Hunting at this time of year on public land

We have been going out a lot lately into some public land in the north island. We have been very close every time and had them come up to our tent in the middle of the night. We have been taking our 4yo son out and he’s been really good. We always have his safety in mind and keep him kitted out in a safety vest, orange hat etc. this weekend we were so close to bagging one that I want to go back again within the next couple of weeks for a few nights but as the roar heats up is it a good idea? Or should we wait until the spring now? Iv never been out during the roar.
I’m not sure if we just had a batch of bad eggs or if it’s common but on Friday night we had a truck load of young guys flying around spotlighting down every track and making a hell of a racket in their truck. Safe to say we didn’t hear any deer for about 6 hours after that after listening to them for hours. I was quiet worried having our son with us and made sure to light up camp so they didn’t shoot towards us or come flying down our track into us. Is this kind of thing common with the roar and something we need to look out for?

I think you’ve answered your own question...

Depends on your location. It appears you have taken reasonable safety precautions to protect your family. Sadly there is often clowns who want to hoon round with spotlights (and possibly grog) without much awareness of or for others. Remember that young woman who was shot by a spotlighter whilst cleaning her teeth near the Tongariro river? My preference would be to wait until after the silly season.

You don't need to wait till spring. If there are to many muppets around then I would wait until May. It's a great month to hunt, stags aren't vocal however they still aren't cautious yet. They will fattening themselves up on anything they can preparing for winter. As it's getting cooler the spotlighting turds should become less. We'll they do around my area.

If you were in pureora the yahoos are a common occurrence.i would let them know you are there they usually piss off if they know there’s a chance of being identified.

Is May quieter? We have some free time last two weeks of May so that could be ideal but I thought the roar continues right through May?

The red roar is usually fading out towards the end of april in most places. The sika are still fairly vocal in may, I once heard a heehaw in july which sounded like a real deer to me.

They seemed pretty vocal where we were Friday, that was until the spotlighters came in. Carried on again the next day. Do they not tend to scarper away for a while after the roar?

Choose spots with no vehicle access, and where you need to climb a steep hill for more than 60 minutes. It does wonders for keeping the yahoos away.

Blue seems to be a better colour than blaze orange. But with all the once-a-year hunters in the bush at this stage of the year who knows what they are aiming at...

I find may a great month for hunting all the muppets are duck shooting usaly only leaving the good guys in bush

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Originally Posted by Chelsea

They seemed pretty vocal where we were Friday, that was until the spotlighters came in. Carried on again the next day. Do they not tend to scarper away for a while after the roar?

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They don't eat for pretty much the entire roar. May is their last chance to pack on some condition before the winter so they will spend way more time out feeding. It's my favourite month to hunt

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Originally Posted by ebf

Choose spots with no vehicle access, and where you need to climb a steep hill for more than 60 minutes. It does wonders for keeping the yahoos away.

Blue seems to be a better colour than blaze orange. But with all the once-a-year hunters in the bush at this stage of the year who knows what they are aiming at...

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Yea like that's going to happen with a FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD IN TOW!