Thread: Pest Control

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

@tiroahunta Taking out entire mobs of goats at once is the ideal, but can be limiting with A category bolt actions. Have you applied for P for pest control? Not enough farmers are applying, but if you show significant economic and/or ecological damage and a reaosn why you need semi auto it's not hard to get provided you meet the occupational requirements.

well limiting with a bolt action I would argue perhaps not - well was goat culler for years I dont believe so - yes the bigger mag on some of the 223 semis are great but in terms of tipping over goats one can really only shoot so fast accurately - a good bolt action and timed shots accurately gets the job done -I would use my mag on a mob then carefull single shot with one very accurate 222 never wished for more - had seen to many guys blazing away with semis and really any better no - out of machine different of course - but no dont get sucked into the you must have a semi argument - all the goat work I ran Kaitaia and Taranaki none of us used a semi - and accuracy it takes a well worked up semi to be as good as say an A2 Sako in .222

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

well limiting with a bolt action I would argue perhaps not - well was goat culler for years I dont believe so - yes the bigger mag on some of the 223 semis are great but in terms of tipping over goats one can really only shoot so fast accurately - a good bolt action and timed shots accurately gets the job done -I would use my mag on a mob then carefull single shot with one very accurate 222 never wished for more - had seen to many guys blazing away with semis and really any better no - out of machine different of course - but no dont get sucked into the you must have a semi argument - all the goat work I ran Kaitaia and Taranaki none of us used a semi - and accuracy it takes a well worked up semi to be as good as say an A2 Sako in .222

You may well be a much better shot than me but I changed from A to E cat mainly because I found it hard to shoot mobs of more than 10 goats with only a 10rd magazine in the old 303. At that time I was losing thousands of dollars per week in newly planted trees to goats and deer, the investment in E cat was well worth it. And agree some people thought mag dumping was pest control but most of us understood that having a semi auto does not mean you don't aim before pulling the trigger. It's not essential to have a semi I agree, but it does make pest control of larger numbers far easier when both hands are steady on the rifle between shots without needing to move the action manually. I only had bolt action centrefires and found them totally satisfactory for over 30 years before getting E cat when it became necessary.

Yeah use what you like really- just saying we saw no need to change from bolt action - besides what one could get when I was doing large goat control jobs somewhat limited- the Ruger mini matics in .223 were around but notoriously inaccurate but other than that Armalite's were very difficult to come by and there were a few expensive exotics like Heckler and Koch ( damn nice ) and a Valmet ( expensive but again damn nice ) so we were limited - our goat hunters here in Naki - mainly all bush work really - so we just stuck with our sako bolt actions - Wanganui trialled ruger semis in 44 mag suppressed lasted about 6 months at the most- the hunters just bemoaned the total lack of range

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

@tiroahunta Taking out entire mobs of goats at once is the ideal, but can be limiting with A category bolt actions. Have you applied for P for pest control? Not enough farmers are applying, but if you show significant economic and/or ecological damage and a reaosn why you need semi auto it's not hard to get provided you meet the occupational requirements.

so far ive been making do. biggest limitation ive found is magazine capacity....3 n 1 up dont quite cut it. used semis in the past n reckon my hit rate was worse using one. think a howa or sabbatti with 10 shot mag cheaper than getting a 'p' and a fancy pants semi..

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

@tiroahunta

What do you do with the carcasses?
Bury them?

the ones i can collect with side by side go into a dead hole/body dump. ill coolect a few back wheels at the same time.

Originally Posted by SpeightsDrinker

If any of you boys need help - I’ll come along…
Will drive a good few hours from Auckland too hahaha

yeah might be shit outta luck with that. havent managed to get a mate on here yet. bossman a bit funny about other people, health n saftey n all that....softee softee catchee monkey..

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

You may well be a much better shot than me but I changed from A to E cat mainly because I found it hard to shoot mobs of more than 10 goats with only a 10rd magazine in the old 303. At that time I was losing thousands of dollars per week in newly planted trees to goats and deer, the investment in E cat was well worth it. And agree some people thought mag dumping was pest control but most of us understood that having a semi auto does not mean you don't aim before pulling the trigger. It's not essential to have a semi I agree, but it does make pest control of larger numbers far easier when both hands are steady on the rifle between shots without needing to move the action manually. I only had bolt action centrefires and found them totally satisfactory for over 30 years before getting E cat when it became necessary.

i can see your reasoning Ben. as staff id be supplying everything bar ammo. no claim backs or gst write off for me...

I know what you mean about magazine capacity and goat culling if the numbers of goats are up there - two standouts for accuracy in 222 were the LSA55 tikka and 788 Remington but let down by small mags - one reason why the Sako Vixen and A2 Sako were so popular 6 in the mag one in chamber 7 rounds - out on farm land one could generally get a mob going the right way with 7 rounds and then steady single shot and you have your goats - for deer of course not such a problem rarely encountered more that 4 -5 where we were culling normally just one

When I got the e cat I was up against 20-30+ goats at a time, which I could not control with a 10rd b/a. 30rds of immediately accessible 7.62x39 helped a lot. After a while I worked out that my rifle was noisy enough that killing a few goats and scaring everything else also gave me a good time period before expecting them back. When I changed to the suppressed AR it was back to trying to actually shooting the pests rather than scare them away. Much better accuracy at any kind of range with the 5.56 is good too.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

When I got the e cat I was up against 20-30+ goats at a time, which I could not control with a 10rd b/a. 30rds of immediately accessible 7.62x39 helped a lot. After a while I worked out that my rifle was noisy enough that killing a few goats and scaring everything else also gave me a good time period before expecting them back. When I changed to the suppressed AR it was back to trying to actually shooting the pests rather than scare them away. Much better accuracy at any kind of range with the 5.56 is good too.

after all this time you still having goat issues..? At moment i guess we are in a reduction cycle n with the forestry been cut n to be replanted i guess theyll do there bit as well. the amount of holes ive had to go and block...sheesh

Originally Posted by tiroahunta

after all this time you still having goat issues..? At moment i guess we are in a reduction cycle n with the forestry been cut n to be replanted i guess theyll do there bit as well. the amount of holes ive had to go and block...sheesh

Numbers come and go but we're a lot better off than we were back then. The pine block next door is being grazed with sheep and there is ot as much feed for the pests. I think what has save me is one of my sons coming back to the farm and aall his mates are out every weekend defying gravity on their bikes, going into all the steepest, gnarliest spots on the farm where deer and goats would like to hide out safely if only sane people were riding bikes in the area. Half a dozen two strokes at full throttle would disturb my rest too.

More on less agree with Barry.
Had a lever 30.30, semi 22lr and pump 12g back in the day.

Yes, on the odd occassion where there were mobs of pigs, rabbits and ducks they helped. But long ago I transitioned to bolt actions and double, admittedly don't see the high numbers any more but I've never felt disadvantaged. You can only take aim so fast.
Pretty unusual to need a fast second shot, or able to take one for that matter.

BA with a spare mag would cover 95% I'd imagine.

It is horses for courses tho.

..a few more. some with .22 this time. saw this fella the other day is the main reason why i went out

suprisingly a good goat head is a damn hard thing to find- one seems to need strong angora strain to get the width - all the goats I have shot and its must be a few thousand I have only got one 35 inch model - some areas better than others Tolaga bay and Tokomaru bay East Coast had good heads especially out near the coast - and some Northland areas - the NZ record for width came from Waima in far north 1960 ish I think 47 7/8 inches I have seen a 44 in from Tokomaru bay and a 44 in from Ratea North near Kaitaia

used .22 as some snuck off down a little gut. was following up on a mob.