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Roars started...secure a stag first hunt of the roar!! Go The Mighty 243!
Hey, havnt done much stories laterly, prob because only been on 2 hunts all year(more fishing and resting lol).
But its that time of the year again and i always give it a good crack to secure a stag or 3. Today decided i head to a local spot and hope the roars under way.
Forecast was for rain and my plans that i have hatched for over a month looked on the ropes. Got quite a few days off in the next 3 weeks.
I had a number of areas i wanted to go on certain dates for day hunts and hope they were like last year....roaring stags at everyone of them!
All DOC land, many every man and his dog goes to but i generally do pretty well.
After waking to a overcast morning and looking at the rain radar i wasnt sure if my plan A was the best place but after delaying the start 30mins i decided its worth the risk and i headed there.
Was pretty happy to arrive with no rain yet but it certainly looked like it was coming.
Last year here i had 3 stags going good and got within 50m of one before i walked straight into his 2 hinds and that blew it.
I put up a game cam and after the roar discovered a big mature 9 pointer and a nice even 8 pointer had been at the wallow hole so was hoping they survived the year as i didnt find them
on a couple of hunts looking for them.
I noticed someone had been here the day before but off i headed into some very light dizzle which didnt last and headed to the ridge which i always go up.
Saw some marks, but i always do on this ridge and when i got to the terrance i heard what we all wait for each year....A ROAR!!!!
The stag wasnt where they normally are, he was across a very nasty gut on a vertical face that didnt look very inviting.
Decided to give a couple of roars with the Graf caller (secret weapon) and got instance replys.
The stag didnt look like he was going to come across, and i didnt blame him...it looked nasty .Considering no other stags were roaring i decided i work out a way to get into the gut
then crawl up the vertical face and get up near where he is and see if i can get him.
It was pretty darn steep but i managed to get the old body up the hill and got into some open native on a spur that wasnt too bad.
Hadnt heard him for awhile so i gave him a couple of roars and he replyed straight above on the same ridge i was on...success.
Gave him a couple more and he got more vocal , and started to come down to me.
This is what the roars all about. 30 mins we played cat and mouse with each other. He slowly but surely got within 70m, i slowly tried to close the gap as well
but i was happy to hold my ground as i had a good shooting postion on the steep face.
Suddenly he changed to a more aggro roar and i knew fireworks was about to happen.
I changed to the aggro call and he got worked up and suddenly there he was , silding across in front of me about 60m ahead but didnt have a clean shot.
The stag tried to flank me to the left, giving out the odd aggro roar that rocked the silence! Then i decided i walk a few steps toward him, making sure i snapped a couple of twigs
and suddenly he appeared ahead of me.
Looked like good timber for around here and the 243 crosshairs was on him and BOOM, the mighty 243 dropped him and the first stag of the Roar is down!!
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Was a nice bush stag for the local Doc area, 8 pointer and just over 30 inches . Was in good nick still, bit of fat so he go into steaks.
Have no doubt he was the 8 pointer i got on the gamecam last year, maybe the big nine is still here too but he may have to wait aftyer the roar if he survives.
Good luck and stay safe out there, cant beat the roar and its under way here.
Using a cannon 620sx i got of a forum member, do like it and it took great video, forgot to do that while i was roaring him in, just a video after i shot him
but was glad i got it and might do some video work in the bush.
Cheers...go the mighty 243
