By keeping a close watch on his deer, Neil Page has plenty of opportunity to evaluate and photograph the hog deer on his property.
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“Good” genetics are probably only a small part of the equation when it comes to the quality of trophies produced by a deer population. A mother with lots of milk, high quality feed throughout life and time to reach maturity are undoubtedly also keys that decide whether a buck or stag goes on to produce a trophy to make a hunter proud. And, of course, it can all be undone if the animal is injured in some way or damages its headgear during velvet development or when sparring to establish rank when in hard antler.
Neil Page and Corie DeVisser have been managing a population of hog deer for many years now and it certainly shows in the consistent quality of the trophy heads taken off their property. Good feed and allowing stags to reach maturity are the keys to their management and this was demonstrated in 2023 when Neil took the great stag featured here.
Like all top trophies under the Douglas scoring system Neil’s stag has great length, strong tines and exceptional symmetry. A couple of small nubs add a point to an already great trophy that places at Number 6 in the ADA’s Top 50 listing for the species.
Neil with his quality hog deer stag taken in 2023.
Shane Zbroja with his rusa stag taken in New South Wales in 2009.
Good feed and maturity undoubtedly also feature in the background of Shane Zbroja’s rusa stag taken in New South Wales way back in 2009. Like all top trophies in Australia, it features great length, strong tines and symmetry that see it score over the magic 200 Douglas points.
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