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Deer on the Aubrac plateau

and come and listen to them during the bellowing season

The Aubrac region is home to the king of forests: the stag. The red deer is the largest wild mammal to be found in France. A symbol of power and loyalty, this animal is heard inautumn during the bellowing season…

Deer on the Aubrac

This species of deer is found mainly in the large forest massifs of Aubrac, but increasingly in the Lot Valley and the Grands Causses. Although it originally lived in the large clearings of the primary forest, the development of agriculture, human demographic pressure and hunting have gradually pushed it away from these areas.

The deer is now confined to wooded areas, only returning to meadows at nightfall. So it’s not always easy to spot one… But from September to mid-October, during the bellowing season, it’s easy to hear! Remain cautious, as this is a wild animal, potentially dangerous if it feels threatened.

The deer, an animal that had disappeared from Lozère!

After the abolition of feudal rights governing hunting during the Ancien Régime, the stag became the preferred target of the starving population. Renowned for the quality of its meat, which a single individual could provide in huge quantities, the number of deer in France plummeted to near extinction. By the end of the Second World War, it was considered extinct in the Lozère.

Over the past fifty years, the Cévennes National Park, the Conservatoire des Eaux et Forêt and, since 1995, the Fédération Départementale de Chasse, have launched a program to reintroduce and manage this animal, which is emblematic of French forests and essential to the balance of biodiversity in Lozère’s forests.