Thread: Stags and Bucks 2025

How old do you think he was Tasbay? Pedicles look high like a younger animal.
Awesome to see the muzzle loader out in the hills

Sitting in my camp seat having a coffee,keeping the old patrol company at 7.30am this morning wandering where all the deer at gone.Heard no roars thru the night.Well bugger me days,heres this stag walking slowly across the river bed in my direction,well about 200yds down from me.His body language says he had a hard night on the piss or the girls.I thort this should be easy,200yds.Off the bonnet of the truck,lined him up as he was getting closer to some heavy broom.Bang down he went only a wee 10,big body.Lot of fat on him,should tast ok,not a stinky yet.
Sat out all night,only seen 2 deer in the distance,no roars.

Took the 8x57 for a walk after work, 2 stags & 2 pigs taken care of,finally hearing some decent noise

Good stuff @thatguy by sounds of it your guide got another the next day. Stoked for the pair of you.freezing arse off in tent,you deserved to have success.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Good stuff @thatguy by sounds of it your guide got another the next day. Stoked for the pair of you.freezing arse off in tent,you deserved to have success.

Thank you! I suspect he shot the one my stag was roaring at. You lose some, you win some!

Teaching my son the tricks...private land, night time, night vision, thermal spotter, cut the antlers off and sold them. Under powered .223.
Meat is off to charity.
So there's a dilemma for the ethics committee.

He was croaking.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Teaching my son the tricks...private land, night time, night vision, thermal spotter, cut the antlers off and sold them. Under powered .223.
Meat is off to charity.
So there's a dilemma for the ethics committee.

He was croaking.

Attachment 271818

Dog is double checking it's dead. Reckon it prefers 22CM over 223 as less tracking work needed

If son is croaking I suggest he try some throat lozenges or some whiskey with honey perhaps.

Shooting what we think are culls will never "improve the gene pool". It's way too diluted for that. Reducing the numbers by shooting hinds and leaving the stags to compete for the girls (natural selection) will have the greatest effect.

Ponder this next time you think your going to improve the gene pool. How many stags were/ have EVER been imported into New Zealand??? Discounting escapee genetics,what's out there shares a lot of same DNA regardless of what we do. Feed n age.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Ponder this next time you think your going to improve the gene pool. How many stags were/ have EVER been imported into New Zealand??? Discounting escapee genetics,what's out there shares a lot of same DNA regardless of what we do. Feed n age.

The sika herd is a great example.
Whole present day herd started from six deer

great subject really a number of areas will have benefitted from new blood from escapees but mainly red and fallow populations - but new blood - well imagine if the crown wapiti herd were released back into Fiordland - that would do a lot of good - I hear a moan that elk bloodlines from America have been bought into that crown herd - I would see that as a good thing - fallow Wanganui has suffered from poor genetics for a long time - new blood is about but not enough -there has been some releasing of better fallow genetics- a lot of releasing has gone on in Taranaki of fallow and generally good bloodlines - should see some better heads coming out - but sadly there are bloody idiots to I have heard of wapiti cross being released down Waverly way - stupid idea- stuffs up the local red population if say a young hunter wanted to enter the head in any competition - but then many of our deer populations have started from very small numbers - sika sambar rusa white tail - the only new blood in has been red elk and fallow

"Improving the gene pool" is just my excuse for not being able to find anything better.

Some nice heads on display here. Not trying to take anyone's pride away from their kill but some people need to learn how to age the animals they're hunting. Some very young animals being 'culled' in these threads lately. We've all been there and I'm no exception.

Here's a link to an aging guide

https://nzgameanimalcouncil.org.nz/n...-ageing-guide/

Originally Posted by TimC

Some nice heads on display here. Not trying to take anyone's pride away from their kill but some people need to learn how to age the animals they're hunting. Some very young animals being 'culled' in these threads lately. We've all been there and I'm no exception.

Here's a link to an aging guide

https://nzgameanimalcouncil.org.nz/n...-ageing-guide/

Good idea, save the older ones for 1080 and WARO