Red deer red deer was the most prestigious quarry, especially the mature stag, which in England was called a hart. Red deer are held in captivity for a variety of reasons. The meat of the deer, called venison, was until recently restricted in the United Kingdom to those with connections to the aristocratic or poaching communities, and a licence was needed to sell it legally, but it is now widely available in supermarkets, especially in the autumn. The Queen still follows the custom of offering large pieces of venison to members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and others. Some estates
Red deer European red deer encounter. Occasionally, the brown bear will prey on European red deer. Eurasian lynx and wild boars sometimes prey on the calves. The leopard in Asia Minor (now extinct) probably preyed on eastern European red deer. Both the Barbary lion and the Barbary leopard probably once preyed on Atlas stags in the Atlas Mountains, although the Barbary lion is now extinct in the wild, and the Barbary leopard is either very rare or extinct. In the past they were also hunted by the now extinct Caspian tiger. Red deer are widely depicted in cave art found throughout European