Thread: Red stag antlers “ trophy potential “

Questions for more learned hunters than I ......
If a stag has no Bey or Trey tines, or poor ones eg. nubs, but has tops say 2 or 3, will he ever grow the missing tines??, if not, should he be removed from the pop due to this defect, if it is indeed a defect.
My reason for asking is before lockdown I knocked over a young 8 with quite long antler length, but with no treys and small tops, he was a huge animal body wise and I wonder if I should’ve left him ??

I would have shot him as a cull, I don't think he was going to become much of a stag.

If they dont grow bey tines they never will. Not sure on the trez tines though

Hamish

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that's a cool head there mate!

Thank you for taking him out of the gene pool. Cool stag, probably some cool memories of your hunt. But he wasn't gonna get any better, or his progeny.

well one thing I do KNOW for certain.....that particular stag WILL NEVER grow bigger antlers than it has now...100% certain of it.....hope the venison tasted good,enjoy it and hang the head with pride in garage to remind you of the hunt...how close down are his corenets??? that seems to be the indicator of age......

Originally Posted by HNTMAD

If they dont grow bey tines they never will. Not sure on the trez tines though

Hamish

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Sorry Hamish, this is incorrect. Bez tines are the last of the primary tines to truly develop in the formation of antler. Bez tines can come & go depending on how the animal has conditioned itself during the growth period, environment plays a big part. Yes genetics does have an influence too and someone with better knowledge than me might contribute to this.
I know of one case where a deer farmer culled out his velvet stags that grew bez, so he had a better cut of velvet. He was shocked when some of his "best stags" grew bez the next year.

Thanks all .... he wasn’t very old maybe 4years??. Where he came from has potential to produce some good heads ..... I think??. Last roar a beautiful even 16 came outta there so here’s hoping for more of that and less of the one I got hahaha.
Cheers

Yeap hes better off out of it, is a couple years old and not much going for him.good freezer filler

That’s pretty interesting Mathias cheers, would like to know more about antler development and what’s cull material, internet has info but would rather hear from those that have been in the industry or had expierience with herd improvement

That is a crap arse head and would never be any good.
A young stag that is going to be good later on will always have a good foundation made up of width, good brow, bey and trey. The tops need more age to grow out but a good older stag will still have had shape in the tops when young, normally being an eight pointer.
A spiker that is thick and long with little brows is likely to be very good in the future.

Regarding the post by Mathias, I would say that some lines of deer, notably the Rakaia herd lack Beys. When these deer have been crossed with lines that have good beys there can be some odd outcomes - the deer being heterozygous for the trait, meaning that the DNA copies do not match and then environmental factors can effect how a trait is displayed. In the same way that a 'good year' results in more points as well as bigger heads.

Spot on. Yeap most the rakaia heads I've seen of mates etc have been missing bez tines. The one I shot up wilberforce was missing them too

I think culling for bezs is a bit dumb. As in some areas there just aren't many that have good bezs. So in that case if the animals has poor bezs or trezs but and good everything else I'd find it hard to kill him as a "cull" almost every massive stag was what lots would call a "scrubber" at some point. I would only cull now on mature animals that are never going to be amazing ie very large 10s or 8s etc. More young animals I don't feel I have the expertise as I don't know what's typical for the area. I'm working on a basis of for stags I will only take animals I think are a new PB or are clearly mature or deformed. I would likely make the same decision on a stag like that though near the end of a trip and I had plenty of freezer space.

Again very interesting thanks .....

Yeah that was pretty much the decision I made Stocky, he was fat and gave 6 families plenty of meat right before lockdown, damn near killed me but got everything boned out and carried out in 2 trips