Wpływ lesistości i rodzaju gleb na jakość osobniczą rogaczy sarny na terenie Kielecczyzny

The aim of the study was to verify the hypothesis that the quality of male roe deer hunted in the Kielce region depends on the selected characteristics of the place of their earlier habitat (forest cover, soil) and the age of the individuals. As a criteria to verify that hypothesis we chose carcass weight, weight and height of the antlers and skull dimensions. Material consisted of carcasses and antlers of 1349 bucks harvested in 169 hunting districts in the Kielce region (central Poland). We found that the individual quality of male roe deer was diverse. Significant impact was found for the forest cover, diversity of soil types and age of the individuals. Roe deer with the smallest carcass weight, having significantly lighter antlers occurred in areas with the forest cover of over 40% (tab. 1). In turn, in the filed−type circuits, where the forest cover does not exceed 20%, bucks were much heavier and imposed massive antlers (fig. 1). There was also evidence that in areas where the fertile soil dominated (rendzina and chernozems) individual quality of deer was significantly better than in districts where poor fawn and rust soils predominated (fig. 2). The examined environmental factors had the greatest impact on carcass or antlers weight, as well as the dimensions of deer skulls in case of the youngest bucks and their impact decreased with age. Optimum of the individual's development in terms of carcass weight and antler falls at the age of seven. Bucks harvested in the Kielce region, in comparison to the other populations in Poland, were characterized by good individual quality and slightly subsided only to individuals from the Lublin Upland (tab. 2).