On March 4th, 2023, mouflons and fallow deer were reintroduced/refilled in the fenced part of the hunting ground “Kučajna” in Kučevo Municipality. The hunting ground is managed by SE “Srbijašume” through its Forest Estate “Severni Kučaj” Kučevo, which is one of the 27 hunting grounds managed by the Enterprise.
The above fenced part with a total area of 324 ha and a total fence length of ca. 10 km has been built in the past few years; within it, there is also a shelter sized ca. 6 ha whose main purpose is to quarantine game animals, i.e., retain them for a specified period of time after importation/introduction, with the aim of easier monitoring of their behavior and condition in new habitat conditions. In addition, all the accompanying hunting technical facilities necessary for the normal development of game have been built, such as game feeding stations, storages for roughage and grainy feeds, salt licks, watering holes, high hunting stands-observation posts, as well as facilities for receiving guests (primarily hunters, as well as nature lovers) in the form of a hunting house with suitable accommodation capacity, a summer house, etc.
A total of 60 wild game animals were reintroduced – 30 fallow deer (10 males and 20 females) and 30 mouflons, in the same sex ratio of 2:1 in favor of females. In this way, the basic breeding stock was formed, with the aim of reaching the optimal stock defined by the planning documents in the shortest possible time period, in the next few years, which is 160 individuals (80 fallow deer individuals and 80 mouflon individuals), with an economic capacity of over 200 individuals.
The game brought to the hunting ground comes from Slovakia. This country of game origin was chosen because, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary, it represents one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of growing this type of game, with proven production of world champions when it comes to this type of game. Thus, game of superior genetics has been acquired, with the ability to provide outstanding trophies and pass these qualities on to its offspring. The fallow deer and mouflon as game species have been chosen keeping in mind, on the one hand, a very small supply of this game in Serbia, and on the other hand, a great interest of hunters in these types of game in the last few years.
The financing of this project was fully realized out of own funds of SE “Srbijašume”, FE “Severni Kučaj” Kučevo. The total value of the investment was about RSD 26 million, of which RSD 16 million for the building of the fenced part of the hunting ground with accompanying infrastructure and about RSD 10 million for the procurement and transportation of the game animals.
The main purpose of the fenced part of the hunting ground is to enable the protection and breeding of fallow deer and mouflon of superior trophy structure under controlled conditions, where regular health control, proper nutrition and selection of individuals will be possible. Using the population through hunting will have a positive financial effect and enable sustainable management of the hunting ground.
