Red Deer Stag with Antlers Takes Daytime Nap at Lower Scratchpost

Recently, a lone female Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) showed up at the lower scratchpost and sniffed by trail camera I had set up there. A few days later, a lone male Red Deer with antlers followed suit, but instead of sniffing the trail cam, laid down and apparently took a nap beside the scratching tree.

As a reminder, a female Red Deer is called a Hind, whereas a male Red Deer is called a Stag. The link to the video of the Hind is below:

The stag calmly approached the scratchpost, and just had a general feel of the area, carefully listening and sniffing for anything unusual for a few minutes. Once he determined there was no sign of danger, he laid down on the ground and stayed there for an hour.

Because my game camera is motion censor triggered, there was nothing on it between the time when he laid down and the time when he got up. That whole hour he was for all intents and purposes, wholly motionless, so there is no video of him actively napping.

He picked a cold winter day for the nap, but the sun was shining and the area was peaceful so he was able to enjoy his daytime nap undisturbed.

00:00 Disclaimer
00:11 Lower scratchpost trail cam setup
00:31 Red deer stag approaches the scratching tree
00:46 Stag sniffs the tree
01:14 Stag looks at the camera
01:34 Testing the ground
01:44 Carefully picking up sounds
02:04 Getting the ground ready for the nap
02:15 Comfortably rested and leaned
02:31 Get up an hour later
02:53 Post nap mouth work
03:06 Stag departing

Keep rocking :o)

Mark
https://www.nophoneman.com/