Thread: How's the recon going for the roar?

Don’t really get the time to do pre roar recon specifically. For the likes of Sika which I intend to target, I feel your recon would be more ground focussed anyway rather then animal focussed as the stags can travel a long way over the March period into their rutting grounds for April. Places that don’t hold any good stags over the feeding months will have them turn up for the roar and then bugger off again. My best recon info comes from things learnt during previous roars.

I haven't managed to get out and look but mates have and reckon its looking good

Got my first hard antlered stag already



So the big guys ought to be well stripped now.

The problem being with "pre roar" scouting is that they don't roar where they grow their velvet. They can move a very long way.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Got my first hard antlered stag already

The problem being with "pre roar" scouting is that they don't roar where they grow their velvet. They can move a very long way.

Nice one @Tahr plenty of fat on him??

Originally Posted by Louie

Nice one @Tahr plenty of fat on him??

About average for a spiker. Its the older deer that really lay the fat on.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Got my first hard antlered stag already

Attachment 189349

So the big guys ought to be well stripped now.

The problem being with "pre roar" scouting is that they don't roar where they grow their velvet. They can move a very long way.

I watched a big stag just starting to strip on Tuesday. Seeing your spiker does raise the question of 'which one to shoot'. I have kept record of spikers on the farm and compared to their two year old heads and beyond and the only sure correlation is body weight / size. The very best spikers - the ones with thick heavy spikes especially if they have little tynes are going to be good, but some of the others with ordinary spikes can surprise you if they are big bodied. I shoot all narrow spikers as they always turn out as crap narrow heads. I would have shot your one too

Fingers crossed for me (as I have had to re-book this attempted recon trip 4 times previously, due to Covid border restrictions last year) I finally have a trip booked down to Ruatiti towards the back end of February and another later on in the season.

Picked up a lovely spiker there too last trip @Thar using the 1:8 twist .223 with those Speer 75gr Gold dots. This has become my go-to rifle for trips of late. But might equally take the 300win mag just for an outing and a bit of a play as its feeling a bit unloved since the arrival of the other rifle.

Got this fella today. Antler feels fully hard under the velvet so will strip it tomorrow. He is as fat as butter so will make good eating.

Originally Posted by silentscope

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Got this fella today. Antler feels fully hard under the velvet so will strip it tomorrow. He is as fat as butter so will make good eating.

Judging by that shot you'll be eating everything too!

@silentscope taken the recon to a new level.....dosent like this one on the block so takes him out so the big boys can move in

Any roaring yet,asking for a friend.

Found the first opened up wallow yesterday. Maybe the heat has made it early.

might just have gained permission to have a look on private land.......will do recon,meat gathering trip some time soon to get lay of the land.
things are looking up.

Heading out for 5 days on monday when the flood has passed

How did the recon go @Carbine?