Saturday, 14 May 2016

The Stags Lose their Antlers

By the end of April the red deer stags' antlers are beginning to look a bit motheaten. In some cases, they may have broken their antlers during the rut.

Recently we watched a small herd of stags feeding as they moved across land to the south of the Caim sheds on their way into the shelter of the Beinn nan Losgann forestry.

By this time of year many of the stags have cast their antlers, ready to grow new ones through the summer ready for the autumn rut - though most of this group still had their antlers.

We keep finding them scattered across the countryside. But they're not wasted: the antlers contain valuable minerals so, if they're left, the stags will eat them.

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