I feel compelled to add that these Queensland reds are nothing like the monstrous mutant stags we are seeing more and more in other parts of Australia, and in New Zealand's safari industry. While no-doubt spectacular, those huge cauliflower antlers are the result of relatively recent introductions with wapiti and eastern European genetics, selected for maximum velvet production during the height of the deer-farming bubble.

By contrast the Cressbrook Valley stags are known as "the Heritage Herd", being direct decendants of the original liberations on Cressbrook Station in 1873 (2 stags and 4 hinds) and 1874 (a further 9 animals?). They were selected from the grounds of Queen Victoria's private estate at Windsor Castle and are sometimes referred to as "Windsor stags", being gifted to the colony of Queensland by the Queen herself as a token of her appreciation for naming the colony after her.

Throughout the area, a heavy 4x4 is a typical mature stag and 10-pointers or above are highly prized locally. In a symetrical head, a twelve-point "Royal" is about as good as it gets in the pure-strain Windsor blood-line, as depicted by Edwin Landseer's famous 1851 painting "The Monarch of the Glen". Although not the most massive antlers I have been privileged to collect so far, I regard that 11-pointer from this year's hunt as my personal best, and I am absolutely stoked! Won't stop me dreaming about closing the bolt on a 6x6 Royal one day though...