DRAMATIC footage shows a titanic battle between two massive stags in the middle of a Highland stream.
Other deer run for cover as the beasts lock antlers and tussle for dominance, sending water flying in all directions.
The battle is short, violent and exhausting and ends with the victorious stag pushing its conquered opponent backwards up a wooded slope.
The video was shot by Ian Bremner in Strathconnon, Ross-shire, last Thursday, after he was drawn by the noise of the duel.
The 60-year-old had waited for hours in the hope of filming a battle between red deer stags, the largest land mammal in the UK.
The video shows the two stags, weighing around 340kg each, squaring up to each other before clashing together with their antlers.
A violent tussle bursts out that sends the does scattering as the two stags are locked in an epic joust.
The stags splash the water surrounding them as each male attempts to submit the other.
A brief break in the fight follows as each stag eyes up its competitor and displays their antlers as a warning.
The fight eventually sees one stag bulldoze the other into the woodland were the fight continues out of sight.
Ian from Nigg near Tain, Scottish Highlands described the experience as ‘awesome’.
Ian said: “I went for a drive to listen to them roaring and spotted them in the river.
“I got to the spot before dawn and waited a while in my car, I then walked down to river and got a comfy spot down wind of them and waited patiently.
“The two of them were roaring back and forth and did mock charges eyeing each other up, and then they went for it.
“It was exciting and awesome because I was really close, the noise was unreal”.
Ian believes the joust was over the right to the harem of hinds, the description given to a group of female deer.
Ian added: “One stag and a few hinds were at one side of the river bank roaring his head off at the other one on the other side which had about 20 hinds.
“Some hinds went to cross river and that’s when all hell let loose.
“I started clicking away with my camera and got some photos, and then I said to myself video.
“I’ve been trying for a few years to get full on action close up”.
Many people have been stunned by Ian’s incredible footage.
Lou Ann Schafer said: “Spectacular”.
Donald Dunnett added: “That’s a brilliant film Ian”.
Maggie Harrison Maggie continued: “Fantastic Ian,that patience certainly paid off”.
Alby Wilson said: “The power is just amazing thanks for sharing”.
Ian is no stranger to capturing amazing images.
In 2016 Ian took a photograph of the infamous Loch Ness Monster whilst searching for red deer.
The photograph showed what appeared to be two humps and a head depicting a striking resemblance to the popular folklore.
