I know things can change in a hurry, but any word if stag roar is early late or typical? We are hoping it is still on in first week of May, and then on to Tahr for second week May.

Any word on weather early late or typical snows?

Here in Arizona it is 93 F today. Hard to pack for late fall early winter wearing shorts and singlet.

jamie

Usually the roar in NZ is in April, I believe ?????? May be wrong. May is't bad though as the stags need to feed up to counter starvation from too much fighting and rooting.

Don't forget your Sheep Skin Condom's. Oh wait, they will issue them when you get there.

Only a week to go....

The farmed deer in the North Island have been roaring for a while now , and they start before the wild population , something to do with nutrition I suspect . I beleive the roar in the wild has just started in the N.I. and would expect the same to be the case in the South Island , given that the roar is precipitated by shortened day-length , and there definately is less hours of daylight now than a month ago .

With a little luck you will bag a trophy , either way you will have a great trip , the scenery alone is worth the journey .

Have fun , and good luck.

Sorry to say but the roar is all but over, just spent a week in South Westland and the stags needed promting.
We were a week late but the way DOC allocates the blocks it cant be helped.
The best time is from the 7th -14th April.
Plenty of Tahr and Chamios around though.You may still get onto the stags but not the same as when they are in full roar.
The weather is still mild on the west coast of the south island and is still mild in May which is good for Tahr and Chamios.Not much snow yet!

Regards Milosmate

the way DOC allocates the blocks ????

Not sure how you mean DOC allocates the blocks? Please elaborate if you will be so kind.

Jameister

DOC Department of Conservation allocate blocks for the roar on the first of Nov for the period 20th March to 20th April the following year.
The doors open at 7 am, so first come first served.ie the locals get the best blocks.
You can only book a roar block for 8 days only, so if you get in late you will miss the best part of the roar, 7-14 April.
Any other time of the year anyone can hunt any time any place.
The first in first served is meant to change next year, a ballot which is much more fare.
There are some Tahr blocks also which need to be applied for.
Here is there web site:http://www.doc.govt.nz/index.html

Regards Milosmate

interesting. is this only on crown land? what about forest parks and other public lands? how about private lands?

thanks for the info. we are going on private land, and local contact tells me roar is way late this year cause of warm weather... course that just ended with some big snows, as I understand... leave in three days.. packed and ready to go.

rifle just got final going through by gunmaker,,,had to redo feed rail alignment. required dismantle of the whole lock, stock, and barrel and scope. Once again I go with a new rifle, need to do final sighting in at camp... hate that.

final question will remain: Shoot the first crown-top or hold out for a bigger one...
I will post pics on return.
Jameister

Ultimately , you are paying so shoot what ever you think is right at the time . Your local guide will know how good your first one is , go with his direction , and most of all - have fun. Weather isnt too cold yet , so you wont freeze your butt off , but it will be much cooler than you are leaving .

Enjoy the trip.

local guide? paying for? This is a self guided hunt on a family farm. All we know is there are stag there. We do hope the farm manager can spend part of a day with us showing us where the stag hole up on the upper slopes above the paddocks.

In North American Elk, a raghorn or spike is spurned, much like a jake in Turkey hunting. In stag hunting, certainly a spiker is a tablehunt, my question is where is the traditional line between immature and mature? and I gather it is at the three-on-top level, but maybe that is traditional european issue more than NZ.

anyway, we leave in 40 hours but whose counting?

jameister

Jameister

Not advising you but I would ask the farm manager and workers what sort of stags you can expect and my comments below.

I would prefer to hold off for a 12-pointer with good solid beams, but a heavy 10 or 11 pointer might bite a bullet if it showed itself.

If hunting say for 5 to 7 days I would consider blasting even a heavy 6 pointer on the last 2 days or day and a half. UNLESS I had seen a really good stag and wanted to hold off to the end just in case I was lucky. I would do this in Aussie as I would also get the meat.

Personally as I have a North Island 12-pointer and an Aussie 11 pointer both nice and heavy I would forgo anything less than a heavy 10-pointer.

Also depends how much you are paying for the stag. If a lot I would expect a very good head. But if the stags are truly free range, and not released from a deer farm, the big heads (ie greater than 10 - 12 tines) are few and far between in the wild. These massive multiple tined heads (ie the 30 +) are usually fed on steriods and high protein in deer farms and released to be shot. Often in 100 acre fenced paddocks. Some guys don't want to get all sweaty when "hunting".

Not a Kiwi and haven't hunted there in years, but just my comments.

Good luck again. Hope it is fun.