SPORTING ANSWERS
How far will muntjac roam?
STALKING
Q On my patch a few weeks ago, I saw a mature muntjac male that had cast recently. However, try as I might I have been unable to locate him again. This is in complete contrast to the roebuck that hangs out in the same wood, which I manage to find with ease. How territorial are male muntjac?
A While we think of roebucks as being territorial, often with surprisingly small territories, muntjac bucks generally have home ranges, which they will defend by being aggressive towards interlopers.
Tracking studies have shown variation in the size of these ranges and revealed that males have larger home ranges than females. The home range of a muntjac buck varies with the habitat he lives in but is thought to be as much as 50 to 70 acres, which is considerably greater than the typical roebuck territory.
Muntjac does have smaller ranges, usually between 30 and 35 acres, but in areas of high population density both males and females are likely to have considerably smaller ranges.
Perhaps you need to widen the area you are looking at to find the buck you have seen, because you may have seen him initially
