Well the rut or roar as we like to call it, is into its traditional second week here in Queensland, although, rutting stags are pretty patchy atm. They roar has been a bit like that over the last few years with extreme changes in weather conditions. At the beginning of 2011 we had massive widespread flooding, the worst since the 60's I am told. The majority of stags would never have experienced conditions so wet and the rut timing changed a tad.
This was supposed to be a live hunt, but have just been to busy to get it on the forum.
Anyway, a mate called me a month or so ago and asked if it would be ok to come up for the week and experience the roar here, as he has done for the last 3 years know.
Friday night he arrived and after a quick catch up we both headed for bed. 0500hrs Sat morning saw me head over to his camp trailer and wake him up.
We decided to head down to some local country and see if the stags were making any noise. We were rewarded with a few stags getting into things.
On the way in I photographed this hind and her fawn in the morning mist.
Sat afternoon and Sun morning seen us head into a neighbours property with nothing sighted.
We then decided to move further afield into some more remote country. On the drive over to our start point a storm came through, lifting the chances of stags becoming vocal. After a 30 odd minute walk in to some gorge country we were both pleased to hear a couple of Stags roaring. We managed to get eyes on 2 stags, one was a taker, the other an old cull animal. After a few photos, not very good quality as we spent as little time in there as possible, we backed out and headed back to the vehicle, formulating a plan for the following morning.
It is always better to hunt alone, so I dropped my mate off and headed into some other country to see what was lurking in there.
In my location I stalked in on this fella and as he came out into my photo lane, he sprung me, probably my black 'Extreme Elk' t-shirt giving me away. He was another mature animal, with only brows and main beams.
I backed out of this position, headed back to the vehicle and went looking elsewhere. Driving up onto some high ground I received a message of a missed call from my mate. Not being all that long since he would have been into his location, I thought he must have taken the decent stag we seen the afternoon before.
On arriving back at the pick up point, I expected him to load a trophy into the vehicle, no trophy however. He found a stag with 5 on one side and the other was malformed so he let him walk.
Monday afternoon seen us have a rest and early the next morning we headed off to check out some new country which didn't work out so well.
We then headed back into where my mate had hunted the morning before, but approaching from a completely different direction.
After a steep descent we slowly stalked further into our target area. As I was considering changing direction to check out the pasture on the high plateau we were on, a deep roar resonated from the direction I had chosen to go. We carefully but quickly moved at right angles to the direction the stag had roared from and snuggled down behind some trees.
Sure enough, the big fella we had seen on Sunday afternoon came sauntering into view. Checking out his head gear, he was a big old heavy 4x5, definitely a Qld free range trophy. We spent quiet a while glassing and photographing him and his 3 girls before backing out and making a very large detour up above them and heading back to the vehicle, my mate looking forward to stalking him the following morning.
Wednesday morning saw my mate heading in to nail this fella, but after 3 difficult stalks couldn't manage it, still having a great time and learning heaps though.
I headed in from a different direction to wait for him to secure the trophy and help with the carry out. As dawn was breaking the resident stags were making plenty of noise.
After climbing down a rocky face from a high plateau I entered the creek line, and off to my left, quiet close, I heard a stag let out a guttural roar. I was only armed with my camera, so started to make my way in the direction of the roaring. As I crept up the far side bank, I spotted the top of a small eucalypt sucker shaking like mad, and as I am sure most Elk hunters know, a stag is the one doing the shaking. I stalked closer again, to around 30 yards and started taking a few pics, managing a bit of video as well.
Later that day another mate, who is a new hunter arrived and I had decided to take him back into the same location for him to experience stags roaring up close and personal.
We discovered a great looking 5x5 animal and spent quiet a while watching and photographing him and his girls. This big bloke was fairly well fired up, running about roaring challenges to any would be suitors. I didn’t want to get too close and risk spooking this stag and his harem, and he was very cagey, so didn’t get the pics I would have liked.
On the way out we actually walked onto this stag and his harem, I am not overly sure, but he is possibly the stag my mate was looking for Wednesday morning.
Hope you enjoy a taste of Aussie Red stag hunting.
Cheers.
Hope you enjoy.
This was supposed to be a live hunt, but have just been to busy to get it on the forum.
Anyway, a mate called me a month or so ago and asked if it would be ok to come up for the week and experience the roar here, as he has done for the last 3 years know.
Friday night he arrived and after a quick catch up we both headed for bed. 0500hrs Sat morning saw me head over to his camp trailer and wake him up.
We decided to head down to some local country and see if the stags were making any noise. We were rewarded with a few stags getting into things.
On the way in I photographed this hind and her fawn in the morning mist.
Sat afternoon and Sun morning seen us head into a neighbours property with nothing sighted.
We then decided to move further afield into some more remote country. On the drive over to our start point a storm came through, lifting the chances of stags becoming vocal. After a 30 odd minute walk in to some gorge country we were both pleased to hear a couple of Stags roaring. We managed to get eyes on 2 stags, one was a taker, the other an old cull animal. After a few photos, not very good quality as we spent as little time in there as possible, we backed out and headed back to the vehicle, formulating a plan for the following morning.
It is always better to hunt alone, so I dropped my mate off and headed into some other country to see what was lurking in there.
In my location I stalked in on this fella and as he came out into my photo lane, he sprung me, probably my black 'Extreme Elk' t-shirt giving me away. He was another mature animal, with only brows and main beams.
I backed out of this position, headed back to the vehicle and went looking elsewhere. Driving up onto some high ground I received a message of a missed call from my mate. Not being all that long since he would have been into his location, I thought he must have taken the decent stag we seen the afternoon before.
On arriving back at the pick up point, I expected him to load a trophy into the vehicle, no trophy however. He found a stag with 5 on one side and the other was malformed so he let him walk.
Monday afternoon seen us have a rest and early the next morning we headed off to check out some new country which didn't work out so well.
We then headed back into where my mate had hunted the morning before, but approaching from a completely different direction.
After a steep descent we slowly stalked further into our target area. As I was considering changing direction to check out the pasture on the high plateau we were on, a deep roar resonated from the direction I had chosen to go. We carefully but quickly moved at right angles to the direction the stag had roared from and snuggled down behind some trees.
Sure enough, the big fella we had seen on Sunday afternoon came sauntering into view. Checking out his head gear, he was a big old heavy 4x5, definitely a Qld free range trophy. We spent quiet a while glassing and photographing him and his 3 girls before backing out and making a very large detour up above them and heading back to the vehicle, my mate looking forward to stalking him the following morning.
Wednesday morning saw my mate heading in to nail this fella, but after 3 difficult stalks couldn't manage it, still having a great time and learning heaps though.
I headed in from a different direction to wait for him to secure the trophy and help with the carry out. As dawn was breaking the resident stags were making plenty of noise.
After climbing down a rocky face from a high plateau I entered the creek line, and off to my left, quiet close, I heard a stag let out a guttural roar. I was only armed with my camera, so started to make my way in the direction of the roaring. As I crept up the far side bank, I spotted the top of a small eucalypt sucker shaking like mad, and as I am sure most Elk hunters know, a stag is the one doing the shaking. I stalked closer again, to around 30 yards and started taking a few pics, managing a bit of video as well.
Later that day another mate, who is a new hunter arrived and I had decided to take him back into the same location for him to experience stags roaring up close and personal.
We discovered a great looking 5x5 animal and spent quiet a while watching and photographing him and his girls. This big bloke was fairly well fired up, running about roaring challenges to any would be suitors. I didn’t want to get too close and risk spooking this stag and his harem, and he was very cagey, so didn’t get the pics I would have liked.
On the way out we actually walked onto this stag and his harem, I am not overly sure, but he is possibly the stag my mate was looking for Wednesday morning.
Hope you enjoy a taste of Aussie Red stag hunting.
Cheers.
Hope you enjoy.
