The Hunt · Red Deer
Red deer
One quarry. The stag in the September rut, and the hind through winter. Nothing else.
The roar
You hear it before you have any business being awake
The roar begins in the second week of September and runs about ten days. It carries a long way across a valley like this one and it does not sound like an animal you have heard before.
That window is the whole reason to come now. Outside it, the stags are quiet and hard to find. Inside it, the valley belongs to them, and to the nine people we let in to listen.
Exact dates are set annually and confirmed with the State Forest Service for the current season.
How we hunt it
Two ways, and the wind decides
High seat, dawn and dusk
Out before four, in the seat as the forest wakes, watching the edges where stags move between cover and feed.
Stalking to a roaring stag
When one is roaring, you go to him — reading wind up the slopes, closing the distance on foot. This is the hunt people remember.
The night, where the law allows
Latvian law makes an exception for rutting stags at night. Where it applies, and only where it is safe, your guide may take you out after dark.
Your day
Two sits, and a long middle
| 04:30 | Coffee, and the walk out in the dark |
| 05:00–10:00 | The morning sit, or a stalk to a roar |
| 10:00–16:00 | Back to the manor. Breakfast, sleep, the sauna |
| 16:00–20:00 | The evening sit |
| 20:00 | Dinner, and the day retold at the table |
Trophy expectations, honestly
What you can reasonably expect to take
We would rather tell you this now than after you have paid a deposit. Hungary produces Europe's record heads and we do not compete with Hungary.
What Staghorn offers is a stag taken free-range, on more than 100 hectares of your own ground, with a guide who has known that animal for two seasons. Most guests take a bronze or silver-class stag; a gold-class head is possible and never promised.
Bands below follow the Central European red deer CIC table — to be confirmed as the applicable regional table before publication.
Fees
Every number, before you write to us
| CIC points | Trophy fee |
|---|---|
| up to 169.99 below bronze | €2,900 |
| 170.00 – 189.99 bronze | €3,900 |
| 190.00 – 209.99 silver | €5,400 |
| 210.00 – 229.99 gold | €7,600 |
| 230.00 – 249.99 | €9,900 |
| 250.00 + | on application |
Illustrative structure — figures to be set by the estate. Fees payable only on animals taken.
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Guided day, 1:1, all meals & lodging | €480 / day |
| Selective young stag | €600 |
| Hind | €260 |
| Calf | €150 |
| Rifle rental | €40 / day |
| Non-hunting companion | €130 / day |
Included
- 1:1 guiding, every sit
- All meals and house wine
- Accommodation at the manor
- Ground fee and licence handling
- Transport within the estate
- Larder preparation and CIC measurement
Not included
- International flights and personal insurance
- Trophy fee (payable only on animals taken)
- Taxidermy and trophy shipping
- Alcohol beyond house wine
- Gratuities
Not buried at the bottom
If you wound and we do not recover
A wounded animal is followed until it is found or until following is exhausted, with a dog, for as long as it takes. If a stag is struck and cannot be recovered, it counts as taken and the trophy fee for its estimated class is due. Your guide will tell you this before the season, and again before you take the shot.
This is stated the same way, word for word, on our Ethics & Policy and Terms pages. Read the full clause.
Beyond the rut
Hinds, calves and driven days
The red deer is a year's work, not a fortnight's. From October the hunt turns to management — hinds and calves taken selectively to keep the herd in balance — and to driven days for a party of eight to sixteen guns, with beaters, dogs and a good dinner at the end of a short winter one.
It is the same deer, the same ground, and the same principle: we take what the valley can carry, and no more.
A typical booking
Four hunting days, five nights
Arrive the day before hunting to zero your rifle and meet your guide; hunt four mornings and evenings; leave on the sixth day. One guide to each guest, never more than three rifles in the field on the same morning.
“The fourth morning, a stag walked out at sixty metres and roared. I have hunted for thirty years and I had eleven seconds that I will keep for the rest of them.”J. Sørensen · Jutland, Denmark · Red stag, 2025
The roar is ten days a year
Two places remain this September, and one guide to each of them. Write to us and we will hold a date.
Enquire about the rut