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Glossary

Common terms used in the deer industry and find out what they mean.

Deer Glossary

Bark – the call of a female deer

Buck – male fallow deer

Bull – male elk/wapiti

Calf – the offspring of elk/wapiti

Crush or squeeze – a padded deer handling cradle, usually hydraulic – for safely handling deer

Doe – female fallow deer

Draft – to select animals, such as for mating, sale or slaughter

Fawn – the offspring of red and fallow deer. ‘Calf’ is also used for red deer females, especially in science

Hind – Female red deer

Hummel – a stag that doesn’t grow antlers

Plant or hide – the normal behaviour of female deer involving hiding young fawns while they graze elsewhere

Replacements – Yearling females kept to add to the breeding herd

Rut or roar – the breeding season. March/April in the southern hemisphere. Male deer become aggressive and dangerous at this time and make a distinctive roar

Spiker – yearling stag

Stag – male red deer

Weaner – a weaned deer 

Weaning – separating the fawn from the hind. This normally done in March, before the rut, or in May, after the rut 

Yearling – one year old deer

Antler terminology

Bez tyne – the second branch of the antler

Beam – central stem of the antler

Brow tyne – the (first) lowest branch of the antler

Burr – bony rim of the pedicle

Button – the bony stub that remains after a stag is velvetted

Casting – the natural shedding of the hard antler in the spring

Cleaning – the rubbing of antlers by stags on trees or posts to remove the velvet ‘skin’ that remains once the antler has hardened

Palm – the characteristic wide flattened end of a fallow antler

Pedicle – the bony protrusion on the skull from which the antler grows

Royals – the uppermost antler tynes

Surroyal – the fourth branch of the antler

Trez tyne – the third branch of the antler

Velvet – the growing antler before it calcifies into bone

Velvetting – the humane removal of velvet

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