Couple mates have just reported a chopper shooting deer in an Otago doc block in same gully they are hunting. Stags roaring also, so has really fucked there trip. Why do they do this at this time of year?!?
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Couple mates have just reported a chopper shooting deer in an Otago doc block in same gully they are hunting. Stags roaring also, so has really fucked there trip. Why do they do this at this time of year?!?
Got to remember it's their job/income and recreational hunters are a hassle to them. There are specific dates they cannot hunt doc land during the roar period though. It's a bit crap no matter which way you look at it.
By the way Doc want to change the no WARO time frame to 29th March till 15th April by memory.
Its just shit they have video of them pretty much flying over top of them and dropping into gully and few hundred metres below them and shooting. They would have seen the boys there for sure. Its Alpine Helicopters. I understand making a living but not at this time of year when hunters are in the hills. Health and safety must come into this too. Just poor form from them yet again!
For anyone thinking they are well before the roar, stags roar early in there, now until end of the month is prime. Its a massive block, i am sure they would have seen the orange tent and could have gone elsewhere. Just a shame.
How does health and safety come into this?
Some sort of public notice of the area and date they are going to be shooting at least you would think, maybe they did this i am not sure i am not saying they didn't. Is there somewhere they do say where and what they are doing? Or is this up to doc to let people know?
Yeah be hard for them to ensure there firing line is safe from a chopper, for all they know a ground hunter/tramper could be behind the deer. Seems like an accident waiting to happen to me
Yeah I’m really not sure. I have a lot to do with the H&S for the electrical company I work for and there is a hell of a lot of hoops to jump through so I suspect adding in a helicopter and some firearms and that would add to the paperwork significantly
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Yes very annoying when that happens, I was stalking some flats years ago just on day break when a chopper shot a couple deer 100m from me.
https://youtu.be/2bv5zpgVmgE
If your mates are concerned about the safety of it they could complain to DOC but history says nothing will happen…..
Yep has happened many times when tahr hunting. But as you say nothing happens, they are just getting in there before there cut of period for the roar. But its a shame they have to pick a spot where stags roar early and gets a lot of foot traffic. They are also very close to private land but that may be totally legit too. Just very frustrating as you say.
Weather and season dictate where to hunt, too dynamic for public notice.
Moralities aside, have they operated outside of their concession?
I get you’re venting, but you’re frustration should be aimed at DOC rather than the operator.
DOC are inviting submissions currently on WARO.
Don’t recall any legitimate near misses in the last 60 years aerial recovery has been undertaken.
Not saying it’s never happened, just that if it was a genuine issue it would have presented by now.
I can see it now
Private hunters banned from DOC land due to rising concerns from WARO operators.
I can see it now…Hunter found halfway out in the Tasman with two bullet holes in him;):redbullsmiley:
DOC have all the data they need don't they? If you tick the areas you might hunt during the hunting permit period then they just need to email that list when they get notified by WARO operators of planned operational days. Not hard. I know it doesn't cover the immediate frustration but it would go someway towards covering HnS and might save wasted time heading into a block if you get pinged that WARO could be in there the same time.
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[QUOTE=Moutere;1292702]Weather and season dictate where to hunt, too dynamic for public notice.
Moralities aside, have they operated outside of their concession?
I get you’re venting, but you’re frustration should be aimed at DOC rather than the operator.
But surely the operator has some responsibility to check over the area for foot hunters first, or at least try.? Before they start blasting. Easily done i would have thought in open country like this, not so much in thicker areas i guess.
Jeez, you guys have it sweet down South, deer roaring in March, walk in, deer roaring in gully open enough for helicopters to operate (I guess they retrieve as well), 2 weeks in the South and then move North for another roar.
Are you sure they were shooting deer?
I had the same thing happen to me, was walking up a river system and found that a chopper had been shooting the head waters we were heading for, they were flying out the animals and flew right over top of us, I think they made a point of it. We watched them ferry out 18 deer. Yep was pissed off at the time and had to move blocks, but in hind sight I thought it was actually it would have been quite funny to be the pilot. We often laugh about it now as we would have looked like 3 grumpy trolls stomping back down the river. The next guys up the river would have had to have been careful not to trip over our dummies as we spat them out big time.
End of the day, its their income and how they pay the bills and I would always support the chopper over the green rain, any day.
Haha yep if you can laugh about it at the end of the day thats the main thing. Yeah its there income for sure, i just think it should be gone about a different way at this time of year. Some of us can only get out for 1 big trip a year, done some hard yards in there before so i know how they be feeling. Never mind shit happens.
If it can happen, it will happen.
The numbers of people out there hunting must be on the rise, and likewise the chopper operators.
Surely the slim chances of an airborne shooter sending a shot into a dangerous direction can only be increasing.
One day, it will be in the headlines I am sure. Just how soon?
Commercial WARO is very much a dying thing and will be replaced by search and destroy along with ever increasing regulation and therefore also cost.
Not in NZ but of there is someone identified on the ground it would be at least polite to get the hell away from them. Being they are underpower.
.
A vessel under power gives way to a vessel under sail.
Choppers shoot directly down at short range but they sure as hell would not want hunters firing in their vicinity.
I am unsure if you have been in the situation where a chopper is shooting the same block/catchment as you, Its pretty un nerving trust me, when they apparently do not know you are there.
Spent time in the shooters seat and had hunts ruined by choppers
Only some ballot blocks are restricted to WARO during roar period. Ballot periods haven't started yet.
If Alpine were operating within their concession area and rules, they've done nothing wrong. Unfortunately it's one of those public land risks we take, but WARO is a necessary evil. It's better than search and destroy operations.
Chances are they didn't see your mates, people can be very hard to see from a helicopter when they're standing on the hill, even at close range.
If they did see them, bit shitty they didn't bugger off over the hill, but not really surprised if that was the case.
Check the conditions of concession for WARO in that area
Many areas of PCL have closures from 20 March for a few weeks
I expect you were in there before any Roar closure to WARO would begin.
and there may not be a Roar closure at all
simplest way is to ring DOC office (regional office) and ask if closures actually exist for the Roar
or if you have the concession conditions for the various PCL , check that
Buy a chopper and beat them at their own game.
True.
There is still the issue of it being rude (not to mention potentially dangerous) for an airborne shooter to be operating above public land where anyone can be shooting.
If the chopper guys and the ground guys are both allowed to hunt the same spot at the same time then there is a problem.
Surely Doc can organise it a bit better.
I might be a little bias against anything associated with Doc, so if I am being a bit ignorant, then that is why.
Not recently but back many years when it started it was common. Aircraft Mechanic mate of Dad's in Gore used to complain about it.
Z
Ed to add. Google deer wars, shootings, arson, sabotage both by ground shooters and compeditors. Airforce ended up being sent in to monitor.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/deer-and-deer-farming/page-2
Whatever you do don't use your rifle scope to check out a helicopter, from up there it looks like you maybe going to take pot shots at it....retaliation could be awfully swift.
35-40yrs ago when deer were worth $$$ and helicopters were going in to guys back paddocks. there was a pilot got shot in the arse In the hills of gisborne. The farm had put a warning in local papers about poaching in helicopters and one day he had enough, the bullet went through helicopter in to the pilots arse. Helicopter had to make a emergency landing on the property. Farmer made the call to police to say he thinks a helicopter has been shoot.
that ended the poaching on the property.
Farmer was taking to court but the bullet that was found never match any of the farmers guns so unsure who fired shot, farmer was found not guilty
Totally different to waro on doc land
True version: It was the shooter that ended up with most of a 308 bullet lodged very close to his spine not the pilot, yes in his butt, the helicopter flew from the scene of the shooting near Wharekopae to land at Moanui Valley, the farmer was a well known nutter who was arrested and charged, he was found guilty of reckless use of a firearm and fined about $300; a rather lenient censure for intentionally at shooting someone.
Shooting at helicopter hunting crews is not a good idea, AR15 or Benelli semi with buckshot out the door of an MD500 would be rather formidable opposition for anyone on the ground fumbling with a bolt action, no contest, forget it.
When you get shot at it's an unmistakeable sound, when hunters point their guns at you to get a closer look there is nothing except the premise of foolishness that separates your view of their intent from that of shooting at you.
No one has been shot by a shooter from a helicopter while carrying out WARO, however several helicopters have been shot and many more shot at, if the fire was coming in the other direction just ponder how many thousand hunters could be dead by now.
Health and safety considerations for hunters in areas where WARO is taking place, just give a friendly wave, they are just other hunters going about their day, and one day they could be of real value to you, just like countless other ground hunters your danger lies with your hunting mate.