Tararua 10

Over previous years I had roared at plenty of stags, however none of them had ever come in on me, and would only reply from a distance. Any stags that I had secured during prior roar trips had either been shot in the open or bush stalked the same as any other deer at any other time of the year.

I had seen many videos and read plenty of stories about hair-raising encounters with Red stags in tight bush during the rut, and was determined to make it happen for myself. Early on in April, I managed to tick the box with two young 8 pointers in the Tararuas and Ruahines. Both stags came tearing in as I had been roaring at different animals across the gully and in my haste, I had shot them both from less than 10 metres without assessing their maturity. Although the rush that comes with fired-up rutting stags felt good, I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed with the young stags I’d shot at a time of year when I wasn’t desperate for nice eating animals.

And so my goal changed to filming deer up close in the bush, with the rifle handy just in case a mature