Fact Sheet on Roe Deer Migration

Roe deer are widespread and common across Eurasia. They display high behavioral flexibility, often taking advantage of edges along different habitat types, such as the borders of forests. This species can adapt well to human landscape alteration. Roe deer are partially migratory with strong differences in migration propensity between populations, depending on the seasonality and how predictable seasonal conditions are within the population’s range. In mountainous landscapes like the Bavarian Forest National Park, migratory roe deer move up and down in elevation to take advantage of habitat diversity and seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Individuals migrated on average 3.9 km (up to 20.9 km) between seasonal ranges in the park, which is characterized by central European sub-mountainous forests. These migrations may be short in distance, but represent a significant displacement in altitude between 650-1450m, and can involve repeated trips between seasonal ranges. Roe deer in Bavarian Forest National Park typically depart summer range and migrate to lower elevations when snow accumulates at the onset of winter, then move back to higher elevation ranges in spring. However, forest communities are changing dynamically inside the park, largely due to past bark beetle outbreaks and windthrows of uprooted trees. The resulting forest succession provides suitable habitats for this small browser. Hunting to manage populations in the national park is limited to red deer and wild boar. Control measures are allowed only within the designated management zone, which covers 25% of the park and lies along its outer boundaries.