Red in Velvet

novice

Well-Known Member
I was having a conversation earlier in the week with a mate who had just got back from a trip on the Lakeland reds.

He mentioned in passing that one of the beasts he took was a spiker in velvet. He didn't seem to think much of it, but my ears pricked up a bit.

Is it unheard of for a red spiker to remain in velvet in October?

Is there an equivalant of a perruque buck in red deer?

Novice
 
2 weeks ago on the SD week in Sutherland Countryboy and me stalked into a group of Reds on the hill 3 of which were spiker stags in velvet. I was quite surprised to see them this late on myself and am sure that my colleagues back at the cottage were`nt altogether convinced.:-|:D

wadas
 
No its not uncommon to see spikers in velvet this late, ive seen plenty in the last few weeks.
There are perruque red stags but they are very rare, im sure there was a thread on here about a perruque stag that was shot on my friends land last year.

Brent
 
Here's a couple pics of spikers I took about 10 days ago
P1100798.jpg

P1100998.jpg


saw quite a few that day aswell
 
I saw a spiker in velvet on Saturday and shot another long spiker,but what i reckon to be two year old going by body size, black in the belly from rutting.

Stone what age do you think the stag in the first pic is, is he a good yearling or will that be his second head.

Moose
 
this years young??????????

Something to think about here although I doubt it would apply to Scottish conditions. Red deer in very good environment are capable of growing and shedding their spikes and then grow their "2 year old" head all in their first calendar year. First time I saw it I was very confused. Have even seen some cast one spike and grow a second antler on one side but not on the other. The beauty of ear tagging is that there can be absolutely no confusion over age of said beast.

Stalkerbody. With the bodyweights you are seeing in your part of the country I am wondering if you have seen this.
 
I shot 5 staggies on the first weekend of October in South West Scotland, they ranged from 4" to 10" spikes, all were still in velvet. Rich
 
Its not in the least unusual for young stags still to be in velvet in October, what I would question is why you would shoot them, they are really to young to see their potential, so unless you have a very large cull to make,or its a protection job I would leave them to grow on for a year or two then weed out the rubbish.
From an estate stalkers point of view these would not be considered shootable animals
 
Its not in the least unusual for young stags still to be in velvet in October, what I would question is why you would shoot them, they are really to young to see their potential, so unless you have a very large cull to make,or its a protection job I would leave them to grow on for a year or two then weed out the rubbish.
From an estate stalkers point of view these would not be considered shootable animals
While I dont really see why I have to justify my culls to anyone I thought I would. I stalk within a mangement team on a rather large private estate, we have around 1500 acres of re-stock area that has an out of season license, the rest of the esate is pasture land and around 6000acres of forestry. Although we use our discretion to the sort of beasts we would cull. I think that taking 5 youngish stags was quite a good weekends work.We dont work on the basis of leaving animals to get to a certain size to bring in clients to take the shot. Hope this clears up your question. Cheers Rich
 
Something to think about here although I doubt it would apply to Scottish conditions. Red deer in very good environment are capable of growing and shedding their spikes and then grow their "2 year old" head all in their first calendar year. First time I saw it I was very confused. Have even seen some cast one spike and grow a second antler on one side but not on the other. The beauty of ear tagging is that there can be absolutely no confusion over age of said beast.

Stalkerbody. With the bodyweights you are seeing in your part of the country I am wondering if you have seen this.

The Red's i stalk, at the moment if you was to shoot a "Spiker" in velvet (unless it has/had a injury) would defo be this year's young,(comming up to 6months old) i have seen the odd 18month old (last year young)in velvet but 9 out of 10 are in hard antler with 18-24ins Spike's
 
While I dont really see why I have to justify my culls to anyone I thought I would. I stalk within a mangement team on a rather large private estate, we have around 1500 acres of re-stock area that has an out of season license, the rest of the esate is pasture land and around 6000acres of forestry. Although we use our discretion to the sort of beasts we would cull. I think that taking 5 youngish stags was quite a good weekends work.We dont work on the basis of leaving animals to get to a certain size to bring in clients to take the shot. Hope this clears up your question. Cheers Rich

My question was not aimed at you in particular, but was a general question of why anyone would choose to shoot
spikers, you certainly don't need to justify your culls to me or anyone else, least of all to me as I have done my fair share
of contract work in forestry blocks, including out of season and night shooting.
 
Its not in the least unusual for young stags still to be in velvet in October, what I would question is why you would shoot them, they are really to young to see their potential, so unless you have a very large cull to make,or its a protection job I would leave them to grow on for a year or two then weed out the rubbish.
From an estate stalkers point of view these would not be considered shootable animals
I was talking about exactly the same subject with a stalker 3 weeks ago, he mirrored your views bogtrotter. I tend to agree as well. Unless you 100 % have to, leave them to develop. Regards, Ed.
 
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