I wanted to have a fair lick at the roar this year - you never know if its going to be your last - so I travelled a lot and looked at a few different spots. Both public and private.
There were plenty of dry hunts in regards to shooting something but I saw at least one deer on every outing.
On my first hunt there was quite a bit of roaring and I saw a couple of reds including stag with his back right hock missing. He was roaring and getting around ok, but only had a spindly head.
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Right on dark I spotted a reasonable stag with 3 hinds and he worked his way around a face and stopped on a papa slip.* 250 yards - easy peasy with the 300saum - so I line him up and fired. I didn't see what happened next except his hinds bolted and kept looking back, but no sign of the stag. Long story short, Tilly and I couldn't find him. No blood. Nothing. A miss.
The next morning I was back in the dark with my .223 which I had in the truck (I had mucked around with the zero on the 300saum last time out because I forgot the suppressor, and figured I had wound it back the wrong way).
A couple of hours after light I heard a roar and there on the skyline was the stag I missed the night before. It took a big detour and climbed to get to near where he was, and then I had to put the sneak on to get close enough for a shot with the .223. When I was settled, and being watched by some hinds I fired for a head shot and heard the little bullet whine off from a ricochet, but the stag dropped. He was struggling on the ground to get up, and I quickly moved closer to finish him...and he jumped up and lunged towards me in an attempt to escape. Not wanting to be skewered by his antlers I quickly neck shot him at about 5 yards. He dropped at my feet. When I boiled the head the shot hadn't even penetrated. What you might call "a glancing blow".
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It took me 3 hours to carry his head, back steaks and back wheels out and I was pretty damned stuffed when I got back to my vehicle.
My next trip was with my son craigc and once again we saw a few, heard a lot of roars and Craig shot a Fallow spiker for himself. My younger son had ordered a "young head shot Fallow" so I duly obliged him with a head shot at 200 yards (although he grizzled about the bullet having gone through its head and skimming its back). Being a pig headed old man I insisted that I carry it and that Craig took my pack. Another big carry for the old bugger.
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We saw a few other deer too, which I got pics of.
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My next trip was to private land bounding the Haurangis, and although I was seeing deer and heard some roaring, I decided that an evening hunt up into the Haurangi public land might pay dividends. Sure enough, not long into the trees and I heard a couple of stags rouring up in the head waters of a creek, and they became my target.
It took an hour to stalk into the general area and once I was within a hundred yards of the closest one I was able to pick the little lookout area he was roaring from. He was grunting well and when I was about 15 yards from where I thought he was I spotted a hind, and through the scope I could see the tips of his antlers. I kept the rifle at my shoulder with safety on and sidled around a tree to expose his neck and dropped him on the spot (rifle #3 for the roar, 270wsm :) ). He was a typical Haurangi 8 pointer but had a bit of length and wood. A good stag to shoot because he had a lot of age on him.
The other stag continued to roar while I dealt to the 8 pointer and was still going strong as I stepped out of the bush with my load.
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My next and last hunt was with Brian. Brian shot a young hind on the first night, and the next morning we split and went our seperate ways. Not long after leaving him I heard a shot - turned out it was a nice heavy 10 with a brow tine broken off.
I saw some hinds and a spiker, but was more interested in a Fallow I could hear grunting. After a lot of looking I spotted some does, and then a light coloured buck. He was not the black one I have been chasing for a couple of years, but still better than average. I watched him for a while and was toying with shooting him when he trotted away from the does and high tailed it. This was accompanied with grunting coming out of the scrub from another buck. The light coloured one had just disappeared when "my" black one strode into view to grab the does. I scrambled to get into a shooting position and dial in the 325 yards. He seemed to have seen me because I was on an exposed knob and was standing face on to me with his head up. I aimed for his adams apple and let strip with the 270wsm.
I didn't see what happen, but after a few minutes a doe sauntered up and looked into the scrub where he would have fallen so I was confident he was down.
Of course when I got to the spot there was no buck and no blood, so I sent Tilly off and she dived into the scrub and soon found him 10 yards from where I was standing.
It was the buck I had photographed many times before and I was both pleased and sad to have taken him.
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So I embarked on my 3rd big carry in 10 days. It had been a great roar. I started hunting on the 5th and I shot the buck on 15 April. By the 15th the reds were beginning to tail off so I had hunted right through the thick of it. I heard a lot of stags, stalked about 10 unsuccessfully, missed one and shot 3. All in all a roar to remember.
