A RED DEER STAG TAKEN BY TONY SAROS

By Martin Auldist

Jun 2, 2024

FEATURE TROPHIES

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This mighty red deer stag taken by Tony Saros in 2017 provides a dramatic contrast to Lyndon’s chital stag – while the chital has the classic but simple six-point antlers typical of many Asiatic deer, Tony’s red deer has a much more complex antler structure with many more tines.

While measuring Lyndon’s trophy would have presented few challenges, measuring red deer trophies is often much more testing as decisions have to made about which tines ‘counterpoint’ as is required of the Douglas scoring system – only tines that match on each antler are given a score that adds to the total.

Tony's red deer trophy was scored back in 2017 and on that occasion the decision was taken that two tines did not counterpoint. However, when the head was re-scored on March 10 2024 this decision was reversed and a couple of other very minor changes were made. The wash-up was that an extra 12 ½ Douglas points were added to its score. This revision now places Tony’s red deer in the Number 1 position in the ADA’s Top 50 for the species.

A Plea from the Trophy Registrar

Once again, I ask that if you are sending details of a trophy that you have taken, could you please send a 6x4 glossy photo of yourself showing the head at its best angles for future reproduction in the magazine. The photo quality of an A4 print on plain paper can't be reproduced at a quality that can be used in the magazine. Many of the trophies in the Register won’t be published because of this issue.

Also, I do no put trophies and their scores in the magazine unless they are panel scored. That is, they have been scored by a Certified Scorer and two Accredited Scorers, even still score cards get published with mistakes, but hey we are all human!

Jamie Hinton

0438 375 220