Roe deer (metsäkauris) family

Roe deer (metsäkauris) family was standing besides the road I was driving early in the morning in April. Without getting out of the car I opened the window and photographed the deer family. All of the Roe deers were staring at me: WHO are you and what are you doing?

Deers are very sensitive and escape easily if you approach them. I realized that shooting them from a car does not bother them at least they stayed still quite long time. Easy breezy if you find them!

Roe deer family

I was a little bit confused with this deer family as first I thought they were White-tailed deers. But their tails were too short for a White-tailed deer and also their heads looked different. For my surprise they are Roe deers!

Female Roe deer with triplets, three Roe deer calves Finland Mestäkauris
The Roe deer family: mother, two boys and one girl

This female Roe deer must be in really good condition as she has given birth to triplets. Only the ones in good condition may have some many calves.

Female Roe deer with triplets, three Roe deer calves, Finland metsäkauris
Young female and male deer hiding behind their mother, one male deer is braver

The mother evicts the calves at about one year of age just before the next calves are born in April-June. Sad to realize that soon after this meeting with the family the little ones have been on their own.

Female Roe deer with triplets, three Roe deer calves, Finland metsäkauris
Mother leading her flock into the forest

Living area

The Roe deer is a territory animal. The territory is marked by digging small pits in the ground and rubbing scent glands on trees and shrubs. The purpose of the territory is to secure reproduction and food resources. Females do not have equally precise territories, they live in so-called home areas.

Female Roe deer in forest with two calves Finland
Roe deers in the edge of a forest

Roe deer can wander to new areas, young ones up to hundreds of miles. At about three years of age, deer have found a suitable habitat to stay. After that, the deer is very faithful for a certain living area.

Male Roe deer in a forest, Finland
Male Roe deer was close to the female and the calves

I posted earlier Sleeping male Roe deer in which you can find more photos of Roe deer.

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed my post of Roe deer family.

Take care and have a wonderful day,
Minna from Finnish Nature 😊

15 replies to “Roe deer (metsäkauris) family”

  1. It’s lovely to see families, isn’t it? And yes, poignant to think of the babies going off on their own. I hope they do well. It looks as if they have a good place to live.

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    1. Thank you Irene 😊 The Roe deer is widely spread in Europe. It is rather small compated to other deers. Thank you for reading my blog and your comment😊 Have a great day.

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    1. I was so lucky🙂 Usually I have seen deers far away and when approaching they have disappeared. I also hope that the babies do well by their own. The family looked so happy together 🙂

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  6. Beautiful captures of your Roe deer, Minna! I love shooting from my car too, especially along wildlife drives and back roads where it is easy to pull off. Wildlife are much more cooperative from a ‘car blind’!

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  7. Lovely photos Minna. I have found that photographing from inside a car can be better than trailing after an animal too. But sometimes the road is too busy or there is nowhere safe to pull over and watch so you just have to keep going by with only your memories of the special sighting. 🙂

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    1. Thank you Sue! Yes you are right regarding busy roads. It can be even dangerous to stop if there is a heavy traffic. Silent country roads are my favorite. You can detect hawks, hare, deer, foxes etc. 🙂

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