Thread: DOC land - The real Hunters bragging rights?

Originally Posted by longshot

@Mrfants

If you are considering whether paying for a block with some high likelyhood of success might be easier than putting in the miles, firstly it might be, but secondly it will give you some exposure to deer so that you can learn their habits, test how quiet you have to be to sneak up on them, how much you can move before they see you etc, what plants have been browsed.
Once you have some or most of that figured out, it is a lot easier to find them regardless if it's public or private land.

I am not in the top 10%, but I can say exposure to numbers helped me move from 'occasional lucky chance encounters' to 'occasionally predictable encounters'.

Excellent I’ll have to look at maybe a group trip to keep costs down


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

@Mrfants forget the Minga, there are a heap of deer in the Sumner RHA but you will need to walk in and stay a night or two, Hope valley would be a good start, you should be seeing deer in St James. Locally you have Pinchgut, gets hunted a lot but not hunted well, grab water at the hut and go fly camp up the hill so your on the spot last/first light.

Thanks for the tip. We did st james last weekend 3 days and didn’t see a deer. Day 2 another 5 hunters came in so it got a bit crowded.
I did see a rabbit, some Canadian geese and a couple wild cats, so I thought I was the nuts to be able to spot those 🫣


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

I was just chatting to someone in nz and got told that wild dogs were running amock up in northland, there you go a new species of wolf to hunt.

That's the Far North. It went off in the media a little while back. The farmer was asking for hunters to come and shoot the dogs in a coordinated fashion. Someone spotted an emu in the bush up there during the cull.

Originally Posted by Mrfants

I’ve tried that a couple times but poss wrong areas - the small strip of doc land eg riverbeds is often wedged in between private land, but good point

I would be wary using a centrefire in a riverbed with private either side these days, only takes one pissed off cocky. You mentioned Craigieburn, head in the north-eastern end and glass the bush edges in evening. You don't need to go far just know the block boundaries and follow the rules around tramping tracks

Originally Posted by MB

That's the Far North. It went off in the media a little while back. The farmer was asking for hunters to come and shoot the dogs in a coordinated fashion. Someone spotted an emu in the bush up there during the cull.

ha still some around I worked at Kaitaia DOC and we shot a few escaped ostrich and emu just south of Houhora damn good eating most were ostrich - there also a few reds around Kaimaumau swamp escapees but they were soon shot out

Go down Mailings Pass,nice spot to glass for deer.

I only hunt public as I don't know any farmers, I also take a break during the roar and start again opening weekend. I hunt weekdays as I took a job that is Friday to Sunday to try and mitigate meeting other hunters. I go solo and did not grow up around anyone who hunts. I rarely get lucky but I'm still out there enjoying myself.

Never had a Father at all.
But if anyone knew Jim Newman at Tisdalls PNth in the mid 60's, he was the man. You only need one key influencer and it builds from there.
My sons had me so they got off to a good start. Grandsons have their own Fathers' and me, so they are double blessed.
It helps.

Hunters hunt doc land
Shooters hunt farm land

I Do both but have recently returned to doc land as I want to become a hunter

Originally Posted by 338MAN mk2

Its only a wrought if you are not evolved.
I too got envious of others success on private land and wonder how they would go on some more heavier hunted , poisoned, Arial shot DOC land but got over it around 35 years ago. Go out and learn the skills. No one became a top hunter in 18 months.
I congratulate every hunter that shoots a monster sika stag on private land but know my hard earned stags from Clements road ( probably the most hunted place around ) mean more in my eyes

2nd that on Clements Rd

Lake Sumner RHA thank me later. This is for anyone else that’s wants a mission too. I’d regularly see 60-100 deer on this loop to the hut.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Jaro

I would be wary using a centrefire in a riverbed with private either side these days, only takes one pissed off cocky. You mentioned Craigieburn, head in the north-eastern end and glass the bush edges in evening. You don't need to go far just know the block boundaries and follow the rules around tramping tracks

Didn’t shoot on the riverbed, walked up river and got onto doc land eventually (Topo 50 is great). Will try the other but believe there’s no shooting on eastern slopes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Trout

Go down Mailings Pass,nice spot to glass for deer.

We were right there last weekend for 3 days didn’t see a thing. I was with an experienced hunter - possibly the roar had sent them away?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Tahr

Never had a Father at all.
But if anyone knew Jim Newman at Tisdalls PNth in the mid 60's, he was the man. You only need one key influencer and it builds from there.
My sons had me so they got off to a good start. Grandsons have their own Fathers' and me, so they are double blessed.
It helps.

Jim was one of a kind. So quietly spoken yet full of enthusiasm and knowledge that he was happy to share.

Originally Posted by Mrfants

Didn’t shoot on the riverbed, walked up river and got onto doc land eventually (Topo 50 is great). Will try the other but believe there’s no shooting on eastern slopes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://www.doc.govt.nz/map/index.html