For many of us, the hunting season for roe deer and bucks has already started in April. In the forest, this has the advantage that the vegetation is still low and the roe deer can be found at all times of the day.

A clear distinction between doe and roe deer becomes increasingly difficult as the year progresses and a miss would be a disaster for the orphaned fawns. Only those who can clearly identify doe and roe deer in May on the basis of various characteristics such as a bulging spider or sunken flanks should take advantage of the opportunity to hunt female roe deer now.

Experience and a confident approach are important prerequisites. Nevertheless, if you start early in the year, you can stop early to give the roe deer the rest they urgently need in winter. Especially now, in the spring, narrow roe deer can be observed very frequently, as they are now driven away by the doe.

Anyone who has waited until now to shoot bucks should now take their chances. Priority should be given to weak yearling bucks first. It is also possible to let a buck grow old in the forest, but it is quite different near the road. Here we hunt every buck regardless of its development. Every deer that falls victim to road traffic is one too many.

However, the hunters among us who have mowing areas in their hunting grounds have much more work to do. Supporting fellow hunters in the search for fawns is a top priority in May. With the help of drones, dogs and scarecrows, we try to minimize mowing losses. Not only does it save our fawns from a miserable death, it also protects the harvest from contamination. It also enables us to intensify our work with farmers and document our work in public. Clutches of eggs that are found are of course also protected or the eggs are removed for the incubator. Some hedgehogs and young hares only survive thanks to our fawn hunting.

Everywhere where red deer leave their tracks, the herds of deer disperse. The shod adult animals are now looking for quiet places to settle their calves towards the end of the month.

It's no coincidence when I have the chance to catch a stag during an early morning hunt for roe deer. Many still young and inexperienced blackbucks dawdle around, even in the best rifle light. Be careful with individual female sows. The youngsters are often lying down in the cover. If you are unsure whether the female is leading, leave the bullet in the barrel.

They have become rare: But if you have partridges in your territory, you can hope for lots of eggs. The hen lays 10 to 20 eggs in the middle of the month and incubates them for around 25 days as soon as they are all laid. Hopefully the predator hunt was intense enough to offer the nest fledglings a chance of survival, albeit a small one.