this herd had the run of the island; the herd was thereafter confined, with extirpation being the initial goal. A small herd, believed to be the oldest in the United States, exists in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL) in far western Kentucky and Tennessee. The European fallow deer herd in the LBL "was brought to LBL by the Hillman Land Company in 1918. LBL's herd is believed to be the oldest population of fallow deer in the country, and at one time was the largest. Today, the herd numbers fewer than 150 and hunting of fallow deer is not permitted. Although LBL's wildlife management activities focus on native species, the fallow herd is maintained for wildlife viewing and because of its historical significance." European fallow deer are present in the Point Reyes National Seashore, California, and Mendocino County near Ridgewood Ranch, west of Redwood Valley, California; some of them are leucistic. Mating system European fallow deer are highly dimorphic, polygynous breeders; the breeding season or rut lasts about 135 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the breeding season tends to occur in the second half of October, while it occurs in April in the Southern Hemisphere, some matings can still occur before and after. This mating behaviour within the rut most often occurs in leks, where males congregate in small groups on mating territories in which the females’ only purpose for visiting these territories is for copulation. Variation within European fallow deer mating systems occurs; other than the traditional behaviour of lekking, different types of mating behaviours can include harems, dominance groups, stands, temporary stands, and multiple stands. Different populations, environmental variation, size, and even age can determine the type of variation within a European fallow deer mating system, but lekking behaviour is the most commonly found and studied in nature; variation can be explained by three characteristics (1) the optimal strategy under specific environmental or social conditions, (2) the strategy of an individual may be dependent on the strategies of other individual males within the same population, and (3) individual males may be less capable at gaining access to females, since they can be outcompeted by other males that are more capable. Female European fallow deer are polyestrous; they are receptive to males during multiple periods of estrus throughout the mating season while not gestating. Male rut behaviour includes licking and sniffing around the anus and