Hahahah .... Targets lol whatever they are they sure are weird looking.

young red deer

Definitely young Red Deer...

It's interesting because I agree they appear young, but there were some like this last year also...within about a half mile of this site. We haven't seen anything that would appear to be older.

There are areas that are very thick and rugged...pretty much impossible to get to on the ranch, maybe that's where they stay. Plenty of hardwoods, natural browse and water in there. The southwest corner of our place and the southeast corner of the 6,000 acre place next to us are sort of a no mans land. Not much, if any, hunting takes place on the 6,000 acre place. We only hunt 4, but 2 of those are not regular. I dunno...

Not surprising in the least - you said you've seen some females, you had 18 month olds last year, and 18 month olds this year - There's probably a stag or two out there too. Put your trailcam out whereever you see the females in October.

Had a friend that had a herd of 20 or so red stag/elk hybrids down in webb county. I hunted there several times, and only caught a fleeting glimpse of one, and he mentioned that they usually only see them in the fields at night. We had a 300 class bull elk completely disappear on us for 6 months in a 1500 acre fenced pasture. You would think that an animal that size would stick out like a sore thumb, but they know how to hide.

Thanks for the story... I'll be putting alfalfa bails and feed out in the morning in and around the areas they have been seen. The bails and feed will be in feeder pens to keep hogs out. Cameras will be present. I'll try this for a while and see if anything develops. If not, back to my regularly scheduled program...

Let me know if you want me to come out and take a closer look through my scope...