Sika hybrid or red?

Hi all, after the opinion of of the forums Sika experts. What are folks thoughts about the stag below? I shot it in the Thunderbolt range of the southern Kiamanawa's
Antler configuration looks sika'ish but lacks any buttresses on the brow tines, body looks red to me? What do people think? Hybrid or srubby straight red stag?
By the way he was butter fat and tastes delicious!

Attachment 194587

Attachment 194588

Put up a close up of the skull area between the coronets

I'm thinking Red

Face looks red for sure

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Doesn't the sika skull have a y join in the skull and red is straight up and down?

Id say it's deffinatly a Hybrid, the angle of the brow tines to the beam, the pearling an also the position of its trez tines. The actual shape is red but the tops are quite forward facing too. What's the skull length an does it have a "T" (sika) or a "Y" (red) at top of skull.

Thanks for the replies, always impressed with the forum knowledge! Definitely a Y shape between the coronets. Attachment 194591

https://www.nzdahastings.org.nz/wp-c...uide-Notes.pdf

Certainly looks more red then sika in its overall appearance. As others have said, look for the T or the Y in the skull between coronets. Also what does the skull measure from the lambdoidal ridge at the back of the skull to the front of the premaxilla bones at the tip of the nose?

The treys sit at the halfway mark rather then above and the tops are red like.

Thanks @stagstalker, just the kind of info I was after. Your Google skills are obviously superior to mine! Will take a closer look tonight.

Red with a hint of Sika

Large eye sockets and nose length of the red

Mostly red with a dash of sika in the antlers. Any photos of the rear end? creamy colour coming up over the tail?

Sika antler have pronounced ridge down along the front of the main beam.

Cheers all, think definitely a red with a hint of sika in the lineage. Probably not a bad animal to take out the herd. Good excuse to get back out to look for a full blooded 8pt sika!

Still some good Sika traits.

There is a gap between the brow tines and the coronets where as red brow tines are typically hard down.

Brow and trey tines sweep upwards and outwards where as red tines sweep fowards.

Heavy pearling and a hint of a ridge on the left beam.

Skull length doesn’t look that out of place to me.

The tops and lack of defined ridge lines give it away to me but my call is slightly more Sika than Red by about 60 - 40

Probably not particularly helpful, but I'd note that the Kaimanawas in general, and that area in particular are renowned for rubbish red heads. An exception is always possible of course, but that heads looks too good to have too much red in it from that area, imo? :P