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

Canterbury high country over the weekend. Lots of hind groups about but no mature stags spotted hanging around them yet. Wallows showing signs of lots of traffic. I shot a 12 pointer which would have been planning some roar action, was pizzled up a bit but didn't show too much interest in either hinds or my roars before I shot him.

All deer love water and mud,most of the yr but not so much in freezing winter.brrrr

Pic is in June - bit of snow but the deer still keen to get into a wallow left over from the roar.

Pic take 4/3/22. 8 pt stag watching over a hind/Yearling/fawn.

Yes all deer wallow, during the roar the stags will piss in them and stink them up to roll around in plus I suspect to cool down from all there activities!

He's in good nick.

Definitely hungry. Good length of timber.

Last week i was watching a big stag with a couple of hinds.A young smaller stag came out of the matagari sniffing around the rear of one hind,thinking he might get a bit.He didnt see the big stag rushing in to him.Big boys antlers hooked the young stag in the belly.Woow the young stag took off.I thort he was going to drop,but ran about 400yds with the big boy chasing.No let up in speed either,got chased into the bush.Big boy was angry in the body langauage heading back to his girls,was quick in his actions thats for sure.

Did a reccy in the Kaimais this weekend, roar/pre roar stuff is pretty new to me.

Would you consider these wallows or pre-wallows?



I shot a pig not far from the below pic, is this from pigs or a stag?



Was glassing a clearing, when I saw this right next to me. I could hear the stag knocking around not far out of sight, meanwhile two hinds were hanging around the clearing edge.

They look like wallows to me!
The easiest way to tell if it's a pig or deer that has been in a wallow is to look at the tracks, generally pig tracks are very round while deer are more oblong/oval. The toes on pig tracks are also very sharp and can look like they have claws (i.e. look like two-toed dog tracks). Pigs will generally rub on a nearby punga or other tree after wallowing, so look for fresh mud on tree trunks. Also look for hair in the wallow.

Originally Posted by Cigar

They look like wallows to me!
The easiest way to tell if it's a pig or deer that has been in a wallow is to look at the tracks, generally pig tracks are very round while deer are more oblong/oval. The toes on pig tracks are also very sharp and can look like they have claws (i.e. look like two-toed dog tracks). Pigs will generally rub on a nearby punga or other tree after wallowing, so look for fresh mud on tree trunks. Also look for hair in the wallow.

thanks for the info mate, now that I think about it the pig was pretty clean looking when I knocked him over too

Nope that’s a 3 toe Dino foot print

Looks fairly dry up there, take it no rain yet?

Originally Posted by Sideshow

Looks fairly dry up there, take it no rain yet?

Yeah the creeks and streams were pretty low. Shit tonne of blown over trees keeping the deer handy though

i heard yesterday that stags started roaring properly in Queenstown region on Sunday night, so as this southerly today flows north should get the rest of NZ going.