Murder/Deformed Stags. It was this thread posted by 'novice' about "murder" stags which got me thinking about this subject.
I can only relate to ageing sambar and it can be difficult to accurately age a stag at first glance but there are some ways of indicating which age bracket a particular stage is in. Is he a juvenile, in his prime or in old age. Juveniles and old stags often have malformed antlers. Many/most sambar hunters confuse deformed...malforms as we call them. When hunters encounter them they are shot to supposedly keep bad genetics out of the herd. Juvenile sambar stags of up to 3 years of age often have mismatched and so called deformed antlers but as they mature the true genetics emerge and they begin growing normal/traditional antlers and body mass increases. In their youth they can be likened to a teenage boy...in his teens he is skinny, all gangly with some facial acne, likes the girls but is still too young. He quickly matures into a solid, well built/clean skin/up for any challenge young man.
A big giveaway when ageing shot stags is to skin the head and examine the so called "sutures"... those three wiggly lines which hold the 3 skull plates in position. As the stag ages these 'sutures' gradually turn into bone and become very faint in old age. On sambar we call this "knitting". The length and diameter of the pedicle is also a handy ageing tool. In sambar teeth wear can be erratic and a some what unreliable indicator of age. Because sambar are browsers of various hardy bush plants the teeth wear rate can increase and also be influenced by whether the stag predominately chews on these harder bush plants or if its diet is predominately soft grasses and blackberry vines. Location is a good indicator when ageing by teeth wear. Does the stag live near farms which gives him access to nutritious soft crops/grasses or is he well away from farmland living in harsh, dry conditions where plants struggle and become hardy. Body condition can also skew ageing...from well fed plump/well muscled animals on good tucker to does he have to work hard to fill his belly with plants of somewhat less desirable nutrition and are harder to chew. Sambar can live up to some fifteen years so age so there is plenty of scope to try and accurately age them.
An anomaly. here is one little known sambar behavioural trait is when the mature stags stop eating and rapidly lose condition for up to a week but I'll leave that subject alone at the moment
True sambar malforms are rare with stags wearing spear antlers rarer again.
As expected I know nothing about your UK various deer species/stags, their lifespan, antler development /diet and what happens to them as they age. I think it would be interesting to here from UK deer hunters how they determine age and what variations/idiosyncrasies are encounter which have to be factored in
Oops..I got a bit garrulous here.]
I can only relate to ageing sambar and it can be difficult to accurately age a stag at first glance but there are some ways of indicating which age bracket a particular stage is in. Is he a juvenile, in his prime or in old age. Juveniles and old stags often have malformed antlers. Many/most sambar hunters confuse deformed...malforms as we call them. When hunters encounter them they are shot to supposedly keep bad genetics out of the herd. Juvenile sambar stags of up to 3 years of age often have mismatched and so called deformed antlers but as they mature the true genetics emerge and they begin growing normal/traditional antlers and body mass increases. In their youth they can be likened to a teenage boy...in his teens he is skinny, all gangly with some facial acne, likes the girls but is still too young. He quickly matures into a solid, well built/clean skin/up for any challenge young man.
A big giveaway when ageing shot stags is to skin the head and examine the so called "sutures"... those three wiggly lines which hold the 3 skull plates in position. As the stag ages these 'sutures' gradually turn into bone and become very faint in old age. On sambar we call this "knitting". The length and diameter of the pedicle is also a handy ageing tool. In sambar teeth wear can be erratic and a some what unreliable indicator of age. Because sambar are browsers of various hardy bush plants the teeth wear rate can increase and also be influenced by whether the stag predominately chews on these harder bush plants or if its diet is predominately soft grasses and blackberry vines. Location is a good indicator when ageing by teeth wear. Does the stag live near farms which gives him access to nutritious soft crops/grasses or is he well away from farmland living in harsh, dry conditions where plants struggle and become hardy. Body condition can also skew ageing...from well fed plump/well muscled animals on good tucker to does he have to work hard to fill his belly with plants of somewhat less desirable nutrition and are harder to chew. Sambar can live up to some fifteen years so age so there is plenty of scope to try and accurately age them.
An anomaly. here is one little known sambar behavioural trait is when the mature stags stop eating and rapidly lose condition for up to a week but I'll leave that subject alone at the moment
True sambar malforms are rare with stags wearing spear antlers rarer again.
As expected I know nothing about your UK various deer species/stags, their lifespan, antler development /diet and what happens to them as they age. I think it would be interesting to here from UK deer hunters how they determine age and what variations/idiosyncrasies are encounter which have to be factored in
Oops..I got a bit garrulous here.]
