A few months back I posted on here for someoneto take me to the tiritea rifle range , so i can check my sights after i dropped it.
Lucky for me after a few days, I had a pm from Rosco saying he would help me out. After sending some rounds down the range , we were then talking about hunting and mentioned the sika roar and to pm him closer to the roar.
Ive had alot of offers berfore with people not following through, lucky for me Rosco was true to his words. Alot of pms were sent about gear etc, put in for some leave for work ., it was all go.
Wednesday lunch i knock off work, Rosco picks me up, we head to countdown for supplies and off to the kaimanawas we go for my first sika roar.
Arriving in the car parkin the drizzly rain, me Rosco and Spy headed off into the hills. 3 1/2 hours later we arrived at camp. A quick set up of gear , sleeping bags unfolded, we were soon lying in the tent listing to the rain hammer down on us. Rosco gave me the run down on sika deer and what to expect.
Spy carrying her load in.
Day 1
I had a restless sleep in the wind and rain and we were soon up feasting on bacon and eggs.
We left camp in one direction in the driving rain and headed up a ridge, then i herd my first hee haw. We ended up crossing ridges to get onto the noisy stag. Rosco let out a few roars but they wernt playing ball. Throughout the whole day we herd a few hee haws, seen some nice country and got absolutley soaked.
We got back to camp, got into some warm dry clothes , had a feed of steak, potatoes and mushrooms and we were soon back in the tent. It wasnt the sound of rain now, but the gale force winds ripping through camp. Sleep came easy that night.
Day 2
After the windy night we awoke to a steady breeze but no rain. After putting my wet socks and longjohns back on we were away. Slowly staking up a ridge Roscoe let out a roar, we were greeted with a few hee haws and our first single call.
I got into position behind a fallin tree and we roared into the gully the the single call came from. A minute later another hunter popped out fro the bush to our left. Comes up asking why we were in there as there were no others in the carpark. Not the way id like to be thinking and then asking if we had a electronic caller- its just Rosco is half sika i think??? After i bit of a fright it scared me a bit, we went our seperate ways and had to change plans. The rest of the day was a bit quiet and the wind made it hard to hear in the bush. We got to camp on dark, after another full day on the hill, i was out to it.
Rutting pad. This was was real fresh.
Day 3
We woke to a calm day and after a quick feed and the turtle mirror we were off again. The legs were felling it abit today but i soon forgot about that when i herd a hee haw. We roared into a gully and waited. We herd a crack below, be it human or deer something was down there. After sitting still for 10 minutes thinking there nothing there i catch the movement and antlers of a sika stag. I was shaking with excitedment, but the swirling wind got in the way.
We carried on , then i heard i loud single call coming from across the gully, wow these sound cool and i see how you sika hunters get addicted , every time we roared he roared back. I could here him make the weirdest whining noises. We were in the thickest shit trying to close the ground down the ridge. I think i was to excited and made a bit to much noise as he soon shut up shop.
What a day that was i got to experiance the sneaky smart sika and the extremly vocal single calling stag. What an experiance.
As i lay in my sleeping bag that night i was loving the day i just had, but also thinking i only have half a day left before leaving for the walk out.
Bush.
Day 4.
We headed out nice and early up the ridge when spy gave me the " why are you going up there, when theres a deer just there " look. I must say this was my first time hunting with a dog, and spy impressed me so much, she was awesom at leading me back to camp and telling me im walking past deer
So im standing looking hard for some movement. Rosco let a a roar, the stag hee hawd and then i seen it through the gaps pusing its hind away from us down the ridge, we roared again and he was further down the ridge.
We push down the ridge to close the gap when our movement spooks a young stag. Rosco roars and stops the stag. I had a massive tree in my view and Rosco was out in the open making little roars to hold the young stag for me to get a shot.
I had to move around a tree and quickly lined him up. Down he went ...... My FIRST Sika stag. I was/ still am over the moon. What a hunt this has been.
Rosco cut it up , teaching me some new ways and we packed the meat back to camp.
We quicky packed up, and headed for the car. Rosco the good bugger he is even helped me carry half the meat out. My legs were felling it on the walk out and it was a relief to get to the car.
A total of 30 hours hunting in all weather for this stag and it was worth every minute.
Not a trophy, but to me it is
A huge thanks to Rosco for taking me up and teaching me a shit load about hunting and the good company and jokes shared.
Also to the forum for making this stuff happen.
Rambo sika slayer rem700..
Thought id enter in here aswell
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Rifle range stag (Read 6221 times)