Thread: My woodhill day.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

This is the never ending management problem.
Want trophys shoot females and let quality AND Quantity of males increase.
Means that once system is in place very few animals can be harvested sustainabley.
Want plenty of animals to harvest.
shoot spikers and yearlings leaving breeding age females.
Everyone wants something different except that everyone wants the opportunity to hunt... and that means keeping female numbers high so that high numbers of animals are produced and allotted and harvested.

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We are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

Striking the balance between harvesting enough animals to allow hunters a successful hunt and still retaining enough deer to keep the herd numbers sustainable is difficult.
Bearing in mind that some deer are transient and spend time on the adjacent farmland where they are shot by hunters outside the ballot season, and the presence of 'poachers' in the forest, we err on the side of caution when setting the number of doe permits.

We have however increased the numbers of Doe permits this year compared with previous years but here is the paradox. Although the numbers of doe permits have increased, the numbers of does shot so far this year is only slightly higher than previous years.

The main factor in the size and condition of the animals is that the environment ( coastal sand dunes overlaid with pines) is not conducive to large fat deer. These same conditions also create 'scrappy' bucks with small antlers due to the lack of trace elements and good food sources. Its interesting to note that the bigger heads come from those blocks adjacent to farms on eastern side of the forest. These animals have access to better food and it shows in their 'quality'.

Having said that, most of the does I have 'inspected' this year while on patrol are in good condition. The ones that have looked a bit 'skinny' are normally the first animal the hunter has seen when on their balloted hunt. If you are prepared to take a chance that you will see more animals and let the first one go, the odds are that you will see a better conditioned animal later.

Chances are however that it may be the only animal that you will have the opportunity to shoot lol.

I know that on the rare occasion that I get a ballot, I will pass up the first animal if it looks a bit small and take my chances on seeing a bigger animal later in the day. Most times it means I want to kick myself in the butt when the sun goes down but that's why we call it hunting.

I will be hunting on sunday due to the good grace of one of my hunting buddies who was successful in the ballot and took pity on me. ( I haven't won a ballot for the last 6 years)

Hopefully I will have a successful hunt report to post up next week...............
Cheers
Allgood

Originally Posted by blake

Top job and great result.What condition were the deer in? Last time I was in there they were a bit lean on it. ��

yeah the one I shot was really skinny, could just about see the vertibre in the neck. I thought it was prob just time of year?? made for easy carry

I'm genuinely rapt to have an opportunity each year to hunt on Auckland's door step, so not intending this in a negative way, but the frustrating thing about deer sex 'mix' is seeing scores of little does all day in a hunting block but only having a buck permit... Not seeing a shoot able buck. Yet twenty minutes down the road, large bucks with good palmated heads can be seen feeding and even facing off against each other near the horse and mx tracks. A great sight, but if the bucks aren't migrating north into the hunting blocks naturally, why aren't the forest owners 'encouraging' them to? I'm not surprised poachers can't resist the temptation.
Last year, my mate had the unusual option of either a doe or buck ('cos of an admin mistake), so he resisted shooting many does all morning hoping to get onto a buck. He didn't see one and eventually ended up going home without firing a shot because in the late afternoon we'd spooked everything in the block and he couldn't find a doe!! Haha. So frustrating when we even had time to video the does early in the day

Got one, finally At 1710hours and darkening quickly. Only a little fella but damn he tastes good

Looks in ok condition. Would you agree?

Originally Posted by Hunt4life

Got one, finally At 1710hours and darkening quickly. Only a little fella but damn he tastes good

Bloody god on you H4L

Originally Posted by Hunt4life

Got one, finally At 1710hours and darkening quickly. Only a little fella but damn he tastes good

Nice one hunt4life!! Is that a 6.5 swede?

Originally Posted by outinabout

Nice one hunt4life!! Is that a 6.5 swede?

Thanks, and yes it is a CG 6.5x55. Paid $450 for it (downsizing from .308 Tikka 590) and this rifle (much older than me) has dropped everything I've pulled the trigger on over the past ten years, with one clean shot. This guy dropped exactly where he stood with a 140g Sierra in the chest at 130m and scope on 4x.
Every time I think of upgrading I realise how much I like it, even if a bit heavy
I'll eventually buy a suppressor and Timney trigger, but would never sell it

Great little writeup.

Good shit H4L. He has a rather big schlong on him

Originally Posted by Gibo

Good shit H4L. He has a rather big schlong on him

@Gibo and wait for it wait for it here it is "That's what she said "

Nice eater H4L....

Originally Posted by Gibo

Good shit H4L. He has a rather big schlong on him

Yeah...a very hairy penis :-/

Drew a couple of woodhill ballots when I lived up that way, all I can remember is the damn sandflies and mosquitos, oh and a few deer.