial, except for the short period when they defend the place where they have fawns. However, newer scientific studies challenge this. It turns out that the home ranges of does overlap significantly less than expected, suggesting possible seasonal territoriality of females. There's even a documented case where an adult doe killed a younger doe.

A strike with the front leg is a completely standard aggressive display in roe deer. So what I saw is not an exception. It's more something that receives little attention.

Whether it's a fight for the best territory, resources for fawns, or access to the strongest bucks, I don't know yet. I only know that it happens and that it's worth watching.

Fawns in the middle of the rut

Fawns are also part of the roe deer rut. At the peak of the rut, they are about two months old, as they are born in May and early June.

The maternal instinct of the doe is very strong, but at the time of her greatest readiness to mate, she will drive the fawns away, hide, or leave them while she spends several days with the buck. Even during these days, she periodically returns to them. She doesn't lose contact with them and immediately after the rut, she devotes herself to them fully again, while the buck is already looking for other does.

Therefore, it's not unusual at all to see fawns as part of the rutting chase. The buck chases the doe, and the fawns are somewhere nearby.

I've also seen that some bucks, if they are really at the peak of their activity, sometimes chase the fawns as well. It seemed to me as if in the heat of the moment - "I chase everything that's around."

The rut is driven by scent, but it can also be heard

The roe deer rut is primarily driven by scent signals. Thanks to their excellent sense of smell, individuals know almost everything about each other: who is in what condition, what their confidence is like, and how ready they are for the rut.

Besides scents, there are also sounds, and this is where most misunderstandings arise. People associate the roe deer rut mainly with the doe's whistling, but very often you can also hear barking. And it's not always an alarm call.

The buck also barks. Either when asserting dominance over smaller bucks or when something simply doesn't seem right to him. If something rustles somewhere, he barks as a precaution and slowly approaches to check what's going on.

The doe's whistling has several forms. Hunting literature distinguishes a gentle contact whistle, which sounds like repeated "fi-fi-fi," then the whistling of a doe in heat, which is prolonged and ends with a short rise in tone, more like "piia-piia," and finally the whistling of a doe being chased by a buck as if against her will.

It was the last one that answered a question that had long intrigued me: why does the buck react to the whistling at all? I long thought it simply lured him, making him think there was a doe calling somewhere. It turned out that's only half the truth. The whistling of a chased doe signals something else to the territorial buck: that another buck is chasing a doe in his territory. And he comes to drive the rival away. That's precisely why this type of whistling is described as the most effective.

So it's not just about luring. Jealousy and territorial defence play a big role too.

You can lure, but with care

Yes, you can lure a buck during the rut. Personally, it works best for me towards the end of the rut when most does have already lost their heat, but the bucks are still searching. That's when the chance is highest.

At the same time, it's important to say something crucial. Luring should be done with care.

By luring too intensely or too often, we unnaturally interfere with the course of the rut and disrupt its natural flow. We can also unnecessarily exhaust the bucks, which are animals already worn out during the dry and hot periods without our help.

We must also consider that if we "betray" the buck, by getting him too close or not being well camouflaged and he realises we are human, he may lose trust and won't respond to the whistling anymore.

That's why during the rut, I try to lure with care. When I see a searching buck, I whistle to him a few times and wait for his reaction. If he's not interested, after the second attempt, I leave him alone. Either he's not interested, or he has a doe nearby and doesn't need to sprint three hundred metres to the other end of the meadow.

If he starts running towards the lure, I whistle to him a few more times. But then I stop so he slows down a bit and doesn't "run me over."

The camouflage I'm currently using allows me to stay with the buck at ten to fifteen metres. If I have a good wind, he doesn't even know I'm there. Most of the bucks I've lured during this rut I managed not to scare off. Either they didn't know I was there at all, or they caught my scent only when they were too close. But since they didn't see exactly where I was, they often ran only ten or twenty metres away, barked a few times, and stayed grazing nearby.

The rut in a year when it didn't rain

The roe deer rut is a beautiful period. It's full of activity, the deer lose some of their shyness, and it's one of the best opportunities for photographing them in the year.

But this year's was different.

In the places where I photographed, it didn't rain once during the entire rut. The grass was so dry in places it looked like it had already been mown into straw. Several times, I found the thermometer showing temperatures climbing to thirty degrees as early as seven or eight in the morning. Some nights, the temperature didn't drop below twenty-five degrees.

This was evident in the deer. Daytime activity was weaker, and even early morning activity was reduced.

Several times, I saw deer early in the morning with their tongues completely out. Roe deer practically don't have sweat glands, so they can't cool down by sweating like we do. They have a similar method to dogs: rapid breathing with an open mouth, where saliva evaporates from the tongue and cools the blood. In other words, what I saw was the image of an animal trying not to overheat in the middle of the most demanding period of the year.

I want to use this opportunity to draw our attention - as photographers - to respect and responsibility towards nature. The rut is physically exhausting even in a normal year. When we add weeks without rain, nights above twenty-five degrees, and mornings when it's thirty degrees by eight o'clock, it's really extreme. Let's be considerate when photographing and think more about the animals than our photos.

See also the related album Roe deer rut 2026, all Roe Deer photos or more photos in the portfolio.