Originally Posted by
Jt89
I share similar sentiments, not necessarily in a resentful way and I do recognise that judging a hunter by the location they hunt does them absolutely no credit. However, it is definitely easy to view farm hunting as 'simple' compared to public land hunting from the outside looking in. I also have no real farm/private land contacts, mostly due to understanding that getting and keeping permission to access private land requires significant time and effort to acquire and then maintain. Building and keeping a good relationship with landholders takes time, and I personally think that if I was a farmer I'd want to really get to know a bugger who's running around my property with a rifle. I just can't give that the energy that it deserves, nor do I even have a suitable vehicle for getting around on a farm which is half the reason to do so - covering lots of ground efficiently and being able to get a whole animal out. Frankly if I were to get onto farmland, I would probably be only trying to chase bunnies with a rimfire.
It certainly takes time to learn. In the first two years of my hunting I wandered the bush solo for several trips seeing nothing. Got invited to a roar block in Haast with some very seasoned hunters (a rough introduction to the joys of being cold and wet) Joined the local deerstalkers and got onto an organised animal control hunt where I got my first deer. Later on I repeated this and got several in one morning (right place, right time, good numbers) and absorbed a bit from a very seasoned bush hunter but only a small fraction of what he knows. I've spent nearly 5 years visiting the same patch of public land close to home and it has an access road right to the top of the mountain... Very well travelled by locals out sight seeing, running their dogs, pig hunting, and often spot-lit by those who choose to do so. It took me 4 years to even see a deer there, and then one day I sat on a knob in the late evening sun to get out of the windy side of the ridge and saw a spiker doing pretty much the same. Another time up there I drove right to the top to find the wind blowing witches off their broomsticks and decided it was a bust, got down out of the wind and stopped the car to check a promising gully; 50m off the track in public land was a likely patch of bush and behold there was another young one sneaking out.
I've bush bashed, walked riverbeds and watched slips at dawn and dusk, I've visited huts and checked the visitor books for clues (some hunters note what they found where, others leave a colorful up yours about not paying for the hut and little else) I've read books and watched youtube. I think like many before me, I've learnt as much or more through failed attempts as I have through success. The thing I've found hardest is moving to NZ and starting to hunt in my 30's when most (but not all) are about 20 years ahead in experience. Asking for tips, areas, to tag along if others are heading out - might as well pull my own teeth. Met a really good bloke through the deerstalkers who is a highly skilled bush hunter and he definitely helped me along, and after a few years had one or two other hunters whisper about handy creeks to try for good numbers but its definitely not been plain sailing to success.
A couple of things I've learnt that others here are echoing:
1. Altitude means options, but tops doesn't always mean deer. They are where they are, and sometimes it just takes repeated trips to the same patch of bush to figure it out.
2. You can march yourself 5km into the public bush, and crash about and not see anything. The seasoned hunter will probably be hiding in the bush and hear the amateur go on past, shoot a deer not 500m from where everybody parks up and have it boned out and gone before we get back.
2a. Movement, movement, movement. It gives us all away. The best thing I've ever heard is "Ever seen a crocodile sneak up on you? Move like a croc. Imperceptible, calm, quiet, practically still." Good bush advice, still handy in the open.
3. Off the back of 2a, I've lain down for an afternoon nap in the sun in that lazy time between midday and mid arvo, and then sat up and seen deer moving around without a care in the world. Relax, hunt lazy, take the pressure off and let the world go by. Almost every deer I've identified and shot has been when I'm not focusing too hard on 'hunting.' If deer are around and you've got plenty of country to look at, doing sweet FA is a good way to let yourself and the land relax into the natural rhythm of the day.
4. Know what they eat and where they sleep/hide from nasty weather, hard to do in the bush but vital for all hunting to not waste time in the wrong places.
I can't quantify this as truth, but myself and a workmate have passed through the Molesworth a time or two for jobs. When talking to an old hand on the Molesworth (been there 25 years) his words were - "No deer on the St James anymore, not since they pulled the grazing out of there." His definition of many deer may be a little different to ours though, as he also said that seeing a dozen before breakfast from the back of his horse was low numbers.
Have you hunted the Lake Sumner RHA? Heli-activity is prevented in there. I was up the Sylvia tops before the roar and can confirm deer numbers are not huge but worth the effort.