Autumn Deer
Autumn Deer
The warmth of summer is passing and Autumn is upon us with the falling leaves and the smoky grey skies of October and November. If you are close to a wooded area and find the time or the inclination to get up early, just after dawn you may just see autumn deer on the move.
If you are persistent you may even witness the annual deer rut that happens in the Autumn months. At this time of year stags are strutting and bellowing; proving themselves to be the biggest and the best to the hinds. The stags attempt to gather a harem of female deer and drive other competitors away.
After assessing and strutting around the alpha stag and his harem, the younger stags will engage him in antler to antler combat. Steer well clear at this point and keep all dogs on leads. There is an awful lot of testosterone about !
Stags thrash around in the undergrowth, catching vegetation in their antlers in order to look bigger and more menacing. They also play at strategy games; the highest stag on the hillside has the advantage. All this is done purely for mating rights.
Once the rutting season is over stags and hinds more often than not live separately. The females and their young form a unit, the calves suckling for 3 – 4 months and the female calves remain with their dam and her group. Young stags leave after a year or so and join bachelor groups.
I always think a silver stag makes a fabulous, worthy gift for the groom, grooms men or best man at a wedding after a bit of bonding and posturing on the stag night!
We have two magnificent stags to choose from in our silver animal ornament selection. The largest stands at 38cm and the smaller of the two is 25cm in height. Each silver animal is hand-crafted and stands on a silver base. All of our silver animals ornaments are hallmarked.
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