Queensland Red Deer.

[hotspur]

These deer live in the surrounding bushlands,and we see them on the local properties from time to time,came across a mob of 50 does and fawns a few weeks ago.The males,are generally a bit harder to come across,I went for a walk in a steep gully and sat and waited before giving some imitation 'roars',as its almost deer mating season.After waiting quite some time,this little 'spiker' appeared,I took a few images using a 400 mm lens,at 1/200 and 640 iso, F 5.6,he had a few mates a little larger,but they all did not stick around long.Pleased to get this image,one is size out of camera,the next a crop.

Nice to see the QLD government had re introduced the proper QLD crest,which features a red deer on the left,and got rid of the awful 'Beattie Burger' (it cost $90,000 to design BB:shrug:-and looked like a page out of a school biology reproduction book:shrug:

Anyhow hope this spiker image is of interest-I had to do quite a bit of walking to get it.Images a fairly low res.

[Octane]

Another beautiful creature. Well captured!

H

[Liz]

Lovely image Chris, beautiful creatures. :)

[leon]

Nicely done Chris.

Leon

[Terry B]

Nice pic.
Are they considered feral animals?

[mithrandir]

http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/4790_8275.htm
"Red deer are native to Europe and Asia, occurring as far east as Tibet. A small population also exists in Tunisia. Since the 19th century, red deer have been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina. Their adaptability has resulted in red deer being placed on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) list of '100 of the world's worst invasive alien species'.

...

Feral red deer are a Class 3 declared pest animal under Queensland legislation. "

[ourkind]

Nice photo Chris, well done.

[DavidTrap]

Nice shot Chris. You certainly get about with your camera.

DT

[hotspur]

Thanks all.

Yes,certainly pleased with this image-quite a challenge,walking down a steep gully,and then adjusting settings to the light,or the lack of it,using a 400 mm lens at 1/200 hand held,to get a good image is pushing it a bit.

Yes,these are a vermin and can cause damage to crops,and carry ticks all over the place.One of my regular properties had a mob of about 40 come in a destroy a very large amount of oats,the owner was not happy so we had to get the bang stick out,but nothing was wasted,the venison can be eaten and kept on the property it comes off.

But they are a beautiful creature,the same owner told me how one winter he went down a valley on his property-lots of frost and a mist in the air,and two big stags with a full rack of antlers trotted past him-said it looked so magical.

Here is a couple of images of part of a big mob I walked on to-all does and fawns.

I heard some stags while outside observing last night,we off out looking again this weekend,hope to get some more images.

[taminga16]

"Feral red deer are a Class 3 declared pest animal under Queensland legislation."

Not unlike naming a swimming pool after a drowned Prime Minister really!
Greg.

[UniPol]

Beautiful deer

[beren]

:thumbsup: Nice images Chris, beautiful animals and nice country.......I'd be carrying the .308 instead of a camera though ;)

[Davros]

I love the noises they make in the hills at Astrofest.