Thread: Outfoxing the fox?

Hi. Almost total newbie here (score:1 bush hind and a few spooked deer)
Got onto a roaring stag on Monday morning (Tararuas- just starting I think). They all shut up at dawn, but before that I was downwind and had triangulated his location.

I started getting close, not worrying too much about noise as I had a plan to provoke him hitting an antler against a tree, which almost worked for me once. We heard him wallowing, then he gave a roar. My hunting partner hit a tree then we waited. Nothing. We had what we thought was good line of sight to his location but instead of returning my challenge (like another stag last year) he snuck across the creek and got downwind of the anabatic wind, winded us and ghosted away.

We figured this out later by his fresh tracks and splashes of wallow mud. He must have been less than 50m away from us, but we never saw or heard him, and trust me, I was looking in that direction.

I'm going back on Saturday morning and I have a few questions for the bush stalkers.
1. I know 2 active wallows he's using. Will he be a creature of habit and use the same one at the same time?
2. Now I think he's not going to respond to a challenge without further checks, what's the best way to get his attention? A hind call?
3. He didn't have any hinds the other day. Where would they hang out? The wallows are near a saddle so would they be near there?
4. Have I just made him more wary?


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well he will still be around - what would have been a better way of tackling that stag would have been to split up - one stay back and roar and the other sneak in - the one roaring does not overdo it - dont roar straight after the stag does and vary it a little bit dont try to just immitate him - roar away from him to mix it up as if you were moving around a bit -and no bashing antlers - new hunters have this idea that they can go out and here is a stag roaring and all they need to do is give a roar bash a branch and stag will come in - well over last I quess 40 years of roar hunting I could count on one hand the occasions where a stag has come in with any aggression - have had them sneak in especially early roar to try to see what I am - but the best normally is the stag will stay put long enough to sneak in - when you heard him wallowing and then he roared one of you should have been sneaking in - I used to take my boots of that final stalk in so as to be as quiet as possible - hind calls are good just occasionally mix one in but where they really work is if the stag has shut up or sounds like he is moving away - use it then can change their mind to stay or even start coming back - but forget the idea that they will come in to you- yes sometimes but rarely -my ideal would be to not roar at all just sneak in - that way stag does not even know you are there - those old boys dont get old by being stupid

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

well he will still be around - what would have been a better way of tackling that stag would have been to split up - one stay back and roar and the other sneak in - the one roaring does not overdo it - dont roar straight after the stag does and vary it a little bit dont try to just immitate him - roar away from him to mix it up as if you were moving around a bit -and no bashing antlers - new hunters have this idea that they can go out and here is a stag roaring and all they need to do is give a roar bash a branch and stag will come in - well over last I quess 40 years of roar hunting I could count on one hand the occasions where a stag has come in with any aggression - have had them sneak in especially early roar to try to see what I am - but the best normally is the stag will stay put long enough to sneak in - when you heard him wallowing and then he roared one of you should have been sneaking in - I used to take my boots of that final stalk in so as to be as quiet as possible - hind calls are good just occasionally mix one in but where they really work is if the stag has shut up or sounds like he is moving away - use it then can change their mind to stay or even start coming back - but forget the idea that they will come in to you- yes sometimes but rarely -my ideal would be to not roar at all just sneak in - that way stag does not even know you are there - those old boys dont get old by being stupid

Thanks Barry. That's a great bunch of info to digest. It didn't help that the first time I ever tried the branch trick one came right to me (but I didn't get him). It gave me unrealistic expectations.

We did use the wallowing to get closer, but not close enough.

Any thoughts on the timing of the wallowing? Was the timing of dawn and wallowing a coincidence?



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my quess more wallowing at night never seen a stag at a wallow during the day

Great info Barry, posts like this from experienced members are what makes the forum a great place.

You could hear him wallowing so you already new where he was.you had the upper hand.
you made a noise and let him know something was close and gave the advantage to him.
Less is more