Mouflons

trip focused on game observation in Small Carpathians

Mouflon (Ovis musimon) is closely related to domestic sheep, and even its call is almost identical. According to one theory, original mouflon populations live only on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. Slovak mouflon population was, as it happened in most European countries, introduced to these forests as a game animal. First established breeding program known from Slovakia is dated to 1868 from Jelenec (Gymes before) in Tribec Mountains owned by Count Carl Forgac. In next few years, mouflon introduction started in Small Carpathians as well.

During May mouflons have their young. It is though more probable to observe small families, bigger groups of males or groups of females with young. These groups are seldom mixed together during this period. In our target area, mouflon population very often accompanies other game animals, dominantly deers and fallow deers.

characteristics: Small Carpathians are surrounded by cultural country and do not represent widespread and distant mountain range, yet they provide shelter for many interesting animal species. Among the game animals, roes, deers, wild boars, fallow deers and mouflons live here. Predators of these forests are represented by foxes, wild cats, badgers martens and weasels.

During the trip we will focus mainly on observing mouflons, which are not such a common sight in our forests.

protected areas visited: Protected Landscape Area and IBA Small Carpathians

target species: mammals: mouflon (Ovis musimon), European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), fallow deer (Dama dama), European hare (Lepus europaeus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and maybe others

birds: red-breasted flycatcher (Ficedula parva), collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), different species of woodpeckers (Dendrocopos sp.), grey-headed woodpecker and European green woodpecker (Picus canus, Picus viridis), black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), wryneck (Jynx torquilla), spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus), barred warbler (Sylvia nisoria)

Trip length: 1/2 day

Difficulty: medium (approx. 10 km, elevation approx. 150 m)

Important notices and conditions of game observing: We do not recommend children under 12 years of age to participate on this program. We also do not recommend participants to be accompanied by dogs. Terrain is of average difficulty with length of approx. 10 km. After the initial briefing, it is absolutely necessary to be as quiet as possible, walk lightfooted and very carefully. We recommend wearing camouflaged or less visible, non-rustling attire, ideally of brown or green colour. Red, yellow or any highly visible colour clothing is not recommended at all. Please, bear in mind, that early morning forest tends to be wet, so having sturdy walking boots suitable for forest walks is highly recommended. Departure from Bratislava is set to early morning because of higher mouflon observation probability. In case of bad weather, it’s necessary to bring water repellent, non-rustling clothes.

Meeting at 5:30AM, transfer to locality, entering the forest at about 7:00AM, slow walk (10 km) on wood paths of various degree of quality with short stops and walks deeper into the forest for mouflon observing. Arrival to minivan at approx. 12:00, return to Bratislava at approx. 2:00PM. Ideal time for mouflon observing is early morning or late afternoon.

Tour operator has all rights to make any small changes of program responding to actual animal occurrence or actual terrain conditions.

Recommended tour date: March – September

Price per person with English speaking guide:

110,-€ / 1 participant

60,-€ / 2 participants

45,-€ / 3 – 4 participants

40,-€ / 5 – 8 participants

Price includes: transportation, full guiding service, binoculars, spotting scope

Price does NOT include: meals, individual travel insurance

If you are interested in this trip, please don’t hesitate to contact us, either by email to info@watching.sk or give us a call at +421 903 751 330. We can then discuss the date that suits your needs the best.


Genereal terms and conditions