Well after our great walk last weekend the young fella and I decided to go back up the hill for a early morning wander and see if we could work out what the stags were doing as I was so puzzled last time out.
we got our gear ready last night and dragged our sorry butts out of the flea scratcher at the ungodly hour of 4.45am and parked the car at the base of the hill by 5:30am not bad going I thought. I strapped on my racing bullers and away up the loopy track we headed in the moonlight. The young fella took the lead and it was a pleasure to see(well sort of anyway it was black as the inside of a cow in places) that he was confident enough to stride off up the trail. We left the torches off and made good time up the hill. about 30 mins from the car I gave a low groan through the roaring horn and bugga me daisies I got a reply from further up the hill, not a earth shattering roar just a short quiet moan. woo hoo finally a south island stag who will talk to me Ive been down here since 1990 and thats the first wild stag Ive heard . when he let out a secound groan I had a fair idea where he was so we raced off further up the track to get above him as I thought as it was just on sun up the wind would soon shift to an uphill breeze not even Al someone forgot to tell the weatherman that part as the wind stayed the same way all morning. nevermind we moved around abit and stalked around below where we thought he was. about every 30 mins we would hear a single moan but that was it and he wouldnt reply to me again either never mind we kept the ol chin up and kept trying to locate him. up and around we went to a wallow from last week and a moan floated down from above us and a little around the hill we stalked uphill and thought we had him pinpointed but no joy either till I looked down and found a 40" cast antler which is huge for a red stag. 5 points and it was on the way back as the tops were not as good as they would have been on a younger animal. the cast could have been there for 3-5 years as it has some moss on it but is still very solid and heavy as my lad can tell as he carried it all the way home . we now had two noise makers as we raarked up the odd tree with the antler aswell as roaring to try to get a reply but to no avail as the stag had shut up and didnt moan again never mind we kept stalking around as the bush is primo country, not too steep and quite open manuka/kanuka type bush with plenty of feed underneath we came too a good roaring pad with heaps of tucker for the hinds to eat and reakon that the crafty hua must have been there when we first heard him. we found a complete stag head well both antlers and skull were there and we could put them back together it was a good head too 11 points with good size but abit uneven. that had been on the ground for a long time as it was green with age n moss but with the cast antler shows the bloodlines must be good in the area. we stalked right down that spur and when the young fella started to drag his feet I called it and headed the huge 100yrds back up onto the loopy track and we headed home. we were never more than 5-600yrds away from a busy tramping track that gets used most days of the year. we will get back up there for another look as its just such an easy place to get to and doesnt look to have alot of hunting pressure. the boy was chatting all the way home and has his cast antler to show for the day. we had a ball I just love taking my kids out in the bush I just hope I can get an animal before he looses interest not that he is showing any sign of doing so. we got home by 12 noon just in time for the great easter egg hunt.

That sounds like a great day! Any time spent with the kids is good and wandering in the woods makes it even better!

Sounds like you had a magnificent day Elvis. Wish I had seen this post before I put your pic in the Photography threads mate...not a problem...here is the link mate:

Good Bloodlines

Cheers, Vince

You paint a great picture Elvis, thanks. One thing I thought of, if you're going to call him maybe you should stay put for a while. I was imagining him searching for the call and you going all over the place searching for him. Each of you going in opposite directions. One of you (the stag or you) needs to stand still. The stag might not have answered after that first call but he also may have searched for you every time you called, so he may have thought there was something fishy going on.

If you hear a call you should go to the call, not above or below, go right to it. If you do that, the stag and you will be going toward each other. Keep your eyes open, listen carefully, but don't make direction changes until you need to keep out of his sight. Around some parts, that's also a good way to get a predator on your tail.

I have no experience at calling animals (children, dogs and boys YES) but I was just thinking of a way you could be strategic. I have a friend in Alaska that uses calls, but he says he only calls when he can see the animal and wants it to get closer. He hunts caribou and says he rarely gets his call answered, they like to sneak up on the ladies when they hear them calling. That's his take on it anyway. Up there they also have to be wary of grizzly bears stalking them when they use calls. I think I would hunt from a shark cage up there.

Suz

sounds like a good plan Suz when you have bears to worry about. when we first heard the stag we were standing on a loopy track and he was at his wallow area which is where they hold the ladies captive till they have had thier wicked way with them. I do try to sneak in without roaring if they keep talking so I know where they are. If I can get a stag to roar back and keep challenging then staying put is a great idea, most guys hunt in pairs and when a stag replies one fella stays put and keeps roaring while the other stalks in. so hopefully catches the stag unawares.my son is not old enough to leave alone for that amount of time (yet) but those stags will have to look out when he is.
thanks for posting that vince.

Great post. Time spent with our children is a precious memory.

When moose hunting the bull will remain close to his cow and wait for the challenger to come to him. If he is not burdened with one he will come straight to the call all ready for a fight. We often thrash the bushes to simulate an excited bull who is itching for a scrap. When near a scrape or wallow, pouring water slowly from shoulder height onto the mud to simulate a bull urinating sometimes gets a rushing response. Seeing a moose coming at flank speed across the barrens sure gets the adrenaline going.

trouble is Mac pouring water from shoulder height would get me going too!!!