Duffy

I don't believe the moving or introduction of ANY exotics is a good thing. They pretty well always upset things in their new home.

Robin

MA Jay

If you introduced the Red Stag into the US, then what reason would there be to travel to Europe, Patagnoia or New Zealand?

While I know it may sound cool to ship the animals to you .. there is a lot to be said for travelling to where these animals live. Any person who has travelled outside the US to hunt will tell you the trip itself was at least half the adventure. I'd hate to see our elk, deer and moose having to fight against a new competitor for land use.

fairchase Larry

I just watched a program on the oln about red stag hunting in new Zealand.
They said geneticaly the red stag and the elk are identical.
They think that the north American elk originated from red stag crossing the land bridge during the ice age.

The Roosevelt elk have more characteristics of the red stag than any other sub species.
The bulls often have a side point beside the royal which is called a crown.

According to the biologist elk are a sub species of the red stag.
The asian elk are also a sub species of the red stag.

So it seems that we have had the Red Stag in North America all along and did not realize it until recently.

Slamfire

Tahr and Chamois, would take me to NZ, I don't think anything could get me back to Europe. I think I might go to Patagonia anyway..

bearklr

OK say you do finally get a stable herd of red stag. The state that does it sure isn't going to make millions. Just look here in Pa. We have a decent herd of elk but hardly any tags are given out. Yeah, you can pay 10 bucks for a chance to get drawn but with so few being actually sold they really don't make any money. They still have to pay to study amd monitor the herd so I doubt very much that any state would make millions on red stag.

oldelkhunter

From what I understand the Red Deer originally migrated here thousands of years ago across the land bridge and evolved into Elk.

I edited this post after some thought..I think these biologists are off track. Elk like we know them exist in Mongolia and Siberia why couldn't they have crossed over in lieu of Red Deer?l

fairchase Larry

Well.... from what I can determine you are both correct.
The North American Wapiti Originated as a sub species from the Red Stag due to climate differences,geography,etc.
They may well have made the change in Siberia and then migrated into North America.

The subtle climate and geographical differences in the lower 48 resulted in several sub species.

James B

I was watching an old hunting show today on TV and they were saying that the Pronhorn is the only real Native big game animal in the u.S. The Moose came from Siberia and the deer and elk came from Europe. Even the Bison was not native here. A very young Paul Harvey was the narrator. It was filmed fifty years ago. I don't remember the original film but I do remember 50 years ago quite well. Most of the time that is.