Deer barking first time!!

[dave k]

I've heard deer barking at me for the first time ever, I am well chuffed

I went for a stroll looking for some mushrooms in the forest at lunch time. Only managed to bag one birch brown boletus, it's still too dry for anything about at the moment. I was walking back up to the carpark and it was blowing quite a gale. I usually take this as a good sign, because I can sometimes get a lot closer to animals than usual because it covers up the sound of my footsteps.

Just around the corner I heard a short bark - like a cross between a dog bark and a cough. 2 fallow hinds and a couple of fawns about 20-30 meters away!

I am sure they spotted me. The nearest hind barked, stamped her right frontleg and flashed her tail, which I assume this to be either a warning, or a `oi - who are you` kind of message. They didn't run off though - so I put up my hoddie and managed to get quite close. they continued to bark, stamp and carry on for about 2-3 minutes before a dog barking further away made them scatter back into the wood.

That really made my day!!!

I tried to bark a sort of reply, but it came out more like an asthmatic cough. I think I could hear them laughing as they ran off

 

[British Red]

Great feeling having a "close encounter" huh? I see them frequently walking over the farm and the magic never fades!

Red

 

[gregorach]

I dunno - it can be a very different matter when it's a red stag, in the gloaming, during the rut... New underwear please!

 

[Hunter_zero]

I've heard deer barking at me for the first time ever, I am well chuffed

Just around the corner I heard a short bark - like a cross between a dog bark and a cough. 2 fallow hinds and a couple of fawns about 20-30 meters away!

Fallow are in rut now but the sound you describe is more like a Muntjac than Fallow. Fallow does do make a sort of low groaning sound to the fawns, could be what you heard but if it sounded like a high pitched terrier barking, sort of a yapping sound then you might have seen the fallow and heard a muntjac who spotted you!
Fallow bucks belch, like a very deep burp.

John

 

[Clark]

I heard this noise last year for the first time and i almost made a mess of myself, it was the middle of the night and i was alone. I assumed it was foxes to be honest and it wasn't til this year that i realised it was deer. I was on an overnighter last night with a friend and he had never heard it before, to say he got a shock is an understatement. It's good to know your close to wildife and all that but it gives me the creeps when i'm woken up at 3am in the cold and dark by some barking.

 

[dave k]

Fallow are in rut now but the sound you describe is more like a Muntjac than Fallow. Fallow does do make a sort of low groaning sound to the fawns, could be what you heard but if it sounded like a high pitched terrier barking, sort of a yapping sound then you might have seen the fallow and heard a muntjac who spotted you!
Fallow bucks belch, like a very deep burp.

John

They were def. fallow, it was more gutteral not very high-pitched. I watched them barking at me for about 5 mins before they ran off

 

[Pablo]

A couple of weeks ago I was very close to a fallow when it barked (the only way I can describe it, but I know Munjacs bark for longer). I was amazed at the resonance of it. The vibration seemed to go right through me. Amazing stuff.

Pablo.