These horns drop off in the winter and are grown again by the end of the spring, ready for the August rut, or breeding season. Bucks are solitary, except during the rut, when they pair up with a female roe deer called a doe and small groups of three or four roe deer may be seen.
Although the breeding season, or rut, is in August, roe deer do not give birth until early summer. They are the only deer species to have a delayed implantation of their embryos which is thought to have evolved to avoid conflict for breeding territory with the larger red deer.
The doe gives birth to twin fawns in May or June keeping them apart for their first week and visiting each twin in turn to feed them. At this time fawns lie still relying on their spotted camouflage. They remain with their mother through the winter. The doe becomes solitary after the winter.
