Roe deer rut 2025
Chapter 1 - Monitoring (April-June)
After this year's successful spring photo season, I was really looking forward to the roe deer rut. The roe deer rut is a kind of starter of the rutting season, as it is immediately followed by red deer, then fallow deer, mouflon, and in December, wild boar rut.
But back to the roe deer.
You may be wondering what makes rutting so special? In addition to ensuring the survival of the species, it also changes the behavior of its main actors – the roe deer and doe. During the year, the roe
deer, who live hidden, change their cautious behavior and, in an effort to expand their genetic line, search for and subsequently guard their rutting doe 24/7. However, this exposes them to great danger, as less cautious doe often pulls them out of their forest shelters and into open spaces during the day, where they are vulnerable. That is why many of the largest roe deer do not survive the rut – mainly due to the greed of hunters.
But it's not just a season for hunters, it's also a time for photographers. Since the rut only lasts about three weeks and only happens once a year, it requires a lot of preparation. That's why I've been monitoring the roe deer throughout the spring and looking for good locations where I could get some photos during the rut.
As I look through the gallery now, I see that I managed to map a really large number of bucks this spring. Here are a few of them.
Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm (First Half of July)
At the beginning of July, I had already mapped out the roe deer, all that was left was to wait for the rut to begin. From my experience, this is influenced by several factors – weather, amount of disturbance in the area, the amount of deer in the area and its ratio (roe deer/doe deer). For example, if it is too warm, the rut will be delayed by a few days and will gain intensity more slowly. If it is colder, the rut will begin earlier and its intensity will be greater.
This year the weather in July was ideal – cool, with occasional showers, which was in my favor. In good locations, the roe deer were hanging around the roe deer from July 1, 2025. Even though it wasn't the actual rut yet, it was a good sign.
The deer behaved increasingly territorially, and if a doe appeared in their territory, they immediately went to check on her.
Gradually, activity increased and it became more and more common to meet a pair of deer.
Chapter 3 - Reward for effort and perseverance
I didn't miss a single morning or evening during the last two weeks of July. I ran around a lot of locations so as not to disturb the rutting season too much in one place. Although I managed to take a lot of pictures, I had no luck at all with the "rutting shots". I feel like every time I was near a pair, something went wrong. Either they were just lying around, grazing, or another doe came along and lured the doe away. The worst part was when the doe ran in front of the doe right where I was camouflaged - it happened to me twice.
Despite the fact that it did not go that well with the rutting pairs, I still managed to outsmart many bucks. Before the rut, I had a few favorites that I wanted to photograph during the rut. Thanks to luck, perseverance and, dare I say, skill, I managed to photograph most of them. So I'll show you some of them.
Chapter 4 - The icing on the cake
With the arrival of August, I told myself that I would no longer chase photos, but instead, I would fully enjoy every moment of the rut - and what is meant to happen, will happen.
During one evening walk, I came across a roe deer pair in a nice setting with good conditions for photography. Moreover, it was a roe deer that I had been following since spring and had only managed to photograph once. So I decided to try again in the morning in the dark.
I actually managed to get to the pair this morning, but the roe deer and doe weren't cooperating at all. Despite that, I got at least a few good shots from this morning.
When the roe deer pair returned to the forest after their morning grazing, I was still lying there – and in my head I was thinking: "So it worked out after all."
Chapter 5 - A final word
First of all, I am very grateful to nature and God that I could be a part of this nature specticle, and I appreciate every single photo that I managed to capture. That is why I want to share them with you. Let even people who are not so interested in nature see the beauty it hides - and why we must protect it at all costs.
And finally, a few rare bucks worth showing off.
See you in a year!
