Thread: Area Contamination

How long is an area contaminated if people have walked through it or it has been fired on?

Is there any point in going to an area if you know someone was there the day before and claimed to have shot at something?

Watched a mate miss an easy 270yard shot a couple of weeks ago, we searched around the area with a dog just in case. Next morning another deer was standing in exactly the same spot, nek minute another deer missed by him again, so ya never know.

We were out pig hunting, didn't get anything so went to the back paddock to knock over one of the domestic pigs. As we rode up with the bailers a wild boar jumped up out of the fern and hightailed it with the dogs behind him way down the valley and up the other side into the bush on the far side of the neighbours farm.
The next morning we went back, and he was with the tame pigs again!

Yep seen another member shot 2 fallow in the same spot a day apart

If an area has taken a sustained amount of pressure over time the amount of animals will be reduced. You just have to get out there and see for yourself what sort of population exists in any given area.

make your mind up from there.

just think of it as armed tramping and concentrate of the exercise.

The next day? Absolutely worth a look.

I've seen deer in the same spot as deer spooked less than 3 hours previous. Whilst moving down wind I've seen and spooked deer, tahr, chamois and pigs. When I get far enough down wind I turn around and hunt back in to wind, sometimes less than 15 minutes and theres animals back in the same spots. Dont get too hung up on what others have done in the previous few days, get out there, hunt in to the wind, and shoot all the ones the others fail to see, or miss.
And with vehicles, if you find sign close to a farm track thats regularly used, or has had dogs barking there way to work the stock, or close to roads that see a bit of traffic, sit and watch, be patient. You will be amazed in the number of animals that happily live very close to people and vehicles. Just gotta be smarter than them.

Have walked down a track with the mutt to a clearing, 1hr later walk back along the same same track and there is an deer standing staring at me... Whitetail are a bit different though

Same. Missed a Hind and yearling late one morning on a river. ( about 10 am and I had my rifle on the pack as we had already done a walk through at sun rise then back to the hut for breakfast). Dog alerted me to it but by the time I got the rifle off the pack and ammo out they winded us and crossed over the river and headed into the bush.
Went back down stream again the next morning and they were back probably within 50 mtr of where I had seen then the previous day. This time we were ready for them.

So I had walked though this area twice the day before and the second time they had winded me. But the next morning they were back.
Z

nah..fire a shot in area and you wont see a deer for a week...oh hang on its not the late 70s anymore.
the older I get,the less distance I travel and the slower I do it...and you know the kicker??? I see more animals.
mate n I shot two spikers on west coast river bed...approaching them we found 3...one had been shot days earlier and not found by someone else.
mate n I walking out of hunting area,put down our bags n coats,walked along a neat wee creek for a sneaky wee look...its all of about 500 yards back up into the bush..we wandered back out and had a deer bark at us from 40-50 yards behind our bags...the hua had sneaked down to have a look/sniff.
last spring I missed an easy stag not far from wagon....hour later saw 3 deer in paddock,couple of hours later shot yearling within 100 yards of where missed stag...couple of hours after that I shot ANOTHER yearling in same spot....
and I hunt with a dog so double the scent.
sitting and watching is way under rated.

yea there is no rule on this, i shot one a couple of weeks ago and hung it on a fence to cool over night, next morning there were a few cursing in the same area.had this happen a few times but numbers are high.

Doing patrols in Woodhill during the ballot for many years taught me a lot of things about deer and Fallow especially. After checking hunters into a block we would find a high point and sit and observe hunters. Many times we would see hunters stalking through the pines in the vicinity of deer.....As the hunters got closer, the deer would move to one side, wait for the hunters to pass and then move straight in behind them to resume feeding, sometimes within throwing distance.
Deer are creatures of habit and even if spooked, will return to an area relatively quickly, sometimes within minutes.

Originally Posted by louiannz

How long is an area contaminated if people have walked through it or it has been fired on?

Is there any point in going to an area if you know someone was there the day before and claimed to have shot at something?

Just a pass thru an area once does seem to have big effect even if you fire a shot as others on here have said - but prolonged pressure yes definitely - the deer become more nocturnal - but if I check out say a clearing and I see fresh sign I go straight away and get of it - same if hunting a bush edge or clearing I definitely know deer are using I don't go onto it if possible - I remember me old mate telling me one day when he was meat hunting at Lake Waikaremoana he watched a hind cross the lake track - she put her head down and sniffed track just as he was ready to shoot but one wiff of the human smell on that track she went about 6ft vertically and jumped away - okay maybe not exactly 6 ft but never let small facts spoil good yarn

We were walking to a small clearing when I looked up and 3 fallow (a doe and two yearlings) were standing about 20m away looking at us. They bolted before my nephew could get himself organised for a shot. We carried on to the clearing a couple of hundred metres away and hung around for a while setting up a game camera, which showed the same three deer on the clearing that evening.

Have shot Sika feeding early morning right next to their mate who's draped over a tussock to cool down from last night's foray. Got 6 that trip. All feeding on the same lush pasture hidden down in some manuka in an area that rarely gets hunted.