Hunting spots done a complete 360 on us

Hey everyone so I’m the new kid on the block really, only done small pest hunting and targets on farm in our small forestry area or been out with friends. We have a track in the Kaimais we have been hiking. Every time we go up there’s always fresh sign and plenty of it. We decided to head out lastnight for a hunt (only 5th time out) and there wasn’t one drop of fresh sign at all. It’s literally the only time we have not seen anything at all. Only a tiny bit of pig rooting. I want to head up tomorrow arvo but don’t want to waste my time. Iv read all the tips and tricks for stalking deer but if anyone has any tips for what kind of spots to look out for would be good. Do they like to stick closer to the rivers and creeks or prefer to head higher up into the hills, is it common for them to come down lower near the farms? There’s a few clearings where we have seen plenty of sign before but yesterday there was nothing. It was like going to a completely different place. Just wondering if we should be heading higher up into the bush or maybe get in closer to the creeks. What’s the optimal time to be up in the bush for an afternoon stalk? Was thinking of heading up around 4pm.
I’m not too bothered about getting anything but would atleast like to see something.

Follow the fresh spring growth, if there are clearings with good feed on them it may be worth staking them out from a vantage point somewhere down wind and sit and wait till you cant see anymore.

Hunt mid week, hinds can be cagey this time of year due to starting to feel quite preggas. All deer will be feasting up on the spring grass sunrise and last light. Its not hot enough to focus on the rivers unless open grass flats. This time of year I bush hunt above the grass areas around 7-8am. try and catch them heading back to cover after a nights feeding.

Welcome to the forum Chelsea

Like @oneshot says, this time of year is when the hinds go into cover to wait out the last part of their term before they drop their fawns. They'll be in small groups, separate from stags and spikers. They don't move around much and are very very shy. That would explain the relative lack of sign.

Where I hunt last week in 8 days I didn't see a single hind, whereas 4 weeks previously they were happily browsing in the open. Saw only stags and spikers in pairs.

I leave hinds alone at this time of year. Pest or no pest, its not cool to take out hinds that have just dropped a fawn. That's my take on it, others might disagree, fair enough. Until late Dec / early Jan you won't see the fawns, especially in the Kaimais.

If you have the opportunity to be selective, do so, its a good feeling to be able to leave an animal for the right reasons. If you can, go for spikers. Not the best time of year for them either, condition wise, but they are losing their winter coats now and will stack on the condition. I live on the edge of the Kaimais and the grass came away a month early this year after the wet but warm winter we've had.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

Like @oneshot says, this time of year is when the hinds go into cover to wait out the last part of their term before they drop their fawns. They'll be in small groups, separate from stags and spikers. They don't move around much and are very very shy. That would explain the relative lack of sign.

Where I hunt last week in 8 days I didn't see a single hind, whereas 4 weeks previously they were happily browsing in the open. Saw only stags and spikers in pairs.

I leave hinds alone at this time of year. Pest or no pest, its not cool to take out hinds that have just dropped a fawn. That's my take on it, others might disagree, fair enough. Until late Dec / early Jan you won't see the fawns, especially in the Kaimais.

If you have the opportunity to be selective, do so, its a good feeling to be able to leave an animal for the right reasons. If you can, go for spikers. Not the best time of year for them either, condition wise, but they are losing their winter coats now and will stack on the condition. I live on the edge of the Kaimais and the grass came away a month early this year after the wet but warm winter we've had.

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That makes two of us, I don't shoot hinds with new fawns or are ready to drop, plenty of yearling meat around to be selective.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Yeah definitely not planning on shooting a pregnant hind. We went back up yesterday about 4pm and seen a little more sign after all the bad weather. We only went a short way up and sat and waited near two nice clearings. Didn’t see or hear anything. About a km from the roadside is a river surrounded by bush. There’s always a bit of sign on the walking tracks around this but we had a debate on whether they would come that close down. Would they? We have been told they hate going near farm land if there’s stock but have also heard people say they have been down on their farms near stock so how true could that be?
I’m just wondering if we need to go higher up the hill into the bush. When we went past the lower creek I heard a noise, the one that cows make when they ruminate kind of burp and heard a little noise. I assume that could possibly be a deer that’s just fed? Might make it an all dayer next time and just get up as high as we can go.

On our way down at about 8.30pm we come across some fresh dog tracks and someone had parked up and gone up after us, we didn’t cross paths. Maybe a pig hunter or something. The tracks went past our highest point which was really not that high so maybe even though there’s sign, we just are not going up enough. I downloaded google earth though and it’s about an hours hike to the next clearing and it’s only a very small one.

Well @Chelsea I've got news for you, if you learn to stalk successfully in the Kaimais you'll be a productive hunter anywhere in the world!

Its a tough gig, for sure, and to be successful you need to put in hard yards off the main tracks. I would hunt the east side to the south of Katikati as a start, get up in there early having made a rough route on Google Earth and a good 1:25000 map like Memory Map, linking clearings and slips. Get up high as quick as you can. Be very careful of the gradients, worse on the western side. Plenty of stories of guys getting bluffed out in the Kaimais and ending up spending the night in the bush.

The only way hunters get deer out of the Kaimais is hunting very quietly into the wind, well off the beaten track, hard to do in the mongrel bush in there. You need to get onto freshly used game trails and sidle around the contour, being very sure to mark your progress on your gps as you go. When you're on a fresh trail (mark made that day, warm mucousy pellets) you need to be covering a few metres slowly, stop, listen, repeat. Most of the success me and my mate have had has been either walking right into them as they come from upwind on the same track, and snap shooting, or sitting up with the wind in your face near a well used clearing and waiting. Regular Kaimais hunters have a library of game trails and clearings on their gps that takes years to build up. A good indicating dog is worth his weight in gold in there.

Not unusual for experienced hunters to only take a deer once every several trips, especially at the beginning of your time in there. But perseverance will pay off.

Just one final word of caution, its a prick of a place to get around in, very slippery and steep. I was going uphill once a few years ago with my mate behind me, and I slipped and sconed a tree root, right in the side of the head. Knocked myself clean out. Lucky for me I had someone to tell me who and where I was, and all up it wasn't too bad... hurt a lot though. Never heard the end of it either.

Where abouts in the Kaimais are you looking. They most certainly do go on the farmland for the good grass, although you’d be lucky to see them during daylight.

Thanks for all the help guys! We have been going up tuahu track near Te Aroha. We are looking at heading up the Killarney lakes side this time and maybe wander towards Thompson’s track. We will use google earth to seek out some track and clearings. @Flyblown thanks for the advice. We will head more into the bush and off track. I assume we will need plenty of time if it’s that rough so will have to plan a day or two trip at some point. I just wanna see something at least. We have seen deer down on farmland but that was quiet a long time ago and at the opposite end of the Kaimais.

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Originally Posted by Chelsea

Thanks for all the help guys! We have been going up tuahu track near Te Aroha. We are looking at heading up the Killarney lakes side this time and maybe wander towards Thompson’s track. We will use google earth to seek out some track and clearings. @Flyblown thanks for the advice. We will head more into the bush and off track. I assume we will need plenty of time if it’s that rough so will have to plan a day or two trip at some point. I just wanna see something at least. We have seen deer down on farmland but that was quiet a long time ago and at the opposite end of the Kaimais.

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I shot my first deer up the Tuahu Track, will send you a pm.

Sounds good! I’m feeling more confident About it! :D It’s a nice place to get up so I don’t want to give up on it.

Kaimais I believe has the highest density of deer in the north island. You just have to find them before they find you.

They live on northern faces mostly and that's the thick stuff. If you find dry creek beds travel down these slowly. I've popped a few off these at times.

The kaimais for me is still the most challenging but enjoyable bit of Bush to hunt. Like others have said, if you can hunt the kaimais you can hunt anywhere else in NZ.

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Originally Posted by Rusky

Kaimais I believe has the highest density of deer in the north island. You just have to find them before they find you.

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Would be interested to know where you learnt that from @Rusky. I’ve heard good hunters say “some deer” to “a lot of deer” but never “high density”. Not arguing, just curious.

I’ve heard many many times inexperienced hunters or hunters new to the area say “no deer”!

Iv heard both, some people say plenty of deer and some people say very little. I didn’t realise the Kaimais were so rough. I lived near the tararuas for years and assumed they would have been much more difficult being so much bigger. Oh well I suppose if I throw myself in the deep end it might pay off in the long term. Fingers crossed I can get out this week while the weathers mint and before foal watch starts.

Rusky is on to it, the deer numbers in there are moderate at worst. I usually see huge amounts of sign in there. The reason it’s so hard to get on to them is that the view range is so limited in any direction that by the time you locate one it is already on its way. I reckon for every deer I spook in there that I physically lay eyes on, there’d be half a dozen I hear/smell but never see. The closest I’ve seen one is about 4m, and the furthest would be 15-20 max.

In my experience the deer in there “migrate” seasonally too, some spots of mine I’ll get on to a deer every time in winter/early spring, but are dead in summer with only small patches of sign from resident animals. Other spots vice versa.

A lot of people pass it by on their way to the Pureoras and Kaimanawas, a lot of people hunt it without luck, and a lot of people hunt it once or twice and say “never again”. Persist in there, pick an access point and learn the area well, and keep a diary so that’s you can pick up patterns in seasonal movements etc.

Add to the above. Get a decent indicating dog

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Originally Posted by Pengy

Add to the above. Get a decent indicating dog

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Several years ago I lost my hunting buddy to an unpleasant narcissistic girl who pretended she was from Wellington when actually she was from Paeroa... anyway he took his deer dog with him when she decided they were moving to the concrete and glass... How I missed that dog, more than my mate! It was wise and just so competant, he had deer radar and made ‘a quick hunt in the Kaimais’ a genuine summer afternoon proposition.

One last tip @Chelsea, the deer most definitely do come out on farmland, we have them here regularly. Very very shy and usually only nighttime but sometimes if you’re up at first light you’ll see them. So in spring and early summer - like now - when the grass is coming away nicely - the deer will bed down quite a lot lower during the day before coming out at night. So we used to walk in on a regular access track but take off on the contour at a low elevation, just a couple of hundred metres above the boundary, heading towards spurs and gullies than ran down towards good grass with good game trails. Came up with the goods a few times like that, saves on a long hike in and out.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

Would be interested to know where you learnt that from @Rusky. I’ve heard good hunters say “some deer” to “a lot of deer” but never “high density”. Not arguing, just curious.

I’ve heard many many times inexperienced hunters or hunters new to the area say “no deer”!

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There are certainly good numbers of deer in there, I think a lot of the issue finding them comes from both the state of the bush, and the topography. With the deer living up on the flat (at least where I hunt) its very hard to pattern their movements compared to hunting standard NI alpine stuff. The wind is much harder to predict in this flat terrain and the bush is very hard to navigate. Most will be bumping multiple deer without knowing it, although this is likely the case in most bush hunting.

Fly blown. I'm going by my observations and from what other hunters have experienced. My best day counting deer in there has been 14 deer. That is tight bush stalking and that's just the areas I can access. There is some snotty steep country on either side of the ranges where hunters wont venture to. I believe from now on the deer migrate to these fringes to access the farm fringes as I have difficulty finding deer in the summer.

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Originally Posted by Rusky

Fly blown. I'm going by my observations and from what other hunters have experienced. My best day counting deer in there has been 14 deer. That is tight bush stalking and that's just the areas I can access. There is some snotty steep country on either side of the ranges where hunters wont venture to. I believe from now on the deer migrate to these fringes to access the farm fringes as I have difficulty finding deer in the summer.

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I used to have the same issue in summer Rusky, but have slowly found better summer spots in there over the years. They certainly go from being everywhere to nowhere quickly in some spots. PM me if you want.

hi density of deer in certain areas that's forsure trouble is it tends to be where it extremly high density Bush 🤣🤣 . when I do find some really good zones (wallows and or communal areas) I usually find they have some sort of natural barrier ie walls off kie kie and supple jack around them they get pressured and ain't stupid ..... most of the time . in saying this i hit two not far from track yesterday moving to fast hadn't slowed to full stalk yet