Ciervo, Macho Autonomous Community of the Basque Country

Red deer need large, quiet habitats and today inhabit mainly contiguous forest and low-mountain regions and the Alps in Central Europe, although historically the species was at home in half-open landscapes. Structure-rich mixed forests with thickets, scattered glades, feeding meadows, and undisturbed refuges form the ideal range, since the species has high spatial demands and a strong need for tranquillity. Field identification carefully distinguishes Hirsch, Tier, and Kalb; in their second year of life animals are addressed as Schmalspießer on the male side and as Schmaltier on the female side.

Rotwild is highly gregarious and lives in herds year round. Outside the rut the sexes separate: Kahlwildrudel, the female groups of hinds, yearlings, and calves, form the stable social unit under the leadership of an experienced lead hind, while stags assemble in Hirschrudel or range alone. The rut, the Brunft, falls in autumn and is announced from afar by the deep roaring of the stags, the Röhren. Mature Platzhirsche occupy traditional rutting grounds, hold a group of hinds together as a Brunftrudel, and defend it against rival stags, which can lead to spectacular fights.

In day-to-day hunting practice the high seat, the Ansitz, and the stalk, the Pirsch, are central, typically along game trails, at wallows, and on feeding meadows. During the rut these are joined by the Brunftjagd, in which experienced hunters confirm a roaring stag by ear and approach him carefully on the stalk. Driven hunts, the Drückjagd, organised across multiple districts, are gaining importance because red deer move over wide ranges and can be hunted more effectively and more humanely this way. Game management, the Hege, is therefore organised not in individual districts but in Hegegemeinschaften, hunting cooperatives, because only large, connected ranges allow a healthy age structure, a balanced sex ratio, and a population density matched to the habitat. At the same time, consistent and professional harvest is a key contribution to securing natural forest regeneration and keeping browsing and bark-stripping damage at a level that is compatible with close-to-nature silviculture.