2016 Roar help

Hi, need some advice. After my first serious roar in the bush in 2014 around the nelson area I had a great one. Heard stags roaring in 3 different areas, had them come in to my roars and ended with two real good stags and a couple of more just after, plus turned down shooting a couple of poor ones and dried fired on a nice 8 with safety on :D very successful. 2015 was a different story thou.
Had great success with the game cameras, 5 different stags in one new area with a 13 pointer and a real nice 8, plus one huge 9 pointer that in body size was just massive.
But even thou I hunted hard that roar, esp in that area, finding 4 different well used wallows I only heard one roar the entire time from march 20th right though to april 28.
It was disappointing to say the least. Did manage a 8 pointer thou and saw the big 8 that was roaring but didn't manage to get a shot away. Hunted all the places I hunted in 2014, there was stag sign in them all but nothing roared, never saw any apart from one and the one I got.
It seemed the roar was short, and around the last week of march(about the same as 2014 but went longer) in the areas I hunted.(all DOC).
This year I really want hunt down that 13 pointer, hes a real trophy animal. Clearly thou, bush stalking in the thick steep place it is its very hard to find a animal, they there, the game camera proved that, but finding any animal is a mission. Its a lot harder to hunt than other places I go but that what makes me want to go back
Now, if the stags aren't roaring, or I miss it when they do, whats the best plan??
Do I continue to bushstalk, roaring now and again and hope one does reply or comes in for a look?(didn't work last year).
Or do I set up at a wallow after a wee stalk and some roars. Take a book, food and wait with a good advantage point waiting for a stag to appear? Thought about staying over night, but as this region the roar is short lived when they actually roaring it be hard to pick the date when they do. Last year the stags went to the wallows after dark, most of the game camera pictures were that time apart from younger spikers, that turned up during the day. Plan is to start stalking hard from the 20th again right though till end of april. Fine stags at the start of roar are in prime nick, so happy shoot anything early on for the prime meat. Then after one, maybe two I only shoot something that go over 200ds if possible. I want that 13 pointer if its still there, whats the plan??

I have found they will quite often sneak in for a look to a roar when they wont roar themselves,especially if you are in their territory..unfortunately they approach down wind if they have any brains and this is where rain is a huge help...I dont recon they can smell for shit if it is raining consistently.

As for when they will roar or if they will roar your guess is as good as mine.

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I have found they will quite often sneak in for a look to a roar when they wont roar themselves,especially if you are in their territory..unfortunately they approach down wind if they have any brains and this is where rain is a huge help...I dont recon they can smell for shit if it is raining consistently.

As for when they will roar or if they will roar your guess is as good as mine.

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Hey Cam. Last year the one and only stag I heard roaring wasn't far of his wallow. Like the year before I thought if I roar back (got a graf caller, worked real good in 2014) he come in and bobs your uncle :thumbsup:.
Unforturely, even thou it was still early in the roar instead of coming in, he had two hinds already and just took off. Al he wanted to do was get the hell out of there. he roared again heading up the ridge and managed to see him twice pushing his hinds ahead of him.
Put me off abit roaring at one now if you close, must be better to just stalk in?? If he didn't have hinds I think I would have got him,but it was like march the 24th so did the roar start way earlier than that if he already had two hinds already? Wallows were being used early march I noticed in that area

Me and the dog plan to have a crack this years roar as I have a wee spot which might be OK so watching this with Interest. I have less than no idea about roaring though

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Originally Posted by mikee

Me and the dog plan to have a crack this years roar as I have a wee spot which might be OK so watching this with Interest. I have less than no idea about roaring though

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Good luck. I didn't have much of a clue about the roar either until someone told me to go get a graf caller and do this and that in 2014 so I did.(couldn't roar for crap) It was so successful I was hooked. Had a stag come from over a km away up the lakes before the wind stuffed it when he was only 70 odd m away. Then had a scrubby 4 pointer walk within a few feet of me as he tried to get in behind to get my scent while I was hiding behind a log, I let him go. Then my first bush stalking stag I roared in and shot went 242 DS and was just a 8 pointer, but what a animal! Was hooked on the roar big time .....only been down south for the roar before then and got a couple of big spikers, totally didffernt hunting in open tops in the tusscock than it is around her in the bush, that's FOR SURE

Like a few on here I hunt all year round and don't really change a lot of what I do. Only by them roaring I know where they are. While last year I had goid roaring encounters and up close. Never saw or shot a stag, but took a meat animal as they presented themselves. Just keep bush stalking if they roaring on there own ok. Just stalk it, if not and you can annoy him do so, unfortunately I dont think there are any golden rules as every year us different, or hunt before and after roar. As for DS, just get it on the ground and worry about that then.

Good luck

Hamish

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How many hinds do you usually encounter?
Is it a possibility of a lot of hinds around and the stags not having to work very hard to get his girls. Resulting in poor roaring?

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Originally Posted by Shootm

How many hinds do you usually encounter?
Is it a possibility of a lot of hinds around and the stags not having to work very hard to get his girls. Resulting in poor roaring?

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Very little hinds around. Not huge numbers of deer around the areas I hunt. Game cam picks up more stags than hinds, so I would of thought they be roaring there heads off but no :oh noes:. The 10 pointer I shot in 2014 on april 21, saw him april 9th thou only had one hind with him. Looking back on my records it seems all the stags I have heard roaring have been between March 21th to March 28th so I think for at least the last two years they start quite early here then shut up for all of april.

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Originally Posted by deer243

Very little hinds around. Not huge numbers of deer around the areas I hunt. Game cam picks up more stags than hinds, so I would of thought they be roaring there heads off but no :oh noes:. The 10 pointer I shot in 2014 on april 21, saw him april 9th thou only had one hind with him. Looking back on my records it seems all the stags I have heard roaring have been between March 21th to March 28th so I think for at least the last two years they start quite early here then shut up for all of april.

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Sounds like hunt that spot late March then head further a field and catch the rest of the roar somewhere else in early April. Two bites of the cherry:thumbsup:

I know nothing but what me and my mate found last year was we were pushing them away with our roars, we ended up changing from roars to mellow moans and had better luck. Not sure if there's anything in that or not. I had a graf caller once and based on what little I know it may be a bit aggressive if the deer are finicky.

Yeah, I tend to use the moan caller more than any of the others. I did get that stag worked up real good thou up the lakes with the more aggressive call on it thou. He was going bersek, travelled a long way to hunt me down. Just a pity the wind stuffed it at the end, would of love to see how big it was but was still thrilling stuff

[QUOTE=deer243;427888]Very little hinds around. Not huge numbers of deer around the areas I hunt.

the answers in that line there,if the hinds are coming on season or are in season then the stags will roar to keep competitors at bay. once the hinds in the area have been serviced then the stag will keep walking to find more hinds.think of it this way, if you can only get a root three weeks a year are you going to wait around on someone to say, yes help yourself, or are you going to keep walking looking for that someone that says "bust your balls big boy". if they aren't roaring then carry on looking for the hind areas. you should be doing this thou out the year, hinds generally stay in the one area ( unless pushed) its the stags that do the walking and searching looking for some "girls"

[QUOTE=HUNTY;428674]

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Originally Posted by deer243

Very little hinds around. Not huge numbers of deer around the areas I hunt.

the answers in that line there,if the hinds are coming on season or are in season then the stags will roar to keep competitors at bay. once the hinds in the area have been serviced then the stag will keep walking to find more hinds.think of it this way, if you can only get a root three weeks a year are you going to wait around on someone to say, yes help yourself, or are you going to keep walking looking for that someone that says "bust your balls big boy". if they aren't roaring then carry on looking for the hind areas. you should be doing this thou out the year, hinds generally stay in the one area ( unless pushed) its the stags that do the walking and searching looking for some "girls"

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Sounds good advice, but if I look at that and compare it to a area I hunted in 2014 im not sure if that how it is. One area I used to hunt was stuffed with a 1080drop, very little sign of animals around after that and started not to hunt it anymore as was a waste of time.
After a couple of summer missions in there and no sign I went back for old time sake in march(2014), and found sign of a couple or 3 stags but little else, but they were good stags. Nothing was roaring, tried the graf caller, nothing, went back the week later, nothing.
On april the 9th went back again and heard a stag roaring, roared it in, walked a few feet past me but it was a very scrubby 4 pointer so let it be. Further up the hill I saw the mark of a big stag ive seen the same marks in march, im sure it waS THE SAME one then I saw him. Only saw half his body for a shot, waited but he walked of and got no shot and he had one hind with him, a smaller hind at that.
Went back again week later and saw his mark and another bigger mark that I also saw in early march but little sign of other deer apart from a lone hind.
On april the 21 I went back and took a forum member for a hunt from up north (other forum) and did a roar, the stag I was chasing came out of a gut and I shot a nice ten pointer.(still had one hind with him)
In end of april took my cousin to look for the bigger mark that was hanging around and walked within 6 feet from him (was hidden).
Was a big nine , he got away. I hunted that stag for the next 6 weeks or so, saw marks now and again , I got him in the end after a few trips in.

Moral was, there was very little deer sign in there, but clearly was sign from early march right though of at least 3 different stags...two of those stags I ended up getting (2 good ones )and of cause could of shot the scrubby 4 as well which could have well been the other stag sign that I kept seeing.
Never saw any other deer apart from one hind that was with the ten, saw little sign of much other deer at all but those two big stags stayed in that area with little hinds all roar and after until I shot both of them..
Big area, big country so why didn't they move on in a area that had clearly been destroyed by 1080 and numbers reduced to the point it was 8 hour days to find any marks?
(apart from of cause the two big stags and one or two others that stayed in the area right though, only reason I kept going back as fresh sign of good stags does that:))