A fierce battle between two red deer stags in the Kaimai Ranges is doing the rounds on social media this week.

Uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, the footage was captured on one of seven trail cameras setup in the ranges by Matamata hunter and police officer Mike Boston towards the end of May.

A screenshot from the video footage captured by a trail camera setup Matamata hunter Mike Boston in the Kaimai Ranges. Image: Mike Boston/YouTube

Mike says he setup the trail camera on May 24 and the stag's battle was recorded five days later.

While he's captured a lot of footage of wildlife in the past like native bats, pigeons and wild cats, this was the first time he's captured two stags fighting.

'I was stoked when I watched the footage,” says Mike. 'They look like eight to ten pointers and what's also pretty cool is that at the end of the battle one of them lets out a good roar.

'The video's interesting because it's late in May they're fighting, normally they'd fight during mating season around March and April. They might be fighting over turf or a doe, I don't really know.”

A deerstalker all his life, Mike moved to Matamata about three years ago and whenever possible loves heading into the Kaimais for a hunt.

He says deer are prevalent in the ranges but adds that hunting in the Kaimais can be quite challenging.

'There's a few deer around, but it's quite thick and gnarly bush up there so it can be quite hard to hunt them.”