Where to find deer antlers and red mountain flowers?

Solution 1:

Red mountain flowers are most common in the southern parts of Skyrim, around Riften and Falkreath, although they can also be found in scattered locations elsewhere, as shown in the screenshot from this interactive Skyrim map below:

Small antlers can be obtained by hunting female deer. (For some reason, UESP and Wikia seem to disagree on whether elk can also drop small antlers; for that matter, they also seem to disagree on whether Skyrim's deer and elk should be considered variants of the same species or not. Make of that what you will.)

Unfortunately, the map does not show where animals tend to spawn, but in my experience deer seem to be pretty common everywhere in the woodlands and grasslands of Skyrim. Unlike in real life, they never seem to appear in large herds, but if you keep running around you should encounter them fairly regularly.

Hunting deer is best done with a bow, since they're quite fast and tend to run away as soon as they spot you, which they'll do from quite far away. Fortunately, they have very few HP and can usually be killed with one well aimed shot. (Tip: If you put a short duration Soul Trap enchantment on your bow, you can collect a lot of petty souls while hunting.)

Of course, you can also just buy alchemy ingredients instead of gathering them yourself. Unfortunately, at least according to UESP, small antlers are bugged and aren't actually sold by apothecaries unless you have the Merchant perk. General stores may carry them, though.