Thread: peacock hunting

Originally Posted by Bill999

they are only hard to hunt if there are a few per property they have good eyesite and come from india where tigers hunt them so are pretty wary by nature in line with a cock pheasant sort of thing, maybe slightly smarter

I like them and so does the bosses wife so we have tons(hundreds) of them

like anything they get quiet if you dont harass them and we even have a few white ones coming thru which is cool

iv been shooting them for dog tucker lately but like anything with wings it will taste better when the month has no R's in it and right now its maRRRRRRch so best to wait till june/july for eaters

Yeah, its the crickets I think that foul the flesh. Months with R in them equate pretty much with cricket season. Maybe other insects tho as well.

Peacocks……..

As you already know I do like hunting a wily old peacock... The ones here are intelligent and very wary birds, extremely cautious and far more inclined to bolt for cover at distant human movement than any of the other bigger birds we have here - turkeys, pheasants, etc. The mob in the valley here is now much diminished due to my efforts, but I do admit to a bit of a sneaky population management in that I am very reluctant to get rid of the whole lot because they do provide exceptional sport in early summer. Trying to get close enough for a rimfire shot is a genuine hunting challenge with these birds.

Last season there was a big cock bird that needed to go whilst he still had his train, after several failed attempts to get him from close up I had to resort to the .223 Rem.

@Bill999 I think the intelligence of a particular flock comes from years of wild experience versus introduced birds that come from domesticated stock. The ones we have here are seriously onto it, cunning as fuck. When we moved here something I was unaware of was how a hen can pass down trade secrets and educate a flock, specifically I’m thinking of how they learn to scratch open haylage bales in search of grubs. This was almost certainly an evolved, learned behaviour from farmers leaving old open bales in the back paddocks and the birds realising that they were a rich source of food; at some point they made the leap between foraging around in open bales, to opening sealed bales. That is not good. So anyway they are public enemy number one here as they have caused quite a lot of damage in the past.

Wow, interesting to learn they are quite the pest.

@Flyblown iv told my staff to not spook or chase them when they are on quads, and over the years (the last 6-8) they have quieten down quite a bit
They come as close as my lawn these days but still duck and run the moment they see a person,
I’m thinking I’ll try win them over with a bit of grain, or hand raise a chick to start a “tame” population

Iv resisted shooting them unless someone wanted them for meat to allow them to get to a decent number so the population would allow a bit of light harvesting

They can and have been really damaging on the nabours palm nursery in the past but in all honesty the worst thing they do here is spread ink weed seeds around the orchard and make my dogs farts stink really bad


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@Bill999, You’re going to have to explain the stinky dog farts?

Used to thin them out for a couple of farmers, found early in the piece they make gun dogs hard mouthed, winged birds don't give in easy to a dog, so dog has a chew which carried on to next year game bird season.

Originally Posted by Jhon

Yeah, its the crickets I think that foul the flesh. Months with R in them equate pretty much with cricket season. Maybe other insects tho as well.

Not quite right. Those are the months when there are stuff all crickets as hopefully the rain has drowned them all. The whole point of havesting them in May, June, July is that it's after the crickets have gone but before the breeding season.
ie if it is a very dry year with a long indian summer it might be best to wait until June to grab a turkey or peafowl.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

@Bill999, You’re going to have to explain the stinky dog farts?

I shot a peacock for each of my dogs for dog tucker last week

they eat the easy bits then leave the rest to ferment, which when they revisit for a nibble from then on and it makes for some biological warfare
I often have them with me and if they fart and you are inside any form of shelter they will drive you out within seconds of letting rip

doesn't help that they are both as old as dogs get but the peacock is definitely good fuel
they are both more energetic than on typical store food

Peahen is delicious. As others have said, best shot in winter, months with no Rs in the name. Tons of them around. Go for a drive and doorknock when you see some. Lower kaimai, whakamarama anywhere with a mix grazing, water and cover like Manuka

A good suggestion thanks.

Thanks for the info about them having the same taste issues as turkeys during the R months when they are on crickets. I had made the assumption it was an issue but it is good to have it confirmed.

for those who do and have refined when to get the best eating peacocks when is the best month?
I might put down a years worth of frozen breast meat this year to get the numbers down a bit

surprisingly this week iv confirmed that a 44 cal solid lead is less effective at 950fps than a subx 190gr on peacocks

Originally Posted by Bill999

surprisingly this week iv confirmed that a 44 cal solid lead is less effective at 950fps than a subx 190gr on peacocks

As in they duck? Probably can see it coming lol. Or less effective when it hits? Not penetrating, or passing thru?

Originally Posted by Jhon

As in they duck? Probably can see it coming lol. Or less effective when it hits? Not penetrating, or passing thru?

I'm thinking the 190gn Sub X is designed to open up at low velocity.
Likely a.30c designated subsonic bullet.

Originally Posted by Jhon

As in they duck? Probably can see it coming lol. Or less effective when it hits? Not penetrating, or passing thru?

i think they just push the meat out of the way rather than tearing it

with the subx they are dead before they hit the ground

I shoot for the upper chest when doing dog food and gravity gets reeeeeealy strong for them when im using 300blk but the 44 seems to just injure them


for sure the sub x is a better designed bullet but i wouldnt expect it to do much inside a peacocks body thickness and softness
the lead cowboy bullet of the 44special are pretty boring but at the same speed Id think that they would create a bigger wound cavity but its not what im seeing
half the peacocks shot with the 44 run off and not one needs a follow up with the 300blk