Thread: Deer Population Growth

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Attachment 243307

Alan Harrison ?

Originally Posted by HILLBILLYHUNTERS

Alan Harrison ?

Rex Forrester book

I believe sometimes we wear blinkers when looking at the past.
IM TOLD when the 1080 carrots were dropped in here...one of the first times it had been done..the place stank and was covered in deer carcases rotting.
by pinacles hut at mt somers is a basin called slaughter gully....Gerald O rouke hunting there in heyday...there was mob of 90 hinds there..how it got its name. Jim Darcy told me during the meat hunting years of 60s-70s there was mob of 6 lived there.... Ive shot a few close by but there is no "mob" lives there anymore..there are no mobs as such anywhere nearby either. when first started hunting there 30 years ago it was open country and vegetation was knee high...its not up over your head,no sheep grazing area now and no burn offs to keep it open.Im told repeatedly there are "lots of deer by Stavaley" but the NZTOPPO map shows most of the huntable area there is either private or coloured red..no hunting.... so here in south canterbury at least..the percieved issue on public land isnt caused by lack of hunting pressure where its allowed..more lack of access/land tied up.that same block has a "safari "operation on one side of it with some rather .....vigourous anti poaching activities for want of better term carried out,folks hunting legitamately on Doc controlled public land accused of being miles away FFS...
the big mob of stags that have been seen numerous times in area "not to far away" from here is on private land with zero oppertunity to be hunted...the lilybank senario all over again..private land nusery reseeding land all around it and good luck if you get caught shooting deer crossing road...will have book thrown at you
no not scaremongering thats how its playing out around here.

And of course the generalised statement 'too many deer' is mostly meaningless. Its really all about the effective carrying capacity of each location, which varies wildly across the motu.

I would call myself "lucky" in that I have access to one private station - 7 hours drive away. I hunt mainly CNI and get a couple of trips to the Homeland (SI) every year.

Private land deer numbers are bordering on plague (in places) with no shortage of animals - the station next to the one I hunt on shot 300 odd red deer in a couple of mornings - till the deer got wise and then only fed at night.

Re CNI - in the back country numbers too are high, but you are looking at the best part of 6+ hrs walk in vs $2000+ with Helisika to get to an area to have then struggle on foot or be limited by the heli weights to get meat out. Afterall most of us hunt for enjoyment and meat and Helisika prices are justifiable to me.

Down south, I have never been skunked on a trip, numbers are good, even in places like Molesworth, where I hunted in October last year.

I understand farmers reluctance to allow hunters on their property but H+S shouldn't be the main reason, as persons undertaking a recreational activity on the property aren't (in my reading of the act)

It's a hard one to solve, but as I've got older I stress about it less and just go out and enjoy the time on the hill.

Well this is depressing.

I still come home empty handed from time to time on public land which just proves how much I suck at this game.

Feel free to pm me some spots in the Tararuas where I can shoot deer in a barrel, I’ve got plenty of ammo.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Im also told that the mobs of deer had to be stalked past to get at big tahr in the Timaru creek area near hawea.... first hand accounts from people who were there at the time.
I recall my family menfolk coming home from hunting the roar in area (central north island)we have hunted for 60 plus years 5 experienced hunters in for two weeks and never saw a thing that wasnt under a whirly bird being carted out.....that area gets hit by big 1080 drop every few years still...animal numbers sure arent excessive .there is at least one other forum member who hunts that area can confirm that.

Originally Posted by SPEARONZ

Well this is depressing.

I still come home empty handed from time to time on public land which just proves how much I suck at this game.

Feel free to pm me some spots in the Tararuas where I can shoot deer in a barrel, I’ve got plenty of ammo.

PM about where you live

Originally Posted by SPEARONZ

Well this is depressing.

I still come home empty handed from time to time on public land which just proves how much I suck at this game.

Feel free to pm me some spots in the Tararuas where I can shoot deer in a barrel, I’ve got plenty of ammo.

If it makes you feel any better, these two clowns were running around about a hundred m in front of your silage bale bench rest...30 and 31 Jan. at 10am even.

Then again, you had quite the vertical string going on, so they could be quite safe



But the camera was out for 15 days, and they were only there on two occasions. Then 300 videos of blowing grass and trees.

Seems like you need a real time video feed to tell you when to kit up and head to the back of the farm, cause kitting up first and last light each night for a 15% chance of running into them gets old real quick.

a point on eating quality a red hind fallow doe heavy in fawn- really good eating - my cocky mates asked what's good beef - in calf jersey heifer - being preggy means yummy meat tender as - so get over the preggy bit and enjoy good meat

Originally Posted by XR500

Seems like you need a real time video feed to tell you when to kit up and head to the back of the farm, cause kitting up first and last light each night for a 15% chance of running into them gets old real quick.

Funnily enough immediaty before reading this I was watching videos on using thermal drones for pest control. The purists here will hate this idea but I could see myself sitting on the deck with a coffee in the morning with the thermal drone checking the farm for me.... now just need to afford it, and then weaponise it to do all the work...

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Funnily enough immediaty before reading this I was watching videos on using thermal drones for pest control. The purists here will hate this idea but I could see myself sitting on the deck with a coffee in the morning with the thermal drone checking the farm for me.... now just need to afford it, and then weaponise it to do all the work...

Need a big drone to carry it out

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Funnily enough immediaty before reading this I was watching videos on using thermal drones for pest control. The purists here will hate this idea but I could see myself sitting on the deck with a coffee in the morning with the thermal drone checking the farm for me.... now just need to afford it, and then weaponise it to do all the work...

I know cockie's who do a lambing bear in two halves.one half on bike second half has drone fly around paddocks looking for issues to sort manually. Makes sense as stock less disturbed every 2nd day.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Funnily enough immediaty before reading this I was watching videos on using thermal drones for pest control. The purists here will hate this idea but I could see myself sitting on the deck with a coffee in the morning with the thermal drone checking the farm for me.... now just need to afford it, and then weaponise it to do all the work...

We used of those at a fire this week was a pretty cool bit of kit

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Originally Posted by SPEARONZ

Well this is depressing.

I still come home empty handed from time to time on public land which just proves how much I suck at this game.

Feel free to pm me some spots in the Tararuas where I can shoot deer in a barrel, I’ve got plenty of ammo.

I reckon the Tararuas is hard work, try the Ruahines or Aorangi's.

The 1080 and other poison traces in meat thing is an interesting discussion, it's basically killed the feral recovery in a lot of areas. Other cost pressures are legislative - licensing and firearms approvals are a bloody nightmare and there isn't a coincidence that the real spike in numbers aligns with covid and the CHCH events. The poisons thing is bloody bad, it's even shown up in Manuka honey exports where any contamination is effectively banned. The trace amounts found are unlikely to do anything to humans but the allowable limits in some countries are so low as to be effectively zero allowed by the time you allow for detectable limits and the like.

Wanganui and Taranaki areas are one part of the country where animals are encroaching where they haven't been seen for a long time, and in resident numbers too. I think it's about time that we actually recognised what amount of control was being performed by recreational hunters, and in the areas where control has dropped off recently (assuming fairly static numbers of professional culling) the numbers of animals have risen exponentially.