7 Attachment(s)
My roar 2022 - I learnt a lot!
Thought I’d share my some Roar trip experiences from this year and what i learned from them.
Trip 1
My first trip away was the last weekend of March and I took my 8 year old son into the bush. He's super keen to see what all the fuss of the roar is about. The walk in (about 4 hours) involved lots of stops for snacks, and me carrying a full load (he carried a water bladder, snacks and a roaring horn). I wasn’t really expecting much, but we managed to walk about 5kms into the bush and heard deer roaring on both days. My son used an AJ caller and had fun getting distant stags to reply.
He really liked the freeze dried food (especially the dessert) and all the treats i brought along.
Attachment 199259
Team Orange.
On the walk out we managed to get close to a stag, but he eventually got wary and as he had hinds he beat a retreat up the hill. I was really happy to just hear a stag or two, but my son was buzzing that we got close to one.
Learning: You don’t have to get a deer to have a successful hunt. My son is hooked on hunting and hopefully we’ve got lots of years of hunting to come.
Trip 2
The first weekend of April I took the wife and two kids out for an alpine type overnight hunt/camping trip. Lots of stops and glassing for deer. First hand experiences had by all as to the importance of gaiters and where to sit when it comes to Spaniard grass! No success in terms of deer seen, heard or shot for that matter, but everyone enjoyed themselves, and were keen to come out again, so I count that as a success in my books. Go to test out the tent and cooking gear and the Wife was keen to see more open country. Success again in my books.
Attachment 199260
Attachment 199262
No stress back at camp!
Learning: Keep it fun. Any day out with a rifle in the hand is a good day.
Trip 3
Now that I’ve taken the boy on his own trip, and then the whole family on one I get to go hunt without them with a good mate and hunting partner Thomas whom I’ve known for well over 20 years. When it comes to hunting he knows his stuff and I’m always keen to learn from him. We head back to the spot of the first weekends hunting trip, as the deer must surely be getting into the swing of things now. Going on previous years, Thomas is confident the deer should be roaring, so hopes were high for some good roaring and up close bush hunting action.
Now we are both probably in need of a little bit of fitness training (me more so), but we figure out what we keep in our packs (we’ve over packed!) and what we take in terms of shared equipment at the carpark and prepare to head off. A couple of hunters arrive back to their truck as we get ready to leave. One guy has a decent set of antlers on his pack, so that fuels the excitement a bit. They are heading home to miss the rain front coming that evening, we on the other hand are heading into the bush to sit out the rain overnight and be ready the next morning.
It was a pretty uneventful walk in, plenty of huffing and puffing on my part but we eventually get to a likely camp spot and quickly get a large tent fly up. Two tents erected and dogs sorted in quick time before the rain starts to fall. I’m not normally one to head out hunting if rain is coming, but Thomas reckoned this will give us a good start in the morning as we’ll be on the spot and in position when the weather clears.
The rain front came through overnight and had largely past by the time we got up. Scent from previous hunters hopefully would have washed away.
The plan of attack the next morning was to head down from camp and towards some roaring we heard during the night. Was fairly quiet staking around, but there were a few roars being heard. Thomas has always been great in terms of who gets the first crack at a deer. I’m much more of a novice compared to him, so he said I get to go first to stalk into the stag.
Nothing eventuates as the stag goes quiet but if was exciting while it lasted. As we head around a boggy patch of bush not long after, Thomas spooks a stag and it runs off. As it is close to noon we sit down and have a cup of tea and a soup.
I’ve hardly taken a sip of my tea and before Thomas quietly says ‘there’s a stag’ . I look up from my tea, and see a deer looking at us about 25m away by a creek bed. The young spiker is standing very still looking at the two dogs and I. Thomas is keen for me to shoot it, but the rifle is just out of reach (and anyway the two dogs and Thomas would be in the blast zone of my 300WSM, so the shot was never really on). Thomas manages to roll over and get his 6x45 in hand and using the cover two beech trees he can get a shot off at the deer which is still standing looking at me and the dogs. It drops on the spot. First deer down!!!! The pressure is off. I’ve always read or heard stories about deer sneaking in and hunters having their rifle out of reach. Now it has happened to me.
I was impressed at the stopping power of the little 6x45 cartridge. It did the business alright. After the tea was finished off we butchered the deer, and hauled the remains back over a small knoll away from the watercourse.
Attachment 199266
The curious stag.
Lessons learnt:
Have a break, but keep your rifle close!
A well placed shot from a smaller calibre can certainly do the business.
Next morning we head back in the general direction of the roaring happening downhill and now it’s my turn again to get onto a deer. We don’t have to go too far and we hear two stags on opposite sides of the creek start to roar at each other. Thomas waits behind and off I stalk in to the closest one. The wind wasn’t great, but I feel I’m getting closer. Seems as fast as I am moving the deer are heading away so the stag is on the move. I make up some ground and eventually get close to a clearing. In the distance I see a hind. I’m getting close now, where there is a hind the stag can’t be far away.
The next minute (if that) is blur. There is a commotion behind some scrub about 20m from me and two stags dash off to my left in front of me. First stag has gone, but I swing up the rifle and take aim and take a shot at the second stag as it presents itself in a gap. It’s a miss and I know it. I now look ahead and the take aim at the hind who is milling around (better to have a deer on the ground now that I’ve missed the stag right?)) I line it up, but in the excitement and not having a proper rest I stuff up the shot and it goes high. I’m kicking myself now. I begin to move forward and then out struts the big boy who had been hidden up until now. He wanders into view close to where the hind had been. I line it up but somehow manage to stuff that up as well as he starts his retreat into the scrub. So 3 shots fired, nothing to show for it and I’m about to throw my rifle into the bush.
My brain is in over drive, what the hell just happened! I rushed a running shot and then rushed two shots than needed more time in executing properly. I’m a broken hunter!
I walk back to Thomas. He’s no doubt expecting a glorious tale of me shooting a stag and maybe a hind, but he is met with a very despondent hunter. Not one to rub it in (too much!), he suggests we head over to where it all went down and stop and have a cup of tea. It gives me a chance to take stock and start to figure out what went so wrong (he’s a clever man!). Replaying it my mind and talking about it I realise that the first two stags were satellite stags that had only heard a noise, but not seen or winded me, so them running away was of little consequence. I should not have taken a rushed shot. As for the hind. I was after a stag. Why did I try for that? The master stag was big and I should have waited and bid my time, but I rushed a shot that was not on without a decent rest.
Learnings: Take your time, slow down, Don’t rush things. If things don’t go as planned, stop, have a tea or a break, and digest what happened.
We make a new plan and cover some new ground that looks like it should be productive in the future, so that makes me feel a bit better. Time for lunch and another rest. I’m still running over the morning’s events and angry at myself, but being able to play it through my head again I can see where I went wrong and tell myself to learn from it. Recharged we head off in a sweeping arc for camp, that will take in an area that Thomas knows has held stags over the years. It’s good to keep moving again, but the bush is pretty quiet with not a roar to be heard.
The bush does look promising though and we are on a terrace leading up to where Thomas reckons a stag might be. Once again, he says lets have a stop and sit down and form a plan of attack. I hadn’t even dropped my pack when not more than a couple hundred metres away a stag starts its afternoon roaring session. By rights, this should be Thomas’ deer, as I had my chance this morning but he’s adamant I should go for it. I drop my pack and stalk in while Thomas stays with the dogs.
Right, don’t stuff this up!!! The wind is good (or as good as it can be) and the stag is making all the noise, so no need to alert him to my presence. I keep walking in. I’m getting closer now. Movement ahead, I can see the thrashing of an antler. Crap, he’s coming towards me. I look for a rest, or some cover, but I’m stuck about 5m from the nearest tree and don’t want to move in case he sees me. He’s roaring again as he walks along his trail. I see him through the scope, but then he disappears.
Lower my rifle, and try and locate him in the bush again, Yep, there he is another 15m closer to me. He‘s coming my way and angling towards my left side. At about 30m away from me he stops behind a tree and roars again. Wait, take your time don’t rush your shot I tell myself – DON’T STUFF THIS UP!!!! He begins to go forward again, and is now coming towards me. He stops after about 5m and begins to roar again. Now is my chance. I aim for his front left shoulder and take the shot. It connects and he reacts by bounding off about 20 metres and stops still. He is angling away from me now and I take another shot. Solid connection and he crashes off about 30m from that position. I try and be calm and digest what has happened. Two shots, both connected, I see blood and some bone (front leg). I know he’s down, but I can see him thrashing on the ground. I approach cautiously and finish him off with a final shot (probably not needed, but I wanted him down). I get closer to him. 5 solid points on one side and 4 on the other, no wait there something under some moss, he’s got a point hidden there. Its 5 on the other side as well. An even 10 that is the biggest stag I have shot to date. I count the points about 3 times just to make sure. I’m over the moon!
I come back to where Thomas and the dogs are and, I’m sure the smile on my face gave it away. It was such a polar opposite of what I had felt only a few hours earlier.
Learnings: Things can happen fast! Try and calm down and take the shot when it presents itself. A big bullet makes a big hole, and makes tracking easier.
Thomas gets me to bring my dog over who is new newish to the hunting game and unsure after all the noise of the morning and the afternoon. Holly comes along with me and I give here encouragement when she finds the trail and then when she finds the deer.
Photos were taken and handshakes given. The stag was thanked and butchered with Thomas providing expert butcher tips. We managed to get back to the main trail just as it got too dark to see, so headlights on for the walk back to camp for a well-deserved meal.
Attachment 199272
One happy hunter!!!
Next morning it was time to break camp, bone out the four hind legs, pack up and walk out to the trucks. As has happened since I first hunted with Thomas, all meat was shared equally. We both got half the young stag and half the older stag. I had taken a couple trekking poles with me on the walk in, in case we had fully laden packs on the walk out and they certainly came in handy with both Thomas and I using one each. They will definitely come along on the next hunt.
It was a bit of a trip of highs and lows for me and I learned a lot about what to do (and what not to do).
I got the head cleaned up and measured. I know it is not a world beater at 236DS, but I’m still chuffed with it.
Attachment 199273
I’m looking forward to next roar already!
