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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
Cheers for the observations, you confirm some of what I thought. You're right there is some ridging on the beams more pronounced on the left. Scull length is 14" so bit big for sika and more red.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tui4Me
Has been a educational experience! Pleased I bought the antlers out, was gonna just take the meat and leave the head.
Hybrid,there's heaps in there,any doubt in identity then hybrid,here's one I shot a couple of days ago,had a beautiful clean single call and hee haw but definitely hybrid.Attachment 194945
All the hybrids ive seen posted on the forum seem to have sika antlers and red bodies
Like this fine specimenQuote:
Originally Posted by Carbine
Was it roaring per chance at the time?
You asking me or the original poster? The one I posted above was shot winter last yearQuote:
Originally Posted by Rusky
Both. I'm curious if a hybrid that thinks it's a red which is more sika makes a red roar or vice versa.
They can make all manner of strange noises and a lot easily identifiable by the peculiarity of their roars,but then others like the one I posted can sound like the purest Sika out and I've roared in others that sound just like a red,I've always believed that some have the ability to choose whatever roar they want,if they are trying to steal jap hinds they can jap roar perfectly,if they want red hinds they just go red.So if you are in red/jap country don't worry what your roar sounds like ad it's going to piss something off :)
Mine wasn't roaring, he was too busy scoffing food with one of his mates. Was like his mate hadn't seen a human before. Hung round till we got to about 50m away then slowly ambled off.
The big giveaway is the size / length of that skull , nice animal all the same
