Heads like this are something we don't often see out in the wild!!

I"m just setting my alarm for 4 am to go looking for something along those lines!
good shooting

FB

What you need is a different guide - or try looking where you know there aren't any Fallow!




Rgds IanF

Has anyone tried releasing park stags into wild populations to increase the trophy quality?

Gabriel

Yes - but usually with wire cutters.

Seriously, the problem is always with the fact that the species roams widely and the big antlers are an irresistible target for any stalker. A decision usually justified on the basis of 'if I don't then someone else will'.

Accordingly, meaningful management is hard to carry out as not many of us have control over a wide enough area to encompass the entire range of the herd.

Rgds Ian

Wow! I see why the one I took was called a spiker

On the release idea, I think Gabriel is on to something; If as Ian points out such a beast would be the chief target for all local stalkers then release him just before the rut starts on the prime stand on your patch. With horns like triceretops he should be able to defend the stand and will undoubtbly have have the does in lather with his butchness.

Let him sow his wild oats and shoot him anyway when he's done his job at the end of the rut. you could even take a "client" out and charge him a trophy fee to offset purchase costs for the beast in the first place.

net result genes in pool and possibility of getting your money back or gene's in pool and antlers on wall.

Of course he may just wander off and get DRT by farmer giles and his tractor on the first day.....

Amir

Using park deer to improve the heads in a wild population has been done on numerous occasions either deliberately or accidentally, in both reds and fallow.

The red stags in places like Warnham Park in Sussex have massive heads and their blood appears in many farmed and wild populations around the World, as far away as New Zealand.

Deer on deer farms often carry Warnham blood (or similar good genetic lines) and when these escape they take the blood lines into the local population or start a new feral population with great heads. The reds loose in South Wales are from this type of escape and have already produced a silver medal, the New Forest reds are also of park stock hence the large antlers and the massive reds of East Anglia are descended from Warnham and Woburn deer left out by the Norwich Staghounds who hunted carted deer.

The clever way to introduce a stronger blood line is not to use stags but to let a few hinds go, especially if they are pregnant to a known big stag, as they carry the same genetic heritage but tend not to be an immediate target for the local stalkers.

What is important is that it is not always a good idea to introduce a different blood line as they larger park bred animal may not be suited to the locality in which it is released and many Scottish estates ruined the integrity of their bloodlines by using English park deer and even Wapiti (American Elk) to try and improve antler quality.