Just curious what happens to spikers during the roar? Do the young ones get displaced by the big fellers? Do they move to bush edges/farm land or into the interior?
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Just curious what happens to spikers during the roar? Do the young ones get displaced by the big fellers? Do they move to bush edges/farm land or into the interior?
Like any teenager, the spikers are trying to get some action but usually told to bugger off by the bigger fella. Will usually hang around the outside. Can be found in their own groups as well.
Excellent, would be very nice if they would hang out in the open, only interested in meat and it may turn out to be only time I can get out.
They get beaten up if they get to close to a Cycling hind
Tolerated near hinds that aren't ready
When you see a spiked alone hold hinds they have already been mated
Take a hind or two. They will be better eating than the spikers. Testosterone levels go up in them as well, can have an effect on the meat.
Skulking around the edges, to try and get a whirl on one of the girls before the big fella catches on.
Side effect of this is they play the willing idiot and bust you and give away your presence to the big fella.
If you're after meat knock over a hind, will taste better. Even the spikers get a bit rutty...
I'm heading out in the roar this year with some friends, I have no interest in antlers so I'll just head off in the opposite direction and shoot any hinds I come across. Doubt there's a shortage where we're going and good meat even that time of year.
Thanks good point
Shot this spiker in april 2021......He had both shoulders and his neck punctured, his bowel punctured and a broken leg....put him out of his misery...
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Pretty sure this was the Buck that beat him up ....got him on the game camera a few weeks earlier within 50m of where I found the spiker hiding under some scrub. Gave up a shot at the Buck to do the humane thing.
Went back a couple of weeks later and took the buck....
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Heck poor thing. Good on you!
Fallow are epic fighters
@Allgood thanks for putting up those photos of the beaten up spiker. That damage is seriously serious. The poor bugger must have been felling absolutely lousy! Good job to do the humane thing.
It's not unusual when bush hunting to have a spiker come and check you out if you're having a roaring stand-off with a mature stage. Sometimes they go nuts and come crashing in (and back again). All part of the fun as long as you hold your nerve.
Yes, shoot a hind. We shoot too many spikers anyway. Me included.
I was roaring a stag for a friend - he had been gone 15 mins sneaking in and I was on a ridge giving the odd moan to keep stag going - had a feeling I was being watched and looked back up ridge - a spiker had snuck in silent as and was peering at me from about 20 feet away - he eventually got a whiff and stuffed ofQuote:
Originally Posted by A-Bolt
if deer numbers are high the spikers will be banging hinds as well.last couple of roars we have had problems with low key roaring which I think is due to stags not having to work for a hind group as there are to many and they don't care they just do what ever they want and know there will be hinds to bang.last roar I saw a stag group feeding together, they were matureish.
I used to watch the deer on my mates farm while eating my lunch outside. It was hilarious to watch the dominant stag chase one of the young lads off for getting to close, and while the chase was on a few of his mates jumped the harem for a quick root. All good fun if it goes to plan but I had to drag one of the spikers to the far side of the paddock because he was stinking out the workshop, that bugga would of been over 100kg
I found the antlers from one of the big stags and made a mount for them. I'm not 1 for hunting trophies but these had some meaning for me.
Once this guy found his way into the freezer a few years later it was over 100kg of boneless meat.
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lol, the spikers get shot cos all the good heads were shot in january lol
lol your so butthurt of how we hunt in NZ lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Rees
So, what happen to the fawns born in December / January?
Are they sticking around when their mum get banged by the local big boy ? Or they get kicked away for a short time till mum get filled up?
In a way if they are staying, they are watching porn.
Spikers during the roar act like hormonal teenagers, vying for attention but often getting shooed away by the dominant males. They typically skulk around the periphery, hoping for a chance with the ladies before the big boss intervenes.
haha good pick upQuote:
Originally Posted by Yesmate
the mature stags holding hinds will generally tolerate the yearlings hanging around the hinds - but the young males from the year before no - I watched a big stag one day evict a spiker and he was hitting him so hard up the butt with his antlers he was lifting the spikers rear end of the ground - as many have said and rightly so those spikers likely not good eating - the best of the bunch those yearling hinds - followed by a dry hind i.e one that has never had a fawn - not common but I got one that had over an inch of fat over its back steaks - for meat shoot the hinds or does - most stags shot in the roar I would hesitate to say are in fact satellite stags - I guess not so much South Island when hunters can see the deer ( well most of the time ) but I think it likely true North Island bush - nothing wrong with that to me on a hunting trip a deer is a deer - I do not complicate things by being fussy - to get the big stag fine but when you are starting your hunting career take what you can get my motto - just note those satellite stags not great in the eating department -I go onto fallow blocks and the owner does not want does shot - shoot spikers - well wrong thing to do - some of those property's need 50-100 does taken out for the good of the herd - way to many - just get out there lifes short -we are getting a bit indoctrinated by hunting programs that preach shoot the real old stags - fine if thats ya thing and likely the right thing in an area like the wapiti blocks or Stewart Island where most white tail bucks shot are way to young - but really with the number of deer around Ruahines Te Urewera comes to mind its not trophy country shoot - I know many on here will not agree with my view but you have spent a lot of time effort to get there spend some time looking for a big boy if ya must then shoot some deer
Trip was a bit earlier than I thought, but a bit of thinning was under taken none the less. 8 Hinds/fawns down in the Lake Sumner area would have been double but I hung up the rifle after the second night to guide in a couple of friends from overseas to their first deer. But someone else had been putting in the good work up there too and I found 5 hinds shot to waste from sometime in the last week or so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Makros
Will throw a few photos together later. Managed to recover all hind legs and back steaks except for the last hind as I was worried about weight coming out on the helicopter so just back steaks were taken. Distributed most of the fawn and yearling back steaks across myself and friends stomachs over the week which was bloody tasty after the cold evenings glassing and hunting. Most of the rest of the meat was distributed across some friends in Christchurch on Saturday and I still put down a $20 to get the over weight chilly bin (which was 2/3 empty) home this morning on the plane.
I think a 50L chilly bin jammed with venison and a large box also full of it must have totalled to at least 70kg of meat pulled out.
Shoot a few hinds between the stags this year fellas the numbers out there are too high pretty much everywhere.
Side note - there was a pair of hunters in the area that I had a chat to on Monday night as I spotted their tent as I was coming back through the valley after shooting a few in a clearing in the bush. I heard they got flown out after one got injured so if you're on here I hope it wasn't too bad and sounds fortunate that you must of had an inreach device to communicate with the helicopter company.
