Take that, just don’t touch those antlers

Red deer stags on Glen Dene Station stand erect on their hind legs to slap at each other with their front legs.

In so doing, they are protecting delicate antlers still in velvet. Glen Dene, a 6000ha property bounded by Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka,  has been farmed by the Burdon family for three generations.

Originally the northern portion of the original Mt Burke Station, Glen Dene is now run by Richard and Sarah Burdon, and their two children.

Deer first arrived in the area in the 1860s and the Burdon family began a farmed deer operation about 1976.