About the Rusa Deer

The Rusa Deer is a medium-sized species native to Indonesia. Highly adaptable and cautious, they are known for their large ears, coarse coats, and the impressive lyre-shaped antlers of the males. These social grazers thrive in grassland and wooded habitats across the Indo-Pacific.

Behaviorally, they are highly sociable herd animals but are notoriously shy and primarily semi-nocturnal. They spend the bright daylight hours resting in thick, protective vegetation and emerge into open plains at dawn and dusk to graze on grass, leaves, and fallen fruit. Interestingly, they rarely drink water directly; instead, they extract the vast majority of their required hydration straight from the moisture-rich plants in their diet.

During the peak of the mating season (the rut), stags become intensely vocal, emitting deep, husky growls to ward off rivals and attract females. Rather than locking antlers as aggressively as some other deer species, Rusa stags will plow through vegetation, adorning their antlers with large bundles of grass and twigs to intimidate competitors and establish dominance.

Rusa Deer Subspecies

Rusa Deer have 2 subspecies, the Javan and the smaller Moluccan.

Description of the Rusa Deer

Males are significantly larger than females. They stand 32 to 43 inches at the shoulder. Males typically weigh 250 to 353 lbs. Females weigh from 110 to 176 lbs.

Males are called stags or bucks, and females are hinds or does.

The male’s antlers usually have 3 tines (points) per side. The Javan Rusa deer grow antlers between 28 and 38 inches long. The Moluccan subspecies grow antlers up to 16 inches long.

Suitable Weapons

Top cartridge choices for Rusa Deer are 6.5 mm up to the .30 caliber cartridges.

Hunting Area

You can hunt free-range Javan Rusa Deer subspecies in New Caledonia (south pacific), Australia, and the island of Mauritius (Africa).

Moluccan Rusa Deer are hunted primarily in Australia (Queensland area) and the Moluccan Islands.

Several high-fence hunting preserves in Texas offer Rusa Deer hunts.