Measures adopted in Mahdishahr, Semnan Province, to protect the threatened deer species against the immoral hunting technique of deer calling have been fruitful with no casualties reported last year.
Hunters have long used calls in the mating season as a hunting tactic to lure game into range.
However, according to Abbas Zare’, head of the local office of the Department of Environment, 15,000 hectares of area which cover a vast part of the red and roe deer’s habitats are strictly protected against poaching in their mating season, Zist Online reported.
“Setting up three protection tents has helped the DOE’s protection unit and lovers of environment to rigorously monitor and take care of the habitat,” Zare’ said, adding that this year’s protection mission is the fourth of its kind and apparently the most well-organized effort to rescue of the threatened species.
The measures are expected to be effective in preventing the illegal and immoral practice, the official noted.
Deer calls are made with goat horn, designed to mimic the sounds deer make to catch the interest of a lurking buck. This mostly happens in “rut”, the time in September when male animals need to protect their territory against other males who may seek to take over the zone and the females.
During the rut, the deer are more active and less cautious than usual and this makes them easy targets for hunting. Hearing the imitated sound, the deer search for the source to fight the rival and that is where the hunters do what they should not. The red deer is one of the largest deer species, inhabiting the northern line of the country, as well as in most of Europe, parts of western Asia, Australia and more.
The male red deer is typically 175 to 250 cm long and weighs 160 to 240 kg.
Roe deer, the other targeted animal by the hunters, is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown. The animal is widespread in Europe, Mediterranean regions, Ireland and northern Iran.
Very quick and graceful, the roe lives in woods, although it may venture into grasslands and sparse forests.
Categorized in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species, both kinds are in dire need of protection in Iran, requiring serious measures to discourage poachers.
Red Deer in Gilan
In a bid to bolster the protection of the rare mammal in its other habitat in Gilan province, a large-scale census will be carried out in the region, Mohammadreza Barji, head of the provincial DOE said.
“The work, which will be conducted via a new method, will start on April 9, 2019 and last 10 days,” Barji said.
Experts usually analyze the deer’s sounds in order to count their numbers; however, next year’s census will be carried out by counting the number of their fallen antlers.
Researchers say the deer’s antlers grow rapidly for two to four months. During the summer, higher levels of the male hormone testosterone slow antler growth. The velvet then withers and begins to fall off, a process that is facilitated by the deer by rubbing his antlers against trees. The whole process is repeated every year for the rest of his life.
Counting the number of fallen antlers helps count the minimum but the definite number of the species in the area, Barji said. He named the split of the animals’ natural habitats, urban development and encroachments on the woodlands besides illegal hunting among the factors threatening the population of the deer.
