Local farmers admitted that a bounty had been on the Emperor’s head for “years” as speculation mounted that the 300lb animal was targeted by a licensed hunter from abroad.
The stag is feared to have been killed at a roadside in Rackenford, north Devon, two weeks ago, just days after its picture appeared in the national press.
But while professional stalkers defended their activities as an important part of land management, wildlife lovers condemned the practice as "morally repugnant".
Johnny Kingdom, the television wildlife presenter, said he was "gutted" by the death of the stag, which he had spent 15 years tracking and filming.
He said: "Some people have said that it may have been an outsider who shot the Emperor - someone maybe from abroad who paid to go deer stalking but I don't think that's the case and I hope it isn't.
"It's more likely to be someone from the area but nobody is going to say who because you'd be strung up for letting a secret out like that in a close-knit community like this."
The owners of the woodland deer reserve where the Emperor is believed to have spent most of its time insisted it was not killed on their land.
Sheila and Jacqueline Livesey-Van Dorst, would not comment other to say: "It wasn't shot on our land."
Local speculation suggested the animal had strayed away from the area and onto a nearby farmer's land.
Peter Donnelly, a deer management expert, said: "Whoever has got the trophy is going to keep pretty quiet about it, because it has stirred the most awful furore.”
A local farmer, who asked not to be named, said: "There has been a price on his head for years - with figures stretching to around £1,250.
"No one knows who killed it, but rumours have been circulating around here that the hunter came from abroad, probably Europe."
John Norris, from the Tiverton Staghounds group, feared the stag's notoriety may have been the main incentive for the hunter.
He said: "We used to have another big stag around here called Bruno. But like The Emperor - his name got about and then he was killed.
"People came here during the shooting season looking for him in particular - and the same may have happened to the Emperor."
Another local, who asked not to be named, said: "You'd often see him there, he was huge but had got so tame you could almost walk up to him.
"For anyone wanting to shoot him, it would have been an easy task to get in close and do it, which makes his death horribly unsporting."
Even professional deer stalkers, said concerns about the shooting of Emperor were unjustified, admitted they would not target such well-known animals simply as a trophy.
Simon Freedman, who runs stalking trips at a cost £160-£180 a day, said: "It's the clients who purely want a trophy. If they go down to Devon to shoot a stag like that it's because they want a trophy."
Douglas Batchelor, the chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "The levels to which some people will sink in terms of cruelty for entertainment never cease to amaze. The selfishness the person who shot this beautiful creature has shown to the public is reprehensible.”
But Michael Yardley of the Shooting Sports Trust said killing older deer like the 12-year-old Emperor made sense.
"It is just something that has to be done," he said. "The need for control can't really be denied, it is necessary for them to remain healthy as a species."
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