OLD STAG

[mike243]

I managed to grass this old fella tonight, looking at his gnarly old single point antlers he has been going back for a number of years, big bodied animal though, I didn't get a chance to check his teeth out, by the time the farmer turned up in his truck and helped recover him it was pitch dark, I couldn't get hold of my keeper pal to put him in his chiller so I had to hang him in a tree for tonight but it's going to be a chilly night so he shouldn't take any harm until the morning

 

[baguio]

You don't know much about ageing red deer do you Mike?

 

[User00026]

Old, not, 2yrs old IMHO. That said, we all learn, I recall the days as a youngster thinking that when I culled a spiker I was culling a murder Buck.

 

[mike243]

You don't know much about aging red deer do you Mike?

not a huge amount especially in the dark, not shot too many, have I missed something, any advice is welcome, the fact that he was on his own and hadn't been wallowing and wasn't covered in muck etc or chasing any hinds around made me think he was old

 

[baguio]

not a huge amount especially in the dark, not shot too many, have I missed something, any advice is welcome, the fact that he was on his own and hadn't been wallowing and wasn't covered in muck etc or chasing any hinds around made me think he was old

You have missed pretty much everything.
1) No brow tines so it's carrying it's 1st head therefore it's 16 months old give or take!
2) It's small of body and carrying no muscle definition therefore an adolescent deer
3) Short face tells you that it's not got space for adult dentition yet.
It weighs 84kgs in the larder give or take a couple of kgs.
I should add that you won't be the first to get it wrong and certainly won't be the last. I would recommend that you have a look at the teeth and compare them to the guide in the Deer initiative Best practice Guide. There's a lot to learn about this deer ageing business.

 

[Pete6.5]

2 year old spiker or as some would say a up right

 

[User00026]

not a huge amount especially in the dark, not shot too many, have I missed something, any advice is welcome, the fact that he was on his own and hadn't been wallowing and wasn't covered in muck etc or chasing any hinds around made me think he was old

Nothing wrong with that my friend! He’s pretty young, but that’s ok, and culling an ‘abnormal’ there is nothing wrong with at all, especially if due to a testosterone issue.

There are many very learned stalkers on this forum who are very willing to share their expertise on how to age deer and how to determine those best for culling. I have received tremendous advise from many over the years and learned more than I thought I already knew

Well done, and congratulations on your stag!

 

[mike243]

You have missed pretty much everything.
1) No brow tines so it's carrying it's 1st head therefore it's 16 months old give or take!
2) It's small of body and carrying no muscle definition therefore an adolescent deer
3) Short face tells you that it's not got space for adult dentition yet.
It weighs 84kgs in the larder give or take a couple of kgs.
I should add that you won't be the first to get it wrong and certainly won't be the last. I would recommend that you have a look at the teeth and compare them to the guide in the Deer initiative Best practice Guide. There's a lot to learn about this deer ageing business.

you learn something new every day, mostly I shoot muntjac and roe but this year the reds have done so much crop damage I have been tasked with thinning them out a bit, I shot a young stag still with its mother on the last day of the hind season which had much better antlers, not as long but a few points each side and was a bit smaller in the body, I managed to struggle it into my truck single handed where this one I could barely move

 

[Tim.243]

you learn something new every day, mostly I shoot muntjac and roe but this year the reds have done so much crop damage I have been tasked with thinning them out a bit, I shot a young stag still with its mother on the last day of the hind season which had much better antlers, not as long but a few points each side and was a bit smaller in the body, I managed to struggle it into my truck single handed where this one I could barely move

I think a bit of praise is in order as the red stag club is not huge especially out on your own so well done..

 

[baguio]

I shot a young stag still with its mother on the last day of the hind season which had much better antlers, not as long but a few points each side and was a bit smaller in the body, I managed to struggle it into my truck single handed where this one I could barely move

If it was the last day of the hind season and still with it's mother it would have been 11 months ish old. This one was 16 months. It's had all summer feeding and growing. Same cohort though!

 

[Friendly Boar]

it’s all a leaning experience. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

 

[mike243]

I think a bit of praise is in order as the red stag club is not huge especially out on your own so well done..

I may well have got all the signs of age woefully wrong, I did get it's gender correct at least lol and my hand loaded ammo did the job well

 

[Highfield]

I managed to grass this old fella tonight, looking at his gnarly old single point antlers he has been going back for a number of years, big bodied animal though, I didn't get a chance to check his teeth out, by the time the farmer turned up in his truck and helped recover him it was pitch dark, I couldn't get hold of my keeper pal to put him in his chiller so I had to hang him in a tree for tonight but it's going to be a chilly night so he shouldn't take any harm until the morning

is this a wind up

 

[bogtrotter]

You don't know much about ageing red deer do you Mike?

Cut the lad a bit of slack, every day is a school day.

 

[gixer1]

Cut the lad a bit of slack, every day is a school day.

Yeah. I thought the response was a bit ****y as well…help educate, not put down.

And if a follower was still with its mother at the end of hind season, and was born around beginning of June it would not be 11 months ish old…..

 

[Tim.243]

I may well have got all the signs of age woefully wrong, I did get it's gender correct at least lol and my hand loaded ammo did the job well

Thing is, you have been tasked to thin them out and that one would have eaten trampled just as much as the next one in the heard .So you got the age wrong who gives a duck. Good job in my books get it chopped up and in the freezer

 

[baguio]

@mike243, if you want a load of ageing stags info feel free to PM me MIke. I have written a presentation on the subject.

 

[Tim.243]

@mike243, if you want a load of ageing stags info feel free to PM me MIke. I have written a presentation on the subject.

You should post it on here so all may benefit.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I may well have got all the signs of age woefully wrong, I did get it's gender correct at least lol and my hand loaded ammo did the job well

I think you've done a fine job. Ignore the insults and pi*s-taking. You need to remember that SD is absolutely crammed-full of armchair experts who love nothing more than to denigrate the efforts of others. Regardless of whether you got it's age right or not, it's still a perfectly-good stag to take. And managing the job yourself is no small task!

Those who take the pi*s probably haven't left their house in a week

Edit: I forgot to mention there's an 'ignore' button you can use? It serves very well to filter out the white noise

 

[baguio]

You should post it on here so all may benefit.

There are people I would send it to and people who I wouldn't Tim. Guess which category you fall in to!