Thread: Strange Roar Behaviours.... Global warming??...LOL

Morning All,

Now this week I experienced something that I have never heard of or witnessed before. And it made me wonder what other strange occurrences others have seen.

So I was way up in the back blocks of Wanganui in the middle of last week. Now in the afternoon while glassing for deer I had a double take as I heard a Red Roar a couple of valleys over from where I was. Then another...Then another. And soon the whole valley was alive with roaring red stags. And they all went full noise right into the evening. I have not heard so much roaring in a long long time. Now You always hear of the odd story of a roar being hear outside of the normal April period.. But a whole valley going off in June?? Weird!

And I know it is not uncommon to hear Sika roar outside of April, I have been going into the same block in the Kawekas for three years in a row towards the end of April. Now on each of these trips I have seen hinds feeding little fawns at the udder. So while lactating none of those hinds will be cycling for quite a while. And I have witnessed this on all of the trips. So not a one off. The fawns looked like they were a month or two from getting kicked out, then says a few more weeks before the hinds cycle. Then there could be more roaring happening in June or July.

Is global warming causing the roar to get later and later?.........

Look at the rusa in NC they rut all year due to mild climate.science always said daylight hours make the clock trigger the rut... Only time will tell.

And it could be to do with deer numbers.
Iv never seen deer numbers like we have now.
Higher numbers will mean number of oddities will be higher even at the same percentage.

Have read that hinds will cycle again every 28 days after the first cycle if they are not serviced during the first roar period. Maybe some fresh hinds moved into the valley and got the boys stirred up?
As 7mmwsw has mentioned , it has to do with deer numbrers and ratios between stag and hind numbers.
Latest Ive caught a stag roaring over here in Aus, was the 23 June, had a double take at first , but followed him for over an hour and he was fully into it

Also...Hummel was mentioned earlier.when you have oddities around a cycling hind who can't conceive is more probable than not.

We have a deer farm right behind the house (Reds), I heard them roaring over the weekend and previous years have been exactly the same, 2-3 months after the roar ends.

I hunted Sika last week of May. Only stag seen was a spiker or maybe small 4 point. I let him walk.
All other Sika seen were hinds, most with youngsters in tow. Was quite surprised to see one youngster that was still a fawn, only half the size of the new crop of youngsters and if was sticking very close to mum. I would guess it looked about 2 months old.

Heard reds roaring north Canterbury 2 weekends ago and the weekend before that

Strange eh kudu. We've had this discussion every roar for about 3 yrs. It seems like the year after the bad droughts there were late fans everywhere then every year since. We wonder if the cycled late and then the fawn was off the tit late the next year. This then became a different pattern repeating over time.

If course, I've no idea if that's possible.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

And it could be to do with deer numbers.
Iv never seen deer numbers like we have now.
Higher numbers will mean number of oddities will be higher even at the same percentage.

Agreed, too many deer in an area can lead to poor condition hinds that will either not cycle at all or come on when they have enough condition to sustain them for rearing their young.

As for the writers observation of stags roaring this late in the year, its not too uncommon and is likely due to a hind cycling and the boys reacting to what is only natural to them..

Red stags were roaring well in mid June last year in the Kaimanawas.... also have trail camera footage of a very pregnant Sika hind in April this year.