Last few weeks in three vids

Hey guys.

Haven’t had a chance to sort photos and put pen to paper, but have thrown some footage together of the last handful of trips, preroar and during the roar....which still isn’t over....roared a stag in this morning while chasing fallow [emoji6]

Grab a cuppa or a beer and have a watch if you like.

Hope they’re not too repetitive, didn’t put as much time into grabbing footage while on the hill as I previously have done.


https://youtu.be/evbG1Dq7ADA


https://youtu.be/7BzM_wskYlc


https://youtu.be/kDqTv5QOUl8


Stay safe out there [emoji106]

Cheers
Josh [emoji4]








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice stuff @JoshC I must admit that I pushed the like button before viewing as I figured I'd not be disappointed :thumbsup:
Couple questions in the first video why that stag? Also was the shot low?
How's the WARO going to affect you? Is this the last of the golden era for you? I remember how tough it was to get onto animals back in the early 90's hope I'm wrong but it looks as though it's going to effect you quite a lot:(

Love that west coast stag.
I think there might be those pics of broomed over red heads from stewart island in the book "Tracks of a Hunter" by Keith Severinsen
It a black and white pic with them all lined up on a beach.

Good stuff. i enjoyed those. i liked the stag with the throwback in the second video i think.

Just awesome Josh, thanks for sharing.

Cool videos, some of those younger stags will be looking good in a couple of years.

Loved the vids mate.

Good one Josh great watch thanks

Mean as


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love the videos great country you hunt in.

Three great videos Josh. It’s amazing country down your way alright. I’m in Queenstown at the moment and hope to stretch the legs tomorrow...

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Originally Posted by Sideshow

Nice stuff @JoshC I must admit that I pushed the like button before viewing as I figured I'd not be disappointed :thumbsup:
Couple questions in the first video why that stag? Also was the shot low?
How's the WARO going to affect you? Is this the last of the golden era for you? I remember how tough it was to get onto animals back in the early 90's hope I'm wrong but it looks as though it's going to effect you quite a lot:(

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Haha. Shot was right behind the shoulder, he was on the trot and continued to run about 20m before falling. Dead when I got there.

Why him...I saw him come out of the bush about 20 minutes before dark about 1500m away, got a quick bit of blurry footage and he looked good, he was "mature" and had "lots of points" haha, so I hoofed it over there..biggest blow out I have had for a while! I saw a good 12-14 last year in the same gully and thought (had convinced myself) it was him, so in the heat of the moment I had semi made my mind up already I was going to shoot him.

By the time I got within range it was near on dark and he was standing on the bush edge with a couple of hinds ready to bolt, I'd been careless in my approach due to lack of time. I had maybe 10-20 seconds to settle and decide to shoot...which I did. Due to fading light I still couldn't see what he had on top exactly, so measure on the ground so to speak... In hindsight, and if I had more time, I would have most likely left him for "next year". However, his meat is now in my freezer and the head has been tidied up and will hang in one of my boys bedrooms so all good. Plus it was an epic hunting trip and I take comfort in the fact there are several other younger stags with great potential and most likely the same genetics to carry on breeding.

The areas I hunt do get WARO'd fairly regularly by a Te Anau outfit, always have done. They are also heavily hunted...more hunters in these hills that I have seen before. Deer numbers are certainly higher now than when I first started hunting some of these public land areas down this way. I've been sitting on the hill glassing deer on several occasions when the helicopters have flown in and buzzed the valley. One of my favorite mountain areas down here is due to be aerially 1080'd so I dare say the numbers there will take more of a hit. I won't lose any sleep over it.

I have been hunting public land on the West Coast, Canterbury and Otago for 15-20 years...with Dad and then by myself, and have always managed to see or find deer...obviously sometimes more difficult than others. Every time I have hunted a Haast roar block I have seen 15-30 deer on a trip...that's even after the guys that have come out before me have said its a waste of time and there's no roaring or deer about :ORLY: (exactly that happened this year before we flew in...)

And yep, that old WC stag is a cool beast. Really stoked with him. Boiled him out and cleaned up the skull last night. Fair to say he's probably avoided a few hunters and choppers in his time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by craigc

Three great videos Josh. It’s amazing country down your way alright. I’m in Queenstown at the moment and hope to stretch the legs tomorrow...

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Cool. You know where you are headed? Chance there'll still be a stag roaring, I heard two on Saturday. Fallow are croaking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshC

Haha. Shot was right behind the shoulder, he was on the trot and continued to run about 20m before falling. Dead when I got there.

Why him...I saw him come out of the bush about 20 minutes before dark about 1500m away, got a quick bit of blurry footage and he looked good, he was "mature" and had "lots of points" haha, so I hoofed it over there..biggest blow out I have had for a while! I saw a good 12-14 last year in the same gully and thought (had convinced myself) it was him, so in the heat of the moment I had semi made my mind up already I was going to shoot him.

By the time I got within range it was near on dark and he was standing on the bush edge with a couple of hinds ready to bolt, I'd been careless in my approach due to lack of time. I had maybe 10-20 seconds to settle and decide to shoot...which I did. Due to fading light I still couldn't see what he had on top exactly, so measure on the ground so to speak... In hindsight, and if I had more time, I would have most likely left him for "next year". However, his meat is now in my freezer and the head has been tidied up and will hang in one of my boys bedrooms so all good. Plus it was an epic hunting trip and I take comfort in the fact there are several other younger stags with great potential and most likely the same genetics to carry on breeding.

The areas I hunt do get WARO'd fairly regularly by a Te Anau outfit, always have done. They are also heavily hunted...more hunters in these hills that I have seen before. Deer numbers are certainly higher now than when I first started hunting some of these public land areas down this way. I've been sitting on the hill glassing deer on several occasions when the helicopters have flown in and buzzed the valley. One of my favorite mountain areas down here is due to be aerially 1080'd so I dare say the numbers there will take more of a hit. I won't lose any sleep over it.

I have been hunting public land on the West Coast, Canterbury and Otago for 15-20 years...with Dad and then by myself, and have always managed to see or find deer...obviously sometimes more difficult than others. Every time I have hunted a Haast roar block I have seen 15-30 deer on a trip...that's even after the guys that have come out before me have said its a waste of time and there's no roaring or deer about :ORLY: (exactly that happened this year before we flew in...)

And yep, that old WC stag is a cool beast. Really stoked with him. Boiled him out and cleaned up the skull last night. Fair to say he's probably avoided a few hunters and choppers in his time.

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Was that @R93 :P

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Originally Posted by Kudu

Good stuff. i enjoyed those. i liked the stag with the throwback in the second video i think.

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Cheers, yeah he's old. Have seen him for the last three years, maybe four. He's gone backwards, but would be a great character trophy. He lives in quite a small catchment and I see him almost every time I go looking, I am surprised no one else has found him or shot him, but he is pretty cautious. I have a good mate who is keen to shoot him, he saw him three years ago and missed out.

@JoshC thanks for taking your time to reply to my questions, they were innocuous.
I'm sure that we have all made those mistakes with stags. I collected a hind that was standing in front of the best stag i ever saw in the Kaimais. Her head was down and in the gloom she blended straight in with the stags body. Took me ages to figure out why the animal on the ground didn't have horns, a real wtf moment. Cool that you got it on tape though.:thumbsup:
Have you seen the old photo that I was talking about from Stewart island, for that matter anyone else. If so could someone chuck it up here.

Awesome footage Josh nice cham how's the hopper going thinking of one cheers Phil

Real cool @JoshC :thumbsup: makes me wanna grab my rifle n head south. Love the way you put it together, its not all about blood n guts.

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Originally Posted by trooper90

Awesome footage Josh nice cham how's the hopper going thinking of one cheers Phil

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Cracker chamois eh, my mate Scotty shot it. Its just a tad under 11 inches. And about 13-14 years old. I shot my 10 1/2 inch buck in the same valley in 2016 and there's another in there that'll crack 10 easily, another mate shot and that on two separate occasions and failed to connect... :XD:

The tent is ok. I find it condensates quite bad, even with the vents all open. The actual design isn't the greatest in strong wind, the top cross pole has no real support at each end so in strong gusts they flex a fair bit. It's a common design I see now, a copy of an MSR. I've had it out in some serious wind and it's survived but only just, whereas my mates MSR's snapped poles. The hilleberg he replaced it with snapped a pole on another trip, whereas the hopper survived. Have had to make some repairs after that trip...replacement of the pole connectors mainly as they flogged out. I've also had in some heavy rain and it's kept me dry. I would buy another ... due to the low cost ... but would be a bit more picky about where I used it. I may try another of his designs at some point...

Absolutely love your videos Josh. So down to earth. Great watching and nice character trophy mate.

Cheers

Matt

Great vids, like your style. @Sideshow I know the photo you are talking about. I think the Stewart Island heads had rounded over top tines, rather than bent forward like Josh's.

Hey @stug can you post it? I've been raking my brain......actually it's really fecking bugging me:pissed off:
I don't think it's in a Phil Holden book....pretty sure it's in a Keith Severinsen book but it's not in hunter climb high.
Might be the master hunters by Kingsley Feld.
The only other one that comes to mind is The Deer Cullers by Hans Willems
Which might be closer to the mark as I think it was about cullers and it touched on the island and who culled there but you know bee in bonnet :O_O::P
Your right about them being rounded over too!

@Sideshow
Attachment 86280

From Tracks of the Hunter by Keith Severinson.

Thanks bee killed:thumbsup: cheers @stug
Funny how he went all that way and never really got onto the white tail.
Instead getting stuck into the easier reds (imho)

Ha that's cool. I've been researching the forward curved tops on my stag, haven't really found anything to explain it. I've seen some weird stuff happen in antlers with age...its either that or genetic I'd think. I have seen rounded points on younger stags in mountains which I have been told could be frost damage/frost bite in velvet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Conmad Jackvann

Absolutely love your videos Josh. So down to earth. Great watching and nice character trophy mate.

Cheers

Matt

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Thanks mate. Appreciate the feedback. Get a kick out of doing this stuff and sharing it with like minded people. No point in taking photos and video footage and squirreling it away in a dark closet for no one to enjoy huh!