Wendell,

In the Scottish highlands, a Red "hind" would typically have one "calf"....if the hind skips a year and does not produce a calf, she would be a "yield" or "yeld" hind..They normally are in great condition as they go through the winter without the drain of feeding a calf..

Regards,

Pete

Still learning about these great animals.

How many will a hind typically deliver? Do they have twins like Whitetail or usually just one?

Doe -> Fawn
Cow -> Calf
Ewe -> Lamb
Hind -> ?

What are they called? Calves?

Thanks Guys.

It is rare to see a hind with more than one calf. The calf is normally dropped sometime in late May or early June (in Central Europe). The first week or two it is left in cover and only visited by the hind to be suckled (much like elk). This is the time of the year where it pays off to have kept your coyotes at bay! After that, the calf joins the hind, and they are often joined by the yearling(s) from last year. It is very common to observe small family groups consisting of hind, female yearling and calf from this year. If the yearling from last year was a male, it is usually beaten off pretty quickly - sad life for men

Come rut and after that winter, it is common to see larger bands of hinds together. The leader of the group is always an older hind with a calf. During the rut, the main stag attempts to keep the hinds together, but reality is, that the hinds collectively determine where they want to go, and the stag(s) follow.

In the spring before calving season, last year's calves (now almost yearlings) are beaten off as the hinds prepare to have their next calf. Before they are allowed to join back up, you often see them hanging back from the hind and her new calf.

Stags often build groups on their own, that only really dissolve during the rut and partially during winter where the stags may join the hind groups. Older stags are often solitary outside the rut.

What I have described above are common behavioral patterns. You are going to have to see how your small population organizes itself. I wonder if the fence is going to make a difference, probably depends on the amount of space available??

- mike

Mike,

The ranch is 1000 acres and plenty rough. It took a while for me to find the Hinds, now they are all gathered up in a group.

There is plenty of cover and lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. PLenty of water and good supplemental and natural feed.

By the way, when feeding protein pellets, how much does a mature Red Deer eat/day?

Not sure about the pellets. Over here, pellets are a bit out of vogue. 1) because they were previously used to increase trophy size, and with the conflict between forestry and game populations "artificially" grown trophies are not politically correct at the moment. 2) there are some people who maintain that feeding pellets carries the danger of too much acid in the rumens of the deer, at a time of year (winter) when the natural development of the digestive tract tends towards less feed.

On our feeding stations, we tended to rely on a mixture of raw, high fiber feed such as hay, as well as feed with a high content of water such as beets and corn silage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you can't feed pellets, I'm just relating my own experience. Maybe some of our resident deer farmers can help on the pellet issue, NitroX??
- mike