Historically, red deer ranged from the British Isles east through Mongolia and other parts of Asia and south into northern Africa. Until about two decades ago, their numbers in Mongolia were strong with some 130,000 individuals taking advantage of forest, steppe and mountain habitat. In recent years, however, poaching has decimated red deer herds in this country as their antlers command increasingly high prices as an ingredient in traditional medicines in China and elsewhere. Even National Football League players in America have been implicated in purchasing these medicines. Elk and red deer grow new antlers each year. When the antlers are growing, they are covered in soft tissue and are said to be “in velvet.” This is when the antlers are valuable.
Here’s the problem for the elk and deer. Some studies indicate there may actually be health benefits gained from using medicinal antler and regardless of the science, a lot of people believe they derive benefit from the antler. The trade is annually running over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, and it is destroying populations of these magnificent animals. Although no recent population surveys have been conducted, it is believed that there are now fewer than 10,000 red deer in Mongolia.
On a recent trip to Mongolia’s Hustai National Park, we encountered a herd of approximately 100 mature male red deer. Separated by sex during the winter months, females were miles away in a different part of the park. These stags will drop their anglers in early spring.
Among deer, only Alces alces – called moose in North America and Eurasian elk in Europe and Asia, North American elk (wapiti), and sambar deer are larger. Adult male red deer attain weights between 550 – 770 pounds (250 – 345 kg). Some subspecies grow even larger. The extinct Irish elk, Megaloceros, which occupied much of the same range as modern-day red deer, was believed to have attained a weight of 1,500 pounds (700 kg) and had truly massive, moose-like antlers – perhaps contributing to its demise. Because of their value as a food and game species (these are the “harts” and “stags” of European hunting lore), red deer have been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Chili and Argentina.
We stalked these deer stooping and crawling for about half a mile (1 kilometer). Suddenly nearly all of them stood up – 100 animals including the ones outside the frame of this photo -, made nervous by an approaching rider on a horse.
Rutting season occurs in autumn. The rest of the year females and young form distinct groups away from the mature males.
It’s not just poachers that prompt vigilance among red deer. This wolf track spotted near a herd of females and young was fresh.
Some scent on the air kept causing the largest of these three males to look back.
Dozens of stags stream over a break in the hillside. In a land where nomads and their herds have shared the landscape with wild animals for millennia, the countryside would seem empty without the red deer. As Mongolia’s human population continues to grow, it will become increasingly necessary that places such as Hustai National Park are protected if the deer are to continue to thrive.
CutterLight 
Your photos are stunning, and the information is really interesting (and distressing). I don’t see why poachers can’t just think it through: wait a little while, they will shed their antlers, and then the population will stay strong so all the antler-hunters will have a new crop of them next year! Seems like it would be a win-win.
Hi Chrystal. The poaching situation throughout Asia – particularly here in Mongolia – is distressing. Until we did the research for this article, we had the same question you have: why not just wait till these animals shed there antlers? Apparently the antlers are only valuable when they are growing and covered by the soft tissue called “velvet.” The underlying problem is this: In Mongolia, there are resources to address poaching. For example, in one of the most pristine reserves, the Nomrog Strictly Protected Area, military personnel are stationed and part of their duties are to protect against poaching. Reports are that they don’t address poaching, that instead they, too, have become poachers. One of the results is that in an area where there is essentially no human settlement, the rivers have been all but emptied of their fish and sightings of large animals are rare. The area used to have healthy populations of moose, two or three species of deer, otters, and bears… This is poverty, money, and a lack of education converging.
Thank you for explaining. Here in the Pacific NW, we call it “in velvet,” and when the animals are in velvet, it is truly beautiful. I can imagine how that would compel some to believe antlers are especially powerful before the deer rub off the velvet.
Synchronicity … amazing … I do a short post about the Gobi Desert, and now I see this post.
Thanks for reading! We had a wonderful 8 days in the Gobi back in October. We’ll be sure to check out your post. Cheers.
Those deer in the photos are Maral (Wapiti)
Thanks for the note, Kerry. The animals in question were mainly referred to by locals (both Mongolian and American guides) as Red Deer, though a few called them Elk – which is the problem with vernacular nomenclature. Maybe you can point me in the right direction. I’m looking for a a scientific document that provides not just the common name, but the taxonomic binomial. Thus far, regarding Khustai NP, I’ve only come across references to Cervus elaphus, i.e., Red Deer. Thanks for reading, and do pass along any further information on this subject.
Hi Jack and Barbra. Well I will try to explain that simple observation as it relates to a much more complex question. The deer in the photos show consistent body colouration and antler conformation of Cervus canadensis (wapiti, or elk in North America). There are numerous subspecies. Several are in central Asia. Common name Maral is one of them in Mongolia. The best reference I know of without getting into the detail of Scientific papers I think would be: Geist, Valerius (1998). Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behavior, and Ecology. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 211–219. ISBN 978-0-8117-0496-0. OCLC 37713037. This is a large and sadly for me far too expensive a book to have in my library. The reference above is lifted directly from those in the pages of Wikipedia under Elk. As a possible complication to the issue of identity. European Red Deer, Cervus elephus, are also found in areas as close as Turkistan and unfortunately for the purity of subspecies will crossbreed with Cervus canadensis. Deer farmers in New Zealand and probably elsewhere actively produce crossbreeds. Apart from different sizes the two species have differing temperaments that can be advantageous to animal handling too.
I have heard that Red Deer may have been introduced into North America and this concerns me, as should they become wild and free roaming they would dilute the purity of the majestic Wapiti herd,… eventually.
Thanks for the references, Kerry. What I’m really looking for is a sound document or two with clear references to the animals in Khustai NP. We agree with you that the species of Cervus in the photos look a lot more like a type of Elk – abundant in our North American west – than they do Red Deer. But in investigation on the Internet, it seems that the term “Red Deer” predominates in describing the Khustai Cervus. At the time, back when we encountered these animals, we remarked how much like C. canadensis they appeared… however we deferred to local knowledge. We appreciate your insight into this. If indeed these are C. canadensis, I wonder where the local confusion stems from.
The problem is the use of common names instead of scientific names, as happens with a lot of species; ie. after a further check I found the term “Maral” is also listed as an scientific name of the eastern most red deer subspecies, Caspian Red Deer, Cervus elephus maral. So that’s where the confusion originates. So “technically” I shouldn’t have used the term Maral and stuck to a subspecies of C. canadensis either one of Tian Shan Maral (Cervus canadensis songaricus), Altai Maral (Cervus canadensis sibirica) and Manchurian wapiti (Cervus canadensis xanthopygus) which are the central Asian subspecies. And, here’s a further thought. If, C.canadensis originated in central Asia eons ago should the North American species be considered a descendent subspecies of some Asian ancestor. Maybe canadensis is wrong and should we accept it just because it was the first official scientific name. How potentially confusing is that! Kind regards Kerry, resident of that “Little Island” Tasmania.
Hi Barbra and Jack. I promise this will be my last comment on the subject, as the more I look the more diverse the subject gets. I found in my library Dr. Valerius Geists book, Deer of the World. (not the big one, though maybe shows my library is getting too big) He spent his life in research such as this. Interestingly he considered all C. elephus sp. as C. elaphus and then the subspecies. So, North American Wapiti are C.e.canadensis and in his works are listed with the RED deer.
In my eyes the deer in question could be Altai Wapiti, therefore C.e.canadensis sibiricus. The last thing is also to give credit to a Russian evolutionary biologist, Alexei Nikolaevich Severtsov (1866-1936) who gave this species the alternative scientific name, the synonym, Cervus elaphus asiaticus. So who is right and who is wrong when using the description Red? Probably no one, so long as no one objects to the Wap’s being referred to in North America as Red Deer.
Ha ha. Yes, these subjects can really take one into deep weeds. But it’s all interesting to us as well. I have to agree, the animals we’ve been talking about look more like Altai Elk than any type of Eurasian Red Deer. Thanks for the engaging discussion.