Stuff that I've learned about deer control

I wish I was in this position really.
I used to shoot a property I would see 30 plus deer a night (phenomenonal numbers of deer for the region) while shooting rabbits.
Owner was protective of the deer as he had had his fence cut years ago letting some into doc mismanaged land.
He was always hopefull he would get some back into the deer trap near the boundary.
The deer trap used to work when it was freshly developed land with new grass 25-30 years ago.....they had no reason to go there now with freshly developed grass and crops over the property.
For a start it was yea you can shoot a deer but only a stag.
Crops started getting punished....ok you can shoot a hind but if you get a few I would like some sausages.....like no problems at all how many can you handle.
Numbers dropped rapidly.
Dependant on the terrain and bush and thesize of
the property I still believe letting rec hunters on property to hunt is the most economical and most ethical solution.

No disrespect to the opening post at all, when numbers are up as much as yours the jobs got to be done.....it just should never get to that point.

But the "job" wouldn't be a "job" and wouldn't have to be done if Access was allowed its that simple.

Sorting the hunters and or pest controlers from the fuckwits with a rifle and or lamp/thermal who can both hunt safely and follow instructions to to "shoot everything" " only shoot stags" "only shoot hinds"
Is the hard bit for the land owner/manager
weather you personally think their goal is off target or not is irrelevant if you have access follow the rules.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

Yeah nah. Mate, I see your point, but my experience suggests otherwise. There’s plenty of guys like me with long-term permissions that they built up over time. I really don’t agree with the statement “virtually no farmer...”, the last three valleys I visited in southern and northern Taranaki all yielded new permissions, in the last two years.

This is about how guys that might get viewed as a random can change their approach and give the cynical farmer reason to think twice. Some cockies do themselves few favours, in a constant state of war with everyone and taking an unnecessarily negative view of the common lesser spotted GC.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but its certainly not impossible.

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Ill stand by the comment that virtually no farmer will let a random on but agree its def not impossible,the trust needs to be built over a decent time though with like you say something in it for the land owner.Im in the trade and I have several farmer clients that I can hunt on their places, it came about by me suggesting a few little jobs could be done for hunting access,that instantly sealed the deal but id known/delt the farmer for years before bringing it up.I know 100% if I had of asked straight away it would have been a No by what they had told me re the hunting on their place.The best tac for anyone wanting to gain access is to offer something/their time(would you like those thousand thistles grubbed next weekend?)to the owner that is valuable to them(don't offer venison sausages, generally farmers freezers are full of home kill)but I still believe you need to know the guy for a few years for it to happen.Randoms to farmers=No.

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Originally Posted by Tuidog

We have that issue here in South Australia. A group of farmers who are upset about high numbers of deer and blame their neighbours, they'll utilise the federally funded helicopter culling 2x a year but offer to help them with controlling numbers and you get a no, continual pressure is required if numbers are to be brought down.

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I certainly struggle to have much sympathy.

I'm not sure if you're making actual sense or if Google trapped me in one of those echo chambers I've read about... 😅

I'm very much into LR shooting, but as you put it, "productivity of LR is really crap" was also why I never really culled deer like that. My shooting has also been driven by a sense of economy, and for the same reasons as you I went full circle and settled on a 6.5x55.

Very good writeup, made my day! 😎

In line with flyblowns original post, the result of a mornings shoot on a wanganui farm, by the end of the weekend we had recovered 13 of 22 deer shot, also 3 pigs( recovered) and 4 goats plus a few possums( left).
Yes the deer are small, a mix of yearlings and fawns, 50/50 male and female but they need to go as the trees planted last year have been taking a thrashing.
The place has regularly been shot by others but there are still significant numbers around that need reducing.
The mindset needed to shoot the "young unns" certainly is different.

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

In line with flyblowns original post, the result of a mornings shoot on a wanganui farm, by the end of the weekend we had recovered 13 of 22 deer shot, also 3 pigs( recovered) and 4 goats plus a few possums( left).
Yes the deer are small, a mix of yearlings and fawns, 50/50 male and female but they need to go as the trees planted last year have been taking a thrashing.
The place has regularly been shot by others but there are still significant numbers around that need reducing.
The mindset needed to shoot the "young unns" certainly is different.

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The young unns are the tender tasty ones.

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

The young unns are the tender tasty ones.

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And easier to carry out :)

handbag deer LOL

Good read mate.

@Rees

Good for the farmer and yr freezers,makes sence.

Good on ya!
At least its possible to shoot browsing animals that threaten your new forest. We have had a bunch of hares getting stuck into some recent plantings. Trying to tart up a Pine bush edge with some Eucs and Blackwoods. The hares took offence and nipped them all off.
Have now piled most of them up, but there's still the odd sneaky one about doing the deed, so spotlight it will have to be.

Last week's hurricane force winds have decimated our newly planted trees. About 10% of 15 thousand trees have a 30degree lean on now:wtfsmilie:
I have tried shooting at the wind...but it just laughed at me and blew harder:(

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Originally Posted by XR500

Good on ya!
At least its possible to shoot browsing animals that threaten your new forest. We have had a bunch of hares getting stuck into some recent plantings. Trying to tart up a Pine bush edge with some Eucs and Blackwoods. The hares took offence and nipped them all off.
Have now piled most of them up, but there's still the odd sneaky one about doing the deed, so spotlight it will have to be.

Last week's hurricane force winds have decimated our newly planted trees. About 10% of 15 thousand trees have a 30degree lean on now:wtfsmilie:
I have tried shooting at the wind...but it just laughed at me and blew harder:(

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No worries mate, only 1500 trees to ram up straight! Shouldn't take more than week or two... actually it will not take long, I've done my fair share of tree straightening in my time. Sounds to me like you need a P endorsement for those hares.

Well! Just been out filling trenches by hand and had a Kaka fly over me! And go straight into our Gum block. Nasty introduced tree species! Ha!!
They seem to come here mid Winter when the Pureoras has run out of native tucker.

And if you want to see the benefits of planting introduced species to foster native species, I'll go and take a pic of our Larch block. The natives were completely chewed out by a past grazier prior to us moving on 16 years ago. Natives are now 30 foot tall and blossoming:thumbsup: