Deer

[Mcthecat]

Few wild Red Deer in the Rut.

Mick

[Jeremy Roussak]

All are good, with lovely light; the first is wonderful. Where were they taken?

Jeremy

[Mcthecat]

Me and one of the worlds top Nature Photographers out and about in the UK.

mICK

[Jim Pascoe]

Me and one of the worlds top Nature Photographers out and about in the UK.

mICK

Don't give too much away!

[Mcthecat]

It took me over a year in research and contacts to get these pics.

Mc

[Justan]

If I’m not mistaken those are elk and not deer. Elk are much bigger than deer, weighing in at up to about 1200-1500 lbs, where deer usually weight no more than about 200 lbs. Both are in the family called Cervus. Around here, elk have a large whitish colored area around their derrieres. This speeches is known as the Roosevelt Elk. But this identifying characteristic is not apparent in the images you provided.

I’ve been capturing elk with my camera for about 10 years. The images you have are good. Elk have great hearing and due to that most of the time images are like your 3rd one, featuring their hind end. Unless one is very stealthy, elk will always have an ear and their tail pointed towards you.

[Justan]

Oopse, I’m mistaken. Accordingly, red deer can weigh up to about 500 lbs. and look a whole lot like Roosevelt Elk, which is pretty cool given that they are about half the weight per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_deer.

[Mcthecat]

Yep, it's Red Deer. Not only are they very photogenic they also taste nice.

Mick

[stamper]

Justan I don't think you get Elk in the UK unless they are in a zoo or some kind of similar enclosure. If some had escaped then they would probably be shot to stop inbreeding.

[Justan]

Yep, it's Red Deer. Not only are they very photogenic they also taste nice.

I’ve heard that elk meat is enjoyable. Never tried it. I wasn’t raised by a family that hunted, nor do I know anyone who does, so I have no experience in eating elk, or any other game meat.

Justan I don't think you get Elk in the UK unless they are in a zoo or some kind of similar enclosure. If some had escaped then they would probably be shot to stop inbreeding.

I’ll take your word on that. But I don’t know that elk and deer would mate. As far as I know they don’t around here anyway. They do inhabit the same overall areas, but there are no signs of deelk or eleer or any other combinations of the two. I don't know if it is theoretically possible, but kind of doubt it.

What is very interesting to me is that the overall look of the red deer is remarkably similar to that of Roosevelt Elk, except for the part where they are about 1/3 the weight.

The deer around this area are not only much smaller than those shown above but they have waaay finer features. The  red deer (above) appear to be miniature versions of elk and I would not have discerned “miniature” had I not looked at the link I provided above.

[Mcthecat]

Just wanted to point out, no photoshop.

Mick

[wolfnowl]

Justan:  Red deer in Europe are very similar but different species to what are known as elk or wapiti in North America.  There are red deer farms in North America, and sometimes they'll escape and mix with the local elk herds (if there are any).  If you want to confuse things, what are known as moose in North America are often called elk in Europe.  Generally speaking they're all cervids.

Mike.

P.S. one definition of a species is two animals that can mate and produce fertile offspring.  Mules for example are generally sterile.  But we're getting far away from the images now.

Mike.