Notsuke Peninsula

See photo - It was taken by Japanese photographer Kohei Nagira and shows an Ezo sika stag carrying the decomposing head of another stag tangled in its antlers. The photograph, titled “Never-ending struggle,” was selected for the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award.

The deer became quite a local wildlife celebrity in winter 2021. Observers watched it struggling with the considerable weight and restricted vision caused by the other head.

The presumed story is gruesome but fascinating. During the autumn rut, two males apparently fought and their antlers became locked. One eventually died. As decomposition progressed, the surviving stag ended up carrying away the other stag’s head still attached by the antlers. Nobody actually witnessed the original fight, so that sequence can’t be known with absolute certainty.

Nobody removed the head. They left him as a wild animal and allowed nature to take its course.

And remarkably, he survived. Photographer Kohei Nagira observed him on the Notsuke Peninsula from late November 2020 through April 2021. Despite living alone and carrying that awful extra load, he continued eating grass and branches and made it through the Hokkaido winter.

It was genuinely dangerous, though. Other observers noted that he had difficulty raising his head, moved less than normal, and had impaired visibility.

The clever bit of biology that ultimately saved him: male sika deer shed their antlers each spring. So there was no need for somebody eventually to wrestle him down and cut the other head loose—the whole antler assembly would naturally drop off. The fact that Nagira was still observing him in April strongly suggests he reached that escape point.

And it was actually worse at first than the photograph suggests. According to a local fisherman, after the other stag died, the survivor dragged the entire body around for several days until eventually the head separated from the carcass.

So yes: he won the fight, nearly lost the war, and spent the winter wearing his opponent.

Possibly the worst trophy presentation in sporting history.

(Info from ChatGPT)

Also added other photos from the day including a $15 mango from “Costco” that we did not buy. The fruit here has been incredible!Read more