Thread: Another roar under the belt

Hey guys,

Had a couple of requests for a roar report, or some photos, so here goes. Will keep the writing brief, as photos can do most of the talking.

Spent over two weeks hunting various Otago catchments and some smaller areas in Southland. I didn't do any hunting for "myself" this roar, all of my trips were more focused on going out with mates into cool country in hope of finding an older animal or PB stag. As a result I never squeezed the trigger, or released an arrow on a stag, but we had a great time on all trips. Over the course of those two weeks we covered over 250 kms on foot, and climbed in elevation enough meters to climb over top of Mt Everest. I thought that was pretty cool. Haha.

We spent a week in a catchment in classic Otago country and saw on average 6 animals per day - not bad for country that gets WARO'd constantly. We saw more stags than hinds, which was interesting. And seven of those stags were what I would consider near to, or trophy class. We saw two rippers but only briefly and were never in a position or had enough time to execute a hunt. We spotted Glens stag on the first evening approximate 3.5km away, and a shot him a couple of days later in the same exact spot after an epic stalk, roaring match and good shot. It took us a day to cross over to where that stag was, so to pull it off was a relief. It was Glens first true "Otago" stag a nice one at that, 13 points, not quite 40 inches long but very even. Taken before his prime maybe, but a cracker animal and Glen was wrapt.

Had to fly out of that area early as I had to be out for a wedding - we were a bit gutted as I saw a very nice stag on the last evening and would have had a good chance at a crack at him the next day. So got the wedding thing done and dusted, and repacked for another mission. Dropped my wife and boys at the airport for their "roar trip" up to stay with mother in law, and picked up my North Island mates Rhys and Chad. Saw plenty of animals over the course of the following week or so. Stags roared extremely well, the weather was mint (and hot) and we found a couple of stags that were bloody nice animals. Unfortunately the boys seemed to have had brought their fair share of bad luck down with them and a few golden opportunities to put two separate wall hanger stags on the deck went begging. I dare say they'll dream about those stags for years to come.

I was gutted that the boys missed out on these stags, but they learnt a hell of a lot in their week hunting the "big" country, where a big stag could be around any corner. And I learnt that many things I take for granted with hunting, others don't know if they've never experienced those things before - like always checking a good looking stag out properly before walking off into the next valley (big 14 pointer opportunity gone), taking a shot at the first possible opportunity in open country , and being prepared to take a shot longer than you'd normally be used to (big 12 slips away on dark). Taking the safety off when squeezing the trigger on a big stag in close quarter in the bush helps too...because they don't stand around long enough to give you a second chance n (the big 12 lives again for another day)

We got onto a basin that had 3 or 4 stags roaring well, and eventually found an old 10 pointer which Chad made no mistake on and secured his PB stag. I've got photos of the same stag from last year, and he was a OK 11 last year. Had definitely gone backwards, but still had character and I suspect he was in the 8+ age class...a good stag to take. The young 12 we left in the valley will hopefully take over dominance there now and in a couple of years if he survives, will be a good stag.

Following this trip, I did the usual handy haunts, seeing plenty more deer and some nice stags. But just nothing that I felt I could shoot and be happy. I stalked a couple of animals with my bow, and drew on a nice long mature 8 pointer, but decided not to shoot as I would really only be shooting him for the sake of it. Ended up missing a nice yearling an hour later at 25 meters, due to being cocky and estimating the range instead of ranging it

I didn't get out fallow hunting during the rut as much as I had planned this year, and haven't got any fallow photos unfortunately yet this year. The bucks I did hunt croaked well. On one hunt I'd spent all morning stalking a beech gully to a croaking buck only to have him go quiet. I sat on a rock for a hour or so, only to turn around once I'd got sick of waiting to see a bloody nice buck standing 100 meters behind me sussing me out. By the time I'd got a bead on him he was gone. He was a cracker.

Weather put a halt on our tahr ballot trips this year, and I passed up our annual Stewart Island trip for the tahr trip so missed out on both! My mate Scott shot a really nice whitetail buck, so I'm stoked he ticked that box, even if I wasn't there.

Now winter is arriving and I have to manage about 50 men on the hill planting around 1.5 - 1.7 million trees, I doubt I'll be hunting much over the coming weeks.

This years roar would have been one of the better ones for numbers, amount of roaring and the length it dragged on and weather. All of it public land goodness...

Hope you enjoy the photos

Happy hunting. Make the most of it.

Cheers
Josh

Always enjoy your yearly roar report, always a good read

Was about to send out an SOS
Thought maybe you gone in and forgot to come out.

Exec - great pics !!!

Mate you have a real talent with the camera! Fantastic photos and write up as usual.
Thanks for taking the time to share.

Awesome pics as always mate.
How's the pup going?

Awesome report and pics.
Chur

Cheers mate, awesome!

Fantastic series of pics and your mates must be real happy with those stags, Well Done.

Ya made my day !! Onya @JoshC, awesome pics, especially love that one of the big boy roaring on the scrubby face in the distance .... and the falcon.

Bloody excellent young fella great pics and report you live in hunters heaven

awesome photos...and a great write up. next year.

Awesome as always, great report cheers

Always a high light each year top class report

Sent from my TA-1025 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the report. A good feeling when a mate gets a good one.