http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDoUJBriS4Q
Excellent footage, well done.
There is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing this.
I was expecting a promo video out of Texas showing a big Whitetail! :)
Very nice wanderingjim... thanks for sharing!
Not something you see every day. Thanks for Sharing.
not a problem gentlemen. As you can see they are a magnificient little creature with an attitude as you can see the spiker has been put in his place. Not too mention they are also one of the best eating deer i have ever encountered! they are truly wild animals on this island, as they have been noted swimming from and too the mainland on numerous occasions. the spiker was captured as a calf and ear tagged for research.
hi wanderingjim, i presume you are from australia? if so i was wondering which is the island they swim to and from? and as brickburn said its a new one here as well, can you give us some info on the hog deer please.Quote:
Originally Posted by wanderingjim
Great footage of some wonderful deer Jim.
Looks like the little Spikey has been raked down the inside top of the back by the brow tines of the dominant stag. He's got a couple of nasty open scrapes there.
The bigger stag looks to be in the absolute "pink" of condition.
Great to see, I've not hunted Hoggies for many years it's great to see places like S.I providing some form of managed refuge for their longevity.
Thanks for posting.
thanks for the interest spike.t
the island is a co-operativly owned reserve in Gippsland called Para park, the hog deer, or axis porcinus is found all along the south east coast of Victoria, Australia. the island has a website Home
Hog deer are a small deer, males standing around 66cm at the
shoulders and weighing around 40kg. Females are smaller coming in
at about 61cm at the shoulders and weighing around 30kg. They
were introduced to Victoria in the 1860's. They are native to India,
Nepal and Southern Asia.
It gets its name from the hog-like manner in which it runs through the
forests with its head hung low so that it can duck under obstacles
instead of leaping over them like most other deer.
Hog deer are gregarious only when conditions are favorable and do
not form a "unit" at these times, fleeing in different directions rather
than in a herd. When alarmed, hog deer make a whistling
vocalization or a warning bark.
The antler of a mature hog deer stag is typically three tined-brow tine
with solid main beam terminating in inner and outer top tines.
i have attached a photo i took a few years ago of a mature hog deer stag in velvet in prime condition. this is one of my all time favorite pics that i have taken
Attachment 10783
Is this on a game farm, the doe looks like it has a red or orange tag in her right ear??? Awesome footage, and some chubby little things, I would bet the are good eating.:cook:
The deer are on an island that only has fences to keep the game out of areas, not in.
There is tags in the young ones ear, but these are used by the island and government authorities for study purposes. As i mentioned in a prior response, we tag a number of calves each year on the island to measure growth rates etc. The heard is managed in numbers so we cull the heard as much as hunt them, to maintain a number of animals that can be carried on the island in a worst case year.
it is actually what we call a nubby stag, similar to button buck. His coronets are still forming but have not broken through yet.
And with out a doubt they live up to their nickname, hog deer. they do have the body of a little hog, and the meat tastes like a cross between pork and venison. Most people who eat it claim its the best eating venison available in australia, i i wholehearteldy agree. there is something about the little buggers that gets into you, and once you start hunting them its hard to stop. they might not have the majesty of a bugling elk but they are more cunnning than any other animal i have ever hunted.
thanks for the info