Emperor of Exmoor
English red stag, presumably killed in 2010
The Emperor of Exmoor, a red stag (Cervus elaphus), was reportedly killed in October 2010. Its weight has been estimated as over 300 pounds (136 kg) and its height at 9 feet (2.7 m). Red deer on Exmoor National Park are larger than red deer in Scotland owing to their diet.
The deer was given its nickname by photographer Richard Austin. Its body was reportedly discovered near the A361 road between Tiverton and Barnstaple in Devon, during the annual rutting season. It was reportedly killed by a licensed hunter, and an unnamed man reported hearing two shots. Within a few days, other local observers reported having seen the animal alive, leading to the suggestion that this may be a manufactured story. Few of the reported facts can actually be verified. The Guardian called the story "a myth".
The animal was believed to be around 12 years old at the time of the claim, but healthy.
The public source identifies “Emperor of Exmoor” as english red stag, presumably killed in 2010. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Emperor, Exmoor and English.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5373945. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor of Exmoor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.