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 data to give a category (Data Deficient). The species as a whole, however, is listed as least concern. However, this was based on the traditional classification of red deer as one species ("Cervus elaphus"), including the wapiti. The common red deer is also known as simply red deer. Selected members of the red deer species group are listed in the table below. Of the ones listed, "C. e. hippelaphus", "C. e. scoticus", and "C. e. bactrianus" may all be junior synonyms. Mature red deer ("C. elaphus") usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year. During the mating season,