Rusa Ruckus - by Troy Reynolds

It was early May and the Rusa Stags were coming into hard antler. I had started locating the stags late this year and I had  already heard through the grape vine that a few representative stags had been taken. This was the first year
after moving back to the south coast and I was eager to check out some of my old haunts. Many a mornings were spent before work glassing trying to find something big. Plenty of other critter's came into view, but nothing  got me excited,  I knew if I kept persisting something would pop up.

More local wildlife....

June was here and still nothing worth shooting. I decided the check out another spot, and on arrival noticed a few stags on a hill about 500m away. With the scope out I could make out one was around 28, and the other around 30 inches. They were safe with me so I parked up and through the camo on and headed to a spot where I could glass for the morning. On the way over and some promising sign....

Some more curious critters

This spiker walked up out of the gully he was feeding in to come say hello at 8m

I made the vantage point and glassed for hours. Nothing but youngsters. The day was dragging out so I decided to take a nap and when I woke head further around the spur where I knew there was a grass flat. With the hammock hanging the nap turned into a slumber and the arvo was upon me. I packed the gear up and slowly stalked down a deer trail that should take me straight to deer green. On arrival I could notice through the lantana 3 stags feeding, one looked to be a shooter. The bino's confirmed what I was hoping for. The stag looked to be around 33-34 long and in great condition. His body was far bigger then the other 2. I thought I noticed one of the younger stags from in velvet he looked to have travelled over into this quiet green gully to merge with the bigger two.

The younger Stag in velvet..

The young bloke all primed up for the Rut..

With the bigger Rusa Stag on my hit list, it was now time to concentrate on him only. The next day after finding the stag,  a phone call about work, something I was dreading. 2 weeks work, and not local. It was punishment. Every day for the next 2 weeks I hoped the grubs wouldn't  find that little pocket tucked away with my prized critter. After returning home about midday late June I had already made arrangements with  my young bloke to head up and try locate the stag. Jack was biting at the bit and keen to hear a Rusa roar. We made tracks straight after Jack finished school. With a few hours up our sleeve we glassed a lower flat to no avail. We pushed on,  and as we made the bench half way a distant roar,  Jack's ear's pricked up. He said "was that him."  I replied "I hope so mate."  It came from higher up into thickest, nastiest lantana on the south coast. We sat back off the edge of the lantana about 40m behind a mound of dirt and talked over a plan. With only the one roar heard so far, I decided to try rattle a few sequences out. Hopefully the stag was up there by himself, as I know when they have a hot doe at toe there hard to pull away.  A few rattles and the stag let out a low moan. We continued this for a while but the Stag wasn't interested in what we had to offer. Darkness was upon us, Jack and I packed the spot up and headed out. As we walked out we chatted about the afternoon's event's, half way through a sentence and the stag roared to finish off a good afternoon.
I spent the next 7 days in a row, every morning and most afternoons checking the area for the big stag. But still no sign of him. I suspected him to be up high in the thick stuff, maybe with a girl or 2.  He couldn't hide forever, I was thinking. There was a fair bit of roaring happening by now and 2 other stags had moved in.

The 9th day had come around and the morning session was the same as the day before, 3 stags roaring but no faces to put to the tunes. As I walked back to the truck this bloke popped his head up, he didn't even say g'day before bolting to cover

I went to work and a light misty rain was starting to fall, this got me excited. I finished work early and headed to the hill. The mist and rain had stopped and the afternoon air was fresh.  I parked the rig, whacked the gear on and ventured in. I glassed the surrounds to find nothing so I snuck into a new ambush spot. I made sure I was never rattling in the same spot. I started rattling and a taker straight away. This Stag sounded to have plenty of meaning in what he was trying to say. I continued rattling ramping up the sequences and it sounded like he was doing the same. It sounded like he wanted to challenge and I was up for it. This went on for a bit then I npticed he was coming closer and closer. I stopped rattling. The darkness was fast approaching once again and the stag was still concealed. Then out the corner of my eye a doe appeared on the edge of the lantana, she had a young one following her. Another roar right there and I started running my head through it's paces.( pin on the spot, push pull through the shot) I was just hoping this was the shooter stag. Before long the stag walked out and I knew he was the one, but he was about 70m away. He stood right on the edge of the clearing looking straght out to the doe and fawn cruising across the flat. Not once he checked his surrounds, he lifted his head and started roaring as he walked straigtht towards them. I was thinking nothing was
going to come of this but looked forward to see the mother deer and her offspring disappear behind a large mound of dirt. The stag was a further 50m behind but heading in the same direction. As soon as that brut edged past the dirt mound I ran as quiet and as quick as I could hoping that I might get a shot as he popped out the other side. Halfway across and another roar from the other side of the dirt pile. I came towards the end of the mound and couldn't see doe/baby. As I looked to my right  the stag was just starting to come into view, and he was about 3om away. I was just starting to lower myself so I wasn't going to be in his view when he took 2 more steps and let out a roar, I drew the bow back as he roared and had the pin where I wanted it, but he kept on coming. I let out squeeky doe call and he propped and looked at me broadside. Bingo... The arrow flew straight for the zone and collected the goods. The stag ran 20m before heading down a grass incline. I ran to the edge, and when I got there I seen the big boy doing cart wheels. A few fist pumps as I went over for a closer look. I wish my young bloke was there to experience it, but there's plenty of time for that.......

It was early July and the Rusa Rut was starting to peak. The roaring had intensified and I had to be in the bush.

I had a few other spots up my sleeve, and I was eager to check them out. A phone call to Johnny and it wasn't long and the digger was there. Never a dull moment as we burnt along the hwy into what we  never expected.

Yep, skip and his mate were just sitting there minding there own business, when all of a sudden, skip did a u turn and tried to take johnny on,, in the Hilux. I tell you what, skip gave his best and I think the hilux came off second best. The lux came to a halt, water oozing out the top. Swearing and cursing followed for a good while. I'm glad skip made it out of there. The lux couldn't continue on, so it was a wave goodbye.. The trip had to continue on and a promising sunset had me thinking positive thoughts about tomorrow's hunt.....

The next morning couldn't come around quick enough, I was up an hour and a half before light, breakfast, hot cuppa and touch up for the broadheads. I had a mental plan and off I went. The morning spell produced a malformed stag with a extra brow half way up his main beam, something I've never seen on a Rusa stag before. The length wasn't there so he walked.

The rest of the day was much the same, the biggest I managed to see was a 30 inch head. Hopefully tomorrow would bring something bigger. Another youngster caught out at 15m

Day 2, same as normal, up early ready for action. The morning session was full of testosterone, young stags strutting there stuff, but still no big boy's. The lunch worms were starting to irratate, lucky for me I manage to snag a treat and
a bbq lunch was on the cards....

After that tasty treat I was at it again, on the search, glassing, and just covering ground. It wasn't till the last hour before dark and I decided to rattle out my Rusa ruckus. I had just finished the sequence and as I reached around to retrieve my by bag, a roar only 300m or so away caught my attention. A clench of the fist, and a shot of adrenalin followed suit. A focused hunter now on the trail of mystery roar. This was always the exciting bit closing the gap on
hopefully what was to be. As I neared the target I noticed there wasn't 1 but more like 15 deer to contend with. I watched as the favourable drizzle appeared. The deer were on the move, probably heading into their feeding zone for the arvo /night. 20min went by and I kept tracking them at a distance of about 80m. Lucky for me there was quite a few tree's to concealed my shape. I pulled up behind a solid tree and glassed the mob intently. There was a good stag in there, he was trying to mount his prize but she wasn't to keen. He wasn't exactly what I was after but as the seconds ticked by, the stag started to grow on me, or my hunting gene's took hold, one or the other. The next thing that happened was quite amazing, the mob kept walking and the biggest stag just sat right beside a tree. I couldn't believe it. With the drizzle still happening a stalk attack was hatched. I had to move 3m to my left and then I would have a direct line to my target. That 3m to my left might have taken 5-10m. The direct charge was a different story as I could see my stag's eye's and when he wasn't looking I made ground. 80 became 50 then 30 and there was one more tree and with the assistance of my range finder that last tree was 20m from my prize. I made 20 and the relaxed stag just stared into his lightly timbered surrounds. I composed myself for a second and ran the procedure through my mind. The bow now drawing, the peep clear, and the pin makes it's mark, a bedded stag is never a good view so a cactus roar on my behalf gets his attention. He looked but didn't stand, then I roared again and this time he stood to see what all the ruckus was about. With the pin pointed true a arrow launched and made it's mark. The stags crunched up and made 40m. I was stoked and amazed at the same time but over all the years I think the more time you spend in the bush stuff like this just happens.

With the Rut over the stags were starting returning to there bachelor mobs, their battered body's needed some rest. All the stags were out to find the best tucker available, so with this in mind the search was on.

Franko was along for the ride and it wasn't long and shooter was in his sites. I'll let Franko go into detail, but here was the end result a mature Rusa Stag with plenty of length. Well done bud.

The end of the season was near, and all the heads we were noticing were small. It was the 2nd last day and it was perfect morning,  no breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. The scope made it's way out of the bag and onto a bachelor mob of stags. There looked the be a shooter amongst them so a closer look was needed. On the way across two smaller stags burst out at close range from the fresh running water, just as I was about to refill my bottle.  After a drink, I climbed out of the creek bottom and viewed over to the direction of the stags. They fed contently  across a small rise which again was a blessing for my approach. The wind was good and they fed slowly away from me, but every now and then they would pull up and feed in  the same spot for a period of time. This gave me time to close the gap and it wasn't long and bow range was upon them. As I edged around a small clump of bush a mature stag of around 36 inches presented itself. With this opportunity I couldn't resist and the bow was at full draw, at 20m this rusa looked to be mine. The shot hit and the stag bolted. It wasn't one of my best shots but in the end I got the prize. With the rusa
season now at the end, the next one can't come around quick enough!