I agree with Dawn

Deer culling is a management technique, that is all. Any money from the sale of the rights to cull is often put back into the land/national park etc.

If this deer was in fact 12 years old, there is a very good chance that he has been mating with his own offspring for quite a few years now. In order to maintain as much genetic diversity as possible, the best thing to do is remove him from the herd. This will enable another younger, virile stag to take top rank.

A quick, clean shot is much quicker and dignified than a death from injuries, starvation etc that a lot of older deer die from. The people that pay to come and shoot deer are expert marksmen and pride themselves on quick kills.

The only thing that giving a deer a name does is personalise it. This stag was no different from any of the other hundreds of stags that are culled every year to manage the herds.

I've been deer stalking and I've eaten venison, I've admired deer in the wild and they are graceful creatures, however, there is no use getting sentimental over it all. If he hadn't been killed this year, it would have been next year, or the year after...

Agree with the others, deer management is vital to keep a healthy and strong herd, regardless of trophy status or anything else. I love deer, I love watching the deer out n about but the fact is there isn't a LOT (there is some) of management in the deer we see round these parts, and you DO tell the difference as you often see some very sorry creatures wandering around. Just like a lot of the foxes since we stopped managing them, but hey ho that's another can of worms

Apparently he wasnt the biggest at all, I know that a few people have all said there are plenty as big and bigger, but people dont give them names and draw attention to them.

Well thats how it was reported in the press - apparently on record as being the largest red deer stag on record. He was apparently a cut above the average stag

What, seriously? Why wait 12yrs, when you can get another the same any year?

Yes seriously, this stag had a reputation and there are people who will want a specific animal as a trophy and are willing to pay to be able to kill it.Thats been going on for years, its perfectly legal when a cull is required. He was at least 12yrs old, studies show from 10yrs they are significantly less fertile, and that is proof not propaganda,
(I never said that this was not so, I said he was not at the end of his life - he was still going strong) - I said that he was no with this in mind, those that manage the Deer may have seen his decline, when all the public have seen is a Deer they gave a name to, shot.
I had never heard of this animal until it came into the press. I am not so naive as to believe that wildlife have it easy - but I am saying he was "picked" more than likely before the time was right - so that someone could have a trophy on their wall and tell people that this was the biggest stag on record and I bagged it. That is what is sad abojut all this, not just the cull of red deer


In your opinion.


Although the species is the same, the Deer on Rum HAVE to be managed in a specific way, the Isle doesnt support the same expanse as Exmoor.

Yes I know - Rum is a smaller island area; the deer on Rum were re-introduced because they had been eliminated by hunting and to make way for grazing livestock. I also know they are the subject of scientific projects.

Ahh, ok, leave him till he is injured, starving and dying, then kill him, sounds great![/QUOTE]
Thats what happens to a lot of wildlife and I said "struggling" which I meat would not see another winter out.

We will probably agree to differ a little on this Borderdawn - We don't know all the facts surrounding this animal - I will remain suspicious about motives, prestige and money issues and you will remain accepting.

Of course it was!

What reputation? Had YOU heard of him before this? Doubt most on here had! (confirmed further down!)

No, but aging can and does cause massive problems for wild animals, his possible infertility could have seen the demise of that herd, or at least its significant decline.

I dont understand what your point is, is it just that he was a large animal? Do you have issue with somebody that MAY of wanted to mount his head? Why? If somebody wants to do that, let them, thousands wasted if you ask me.

So then the FACT that their studies prove that Red Deer are MUCH less fertile and many never father a calf after 10yrs, does in fact mean the culling of this animal may well have been the right thing to do on many levels, thats what management is all about.

So you'd rather watch him starve to death or lay injured than him be shot and die instantly? Thats quite difficult for me to accept, when you claim that the shooting was wrong.

Absolutely, agree to disagree .

I am not particularly anti-hunting and I am not considered sentimental by those who know me. You have just said it - "if not this year, next year or the year after". I don't believe he was at the stage where he was ready to be culled this year - he was a trophy hunt this year for someone who specifically wanted this animal.

Have seen a few posts on this topic on several forums, one signifcant post from a professional deer stalker, who thinks the size of this stag is subjective, possibly the largest stag on Exmoor, but not proven to be the largest in Britain by any means.

From what I understand of deer management, 12 years of age is not at all an unusual age for a stag to be shot, to make room for younger, more viable stags and help maintain a healthy and diverse gene pool. I doubt if it had been of ordinary size, or hadn't been named, there would have been any question about the culling. I suspect a number of just as healthy, similar aged stags have been culled in the same area, without any cause for consternation.

Yep, Id say 99% of the country had never heard of him before this. He certainly isnt the largest either.

The fact is people who know about Deer Management have said there was no reason for this Stag to have been killed. He was a fit, healthy animal and in his prime. Of course people making £2,000- £3,000 For his head and that of other Stags will stick up for his being killed.

It is a great shame that people get pleasure from shooting aniamls.

Well said, agree 100% with all of the above.

This makes me terribly sad -

''Another local, who asked not to be named, said: "You'd often see him there, he was huge but had got so tame you could almost walk up to him.

"For anyone wanting to shoot him, it would have been an easy task to get in close and do it, which makes his death horribly unsporting."

Even professional deer stalkers, said concerns about the shooting of Emperor were unjustified, admitted they would not target such well-known animals simply as a trophy. ''

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wil...a-mystery.html

The fact is it was done during a protected season (OK, un-offical, but it should be) and was done purely for sport. The evidence of this is that the coward scarpered without his 'prize'!

I think killing animals for sport is disgusting and anyone who does it cannot call themselves a true animal lover.

Thats not a good thing