Today I wanna write about fallow buck hunting. Even this specie have no popularity among hunters as the roebucks, nor the majesty of the red stags from the beginning I will tell you this animal have something special. I personally like the shape of the fallow buck antlers very much. Every time when I look at a big fallow buck trophy my minds start dreaming about his bigger cousin, the moose, a hunt that I dream to do it when I will be old and rich.
The Fallow Deer (Dama dama) is a European native species of deer with an impressive rack of antlers (males) and striking appearance. Its name is derived from the pale brown coloration of its body, although there is significant variation in the coat color of this species in different parts of the world, but also in Romania. The variation of the colors is very wide from completely white to almost dark, black color.
The hunting season start at 1 of September and ends on 15 of December. The full rut of the fallow deer is in the last 2 weeks of October. During the rut the males become extremely excited and form small territories that they mark and fiercely defend from other Fallow bucks. This mating behavior is known as ‘lekking’.
Bucks can be extremely vocal during the rutting season. The males attempt to collect together and breed with small groups of females.
Now that you have a general idea about the fallow bucks let see some information about their hunt in Romania.
We have 2 major places where the number of fallow deer is really impressive.
First one is located in West of Romania, Arad county, in Socodor area, probably one of the most famous place for fallow deer in Europe.
Second area is located in South of Romania, in Olt county, near Scornicesti town, the place where our former Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was born.
Of course, we have several areas where you can still can have a good fallow buck hunting trip, one of my biggest fallow buck trophies(5.4 kg) comes from Salonta area in Bihor county, but those 2 areas are most known and have the highest deer population.
Let’s start with the first area, Socodor area, the most famous one. To get an idea of the fallow deer numbers you can watch this short video here:
From the beginning I will say a thing that probably will shock you, instead of the huge numbers and high advertise, Socodor is NOT MY FAVORITE AREA for fallow buck hunting. Of course, we can arrange a hunting trip here if the client want and we do that every single year…but…
Here are some aspects that I do not like so much about this area. A huge number of animals means a huge number of fallow buck tags.
As you know the best time a any deer hunt is the rut time, therefore a huge number of hunters will hunt in the rut time period, that means a little more that 2 weeks interval. With a minimum of 10 hunters every day and sometimes even 20 hunters by the weekends, the pleasure of the hunt turns into a race against the clock.
So, if you really want this area for fallow buck hunting, try to book the dates outside of rut and only week days if possible.
Last thing that you have to know about this area is … the shooting distance. The big and very big fallow bucks stays and in the middle of the heard. So, imagine 200 plus animals in a pack with 3, 4, 5 big bucks in the middle with a shooting distance of 200 plus meters. But very big bucks are always very difficult to get…
Second area is, as I said, located in South of Romania. With a quota of almost 100 fallow bucks every season this is the best second place to hunt fallow deer in Romania. The core area where most of the fallow bucks are found is a forest around 5000 hectares, from a total area of 12000 hectares.
You will not see thousands of animals every day, like you will see in Socodor, but you will see hundreds of fallow deer and you will enjoy your hunt for 2 or 3 full hunting days not to mention a big gold medal is easier here….
Well, I hope you get a general idea about fallow buck hunting in Romania…for any questions , please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@romaniahuntingoutfitters.com
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