Howdy all.
Got out for a day hunt today, first time I’ve managed to get out this rut. I decided to give the sika a nudge, as I thought they may still be roaring.
Got to the road end at 10pm, and camped on the torneau cover of my ute. Heard a couple of stags heehawing through the night, one doing a sequence of 4 calls and the other 5.
Did a big loop in the morning. Came up over a ridge and had an unseen animal come trotting through the bush in front of me from right to left, and stopped behind a big patch of water pepperwood about 8m in front of me. I had a big pepperwood bush in front of me too obscuring my vision. No noise for about a minute, and no wind either. After a minute I slowly tried to peer around the bush, at which point the unseen deer bolted without barking or squealing. I tried a hind call but to no avail. I walked over to where the deer had been, smelt of deer, but not extremely strong as if it was a red. Carried on another 5m where I found a thrashed up totara sapling and a scrape.
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My thoughts are that this was a stag, who heard me coming and came to check out if I was a hind or a rival. What could I have done differently here, continued waiting, heehawed?
Found a couple more rubbings through the day, another totara and a pepperwood.
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And some interesting fungus.
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Anyhow, carried on through my loop, eventually bumping what I think was a hind and yearling. The hind barked and took off immediately, with the yearling going the opposite way. I got the impression that they hadn’t gone far, and after a couple of hind calls detected a bit of movement as the yearling peered around a tree. I scanned back to see where the hind was, no sign of her. Looking back to the yearling, she was now standing front on at about 50m. I was in an awkward offhand position, and she squealed so I took a quick shot at her. She showed no sign of being hit. An inspection of the scene confirmed this, damn.
It was a good day nonetheless, nice to see a few animals, a bit of a shame that I had nothing to show for it.
My observations on these crafty little deer are:
-They can be hunted the same way I hunt reds (spook and shoot).
-They are inquisitive
-Like the Kaimais where I usually hunt, they are unlikely to be found in the nice open bush, and more likely to be in bush with a palatable understory (grasses, astelia, crown fern)
-They don’t feed much near creeks where the sound of running water inhibits their hearing - all the sign I say in these areas was from animals passing through.
I’m not claiming these to be facts, just my insights. Looking forward to learning more about these wee deer, interested in other peoples experiences too. Thanks.
