Several studies on various species of Cervidae have demonstrated the potentially significant importance of antler size in females‘ choice of reproductive partners. These studies had variable results, and none compared the scenario with and without antlers. Our long-term goal was to compare reproductive results between seasons when captive red deer males had hard antlers and when their antlers were removed before the rut. We assumed that the larger and more complex the antlers of a stag , the more offspring it would produce. If their antlers were cut off, the selection of hinds would focus on other selection criteria (e.g., age). Over the course of thirteen seasons (9 with antlers, 4 without antlers), a total of 276 calves were born in the presence of 81 different stags. Using Principal Component Analysis, two components were calculated: a variable characterising antlers (PC_Antlers, including total antler length, number of antler tines, and body weight) and a variable characterising hormone concentrations (PC_Hormones, including testosterone and cortisol). These, together with the variables Season Type (i.e., the categories with antlers/without antlers), age, number of males, and number of females present, formed the basis of 11 a priori hypotheses, analysed using PROC MIXED (GLMM, SAS 9.4) for the dependent variable „Log-transformed number of progeny“. The best GLMM, estimated using the Akaike criterion, consisted of PC_Antlers nested in Season Type. The second-best model (difference from the best model Δ=2.28) consisted of PC_Antlers nested in Season Type and PC_hormones nested in Season Type. In both Season Types, the higher the value of PC_Antlers, the greater the number of fawns conceived; in seasons with antlers, the dependence was steeper. Since the best model drew on approximately 73% of the information (AIC weight = 0.73), we also calculated the secondbest model (AIC weight = 0.23). PC_Antlers included in the Season Type showed a similar trend as in the best model. On the other hand, the trend in PC_Hormones values during the period with antlers showed negligible dependence of calves born on increasing PC_Hormones values. In contrast, this dependence was apparent during the period without antlers. The results highlight the importance of antler size in selecting a reproductive partner. However, even in the absence of antlers, females selected partners based on factors that contribute to antler formation.