Originally Posted by
gimp
Don't forget the ribs! I've started carrying an Estwing hatchet on meat hunting trips and taking ribs off deer. Venison ribs are delicious.
Last 2 red hinds I shot I took ribs, hearts, back legs, backsteaks, and undamaged front shoulders from 2 (small) deer. It was a heavy carry.
From a practical perspective I absolutely agree that for the hunting sector to have any credibility in discussions of management in future we need to demonstrate that we can contribute to managing deer numbers. DOC currently gathers no useful data on hunter contributions to ungulate management. Understanding hunter contributions is the first step to understanding hunter value for conservation management, perhaps we should be keeping our own (accurate and honest) records and submitting those in some fashion. GAC could advocate for a DOC led hunting returns app e.g. the Tahr app - which I believe has seen more or less no take-up....
To manage ungulates in NZ in the future in any positive way to achieve beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders we need to be building constructive working relationships with DOC as the primary management agency, rather than the current adversarial situation. Of course, the Dept needs to reciprocate this and there are legislative hurdles to this as DOC has a specific legal mandate under National Parks, Conservation, Reserves and Wild Animal Control acts but to my understanding of the substance of these acts, nothing actually insurmountable in many public land areas, National Parks being the major exception.