The Muntjac Deer (Indian Muntjac) is commonly called the “Barking Deer” due to the bark-like alarm call it makes when it sights a predator. Indian Muntjacs are solitary animals, rarely observed with other Muntjacs, except during the rutting season.

Though Barking Deers are widespread in India, they are challenging photography subjects; thanks to their extremely shy behavior.

We have been fortunate enough to get close to this Deer on a couple of occasions and all the images posted here have been taken at 300mm focal length. The first image of a handsome male Barking Deer was taken in the BR hills national park. D80, 300mm f2.8 lens, ISO 800, f2.8, 1/100s and handheld are the technical details.
This image of the female Barking Deer was taken on a misty morning in the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary. D300, 300mm f2.8 lens, ISO 800, f2.8, 1/800s and handheld are the technical specs here.
This image of a sub-adult male was taken in the Badra wildlife sanctuary. D300, 300mm f2.8 lens, ISO 400, -1.0EV, f2.8, 1/500s and handheld are the technical specs.

This cropped side profile image (D300, 300mm f2.8 lens, ISO 400, -1.0EV, f2.8, 1/250s, handheld) of the male deer shows the canine tooth, which is considered to be a more dangerous weapon than their short antlers in a combat situation.

This is an image of another sub-adult male, which was seen along with the sub-adult males shown in the third and fourth images. This was one of the rare occasions when we saw two Barking Deer together. Tech specs is D300, 300mm f2.8 lens, ISO 400, -1.0EV, f2.8, 1/1000s, handheld.