Thread: Deer Population Growth

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 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.

Originally Posted by STC

Also being nzda members reduces the risk of there being "fuckwits". And there is insurance.

Win-Win for every party.

Classic, haven't laughed that hard for a long time

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

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.

Originally Posted by HILLBILLYHUNTERS

Alan Harrison ?

Rex Forrester book

There wad big numbers down Ratehi way years ago. Can imagine the problem has only got worse.

Personally I hunt private mainly cos I have access n it's handy, no 3 or 7 hrs trips. Certainly not inundated with deer but are around.

I would have thought that if someone knew someone with access n the person wanting access had been living by the good bastards code, could it be worthy of a introduction to the owner/manager to ascertain suitability...??

No not trying to weasel a way in. Just putting it out there, especially for the jaded types it could be cool to show a new person around a property n get that 'fire' back...?

Sent from my SM-T225 using Tapatalk

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.

So aside from folks shooting hinds at every reasonable oppurtunity - what else can we do?

Originally Posted by HarryMax

So aside from folks shooting hinds at every reasonable oppurtunity - what else can we do?

Be given 2 free bullets for every tail we collect by the government or doc.

Deer are wild animals with a very highly tuned survival instinct .. . . . The fact that there are a lot of them now doesn't alter that. And there are a lot. Typical example. Central Otago Cocky reports 7 deer coming out on his young grass under the irrigation. This is Central Otago, nothing but rocks as far as the eye can see. A few gullies with tiny patches of matagouri scrub in them. One of the young guys went out and cast a thermal over the paddock. 28 Redskins, fucking 28! Now all 3 of us in our goat culling party spent an hour glassing the area that held these Reds, not a thing to be seen.

The point of this is that deer are not easy to hunt, never have been and never will be.

If you are not seeing deer when you are hunting 90% of the time I'd say you need to take a good look at your skills and work on those. I might be a slow learner but I reckon it took me at least 20 years to become a barely proficient hunter, I know I still have a lot to learn after 40 years of "armed tramping" (which I know is one of the reasons I shoot pretty low numbers).

So for those guys moaning about access and 1080, just get off your butts and do the Mahi to learn to hunt, it will take time but the journey can and should give you much pleasure.

Originally Posted by Trout

Be given 2 free bullets for every tail we collect by the government or doc.

Would that really motivate you to shoot more deer?

I shoot a .223, ammunition is basically free - the cost of 1 extra round isn't what stops me shooting more - it's largely limited time to get in the back country (and the cost of driving places at the moment).