Feature Trophy Scorecard

FEATURE TROPHY

A Red Deer Stag Taken By John Kiely

This month we feature a great red deer trophy taken by John Kiely in Western Victoria in 2013.

Although red deer have been present in a couple of limited locations in Western Victoria for many years, it has only been more recently, with the release or escape of farmed genetics, that this population has really made an impact on ADA’s Top 50 for the species.

And what a magnificent stag John’s in 2013 is! A massive body that dwarfs both John and his rifle, with antlers in proportion to its size. While most Victorian hunters consider a big sambar stag the ultimate trophy, when it comes to straight-out ‘impressive’, you really have to concede that it is hard to beat the impact of the antler mass and points of a majestic red deer stag.

The Douglas Scoring System focusses heavily on symmetry when assessing trophies and with multi-tined red deer, whether the various tines are counterpointed is the key to what adds to the score and what does not.

John’s 2013 stag does really well on a number of criteria: antler length, beam, coronet and brow, trez, royal, back and upper-off back tines are all very similar, so they score well, but one bez tine is almost non-existent, so adds minimally to the Douglas score and an inner-off royal tine and outer-off back tine are not counterpointed so score nothing.

Nevertheless, a neat Douglas score of 320 places this trophy in the top echelons for the species in Australia and places it at number 29 in the ADA’s Top 50.

A quick glance at the Top 50 suggests that the red deer is perhaps the most democratic and widespread of Australia’s six deer species, with the Top 50 coming from New South Wales (15), Victoria (14), Queensland (6) and South Australia (15) perhaps a reflection of the past dominance of deer farming and imported genetics in these states.

ADA is keen to maintain and add to its listings of the top trophies taken of the six deer species in Australia, so if you are fortunate to shoot a good one, why not have it scored so that it can be added to the record books? Our requirement is a photo or photos of the head or animal clearly showing the antlers, and the scoresheet with the names of the accredited ADA measurers who have assessed and measured the head.