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Great photo Gryph......thanks for posting. Having only managed a couple of 19" stags over the years I would have decked that fella had I been you ......so thanks for leaving him be........perhaps someone in my boat will get a chance at him one day.

What is that line down his body do you think? It almost looks like an old scar from an encounter with a barbed wire fence. Or was he moulting?

Thanks mate.

GG

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GG that lateral line is the 'tide mark' from where he has been in a watery wallow,the ghost look whitish mud is dried mud on his face,usually indicative of a wallow under tree ferns as they are often black mud that will often dry to a grey.

I posted this bloke from another area a while back and he has a tide mark too.
Btw sometimes those 19" models are as tough to get as their big brothers.
After my health issues this year I got back to a bit of walking and rolled a 20" model ( a real cull) after not having a rifle in my hand for 1/2 a year..it really was a salvation stag to me and most would never look at it twice but it means more to me personally than either of the pictured stags.
This fella has a still wet look.