I have seen a Red Stag in Saddleworth! I first saw it when I was in the local woodland. I was stood next to a tree for a few minutes when I heard something. I turned and looked to my left and I was amazed to see a huge set of antlers. Then the rest of it appeared; a very big, mature red stag! To have seen a truly wild red stag, even briefly, was quite exciting (it’s very much roe deer around here). Yes, you can see them in deer parks (Tatton Park and Dunham Massey are not too far away), but it’s all a bit easy. They are used to people, so don’t bat an eyelid when they see you. There’s something much more satisfying about seeing animals in the wild. But – no photo! It bolted through the trees as soon as it saw me. I was gutted! No evidence of a red stag in the woods, in Saddleworth. However …
The same morning, I was in the woods to put a couple of trail cameras out in new locations. I left them there for several days. I had a fantastic surprise when I looked at whether they had caught anything. The stag was on one! Only briefly, but what a great result. I now have evidence of a red stag in Saddleworth as you can see on this video.
There are also roe deer on the video, and you can easily see the difference in size between the roe and the red. Granted though, the two roe bucks you can see are young, but even so, a mature roe buck would be no match for the red!
I have seen a couple of mentions by local people of a red stag sighting. One was a black and white image caught on a trail camera, but I’ve not seen anyone with even a short video or colour image. Also, I did think I saw a large deer, possibly a stag, last year, but again no picture as it bolted! This time I have definite proof that there is a visitor to the area – even if only once a year.
By the way. You may have noticed that the header picture is obviously not a red deer. It is a roe deer that I saw the same morning as the stag, but the roe didn’t run away as quickly!