Hard Antler

The typical form of Sika antler is smaller than red deer and has eight points. The brow tine slopes outwards and upwards. Although it is hard to make specific claims, generally our stags have a longer trez tine than brow tine. There is an inner-top and an outer-top tine of which the outer top is the longer. There are variations on this form.

The Douglas score of a good Sika stag would be over 200 points. I am not an accredited measurer but I think the 135kg stag (shown in picture one below) would rate at a bit under 200 Douglas points. From our experience the more red there is in a stag the wider the spread and the more even the inner and outer tops. However, this is not always the case.

For the purposes of this website only, over the years we selected a few stags to photograph in hard antler. As a rule of thumb, we do not have mature stags on the farm in hard antler as we harvest velvet from them. Stags in hard antler can be a danger to humans, themselves and other animals.