Thread: Bloody hell !

Posted on fb by a local retailer, extolling the virtues of thermal imagers

makes it look like a fantastic harvesting and pest control tool

I thought this was going to be about the curry taste test with that heading.

That's a sad sight but if you want them gone it certainly works.

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any way it beats the green rain

Originally Posted by Dundee

any way it beats the green rain

This

It doesn't look like they're gutted. If not, the n its cull to waste.

Originally Posted by Woody

It doesn't look like they're gutted. If not, the n its cull to waste.

If that’s the case they would of left them there to rot. Must of being a few deer there to warrant that...


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Some private land is riddled with them.

If thats the case, why don't the landowners contact NZDA. Would be a great way to get new hunters keen. (under supervision of course, perhaps as part of the nzda hunts courses.)

Originally Posted by ROKTOY

I thought this was going to be about the curry taste test with that heading.

thats whats on the menu at my place tonight. toilet paper is already chilling in the freezer

Originally Posted by Woody

It doesn't look like they're gutted. If not, the n its cull to waste.

That's the way we hang them up when they are about to be gutted. Don't want to leave it too long though. They might be going to dog food.
@JoshC is right, in some areas private farmland gets smashed by wild deer if there's a substantial bush block on the boundary. We'll have a session like that in a mild year - like this year - the fawn and yearling survival rate is very high the last couple of seasons. There's a wide run of steep north facing paddocks on the one property with a bush block at the top, you won't see a deer on that land ever during the day but as soon as its dark they come pouring out. We wait for the wind to blow right then set up a couple of hours before dark with two hides either side. Have never used a thermal scope, just use quality torches and a very heavily suppressed .223. Believe me its not much fun, like shooting targets at the fair. The shooting is all over in a couple of minutes, they just bloody stand there staring, a few will run but then they stop again and look back. If they can't work you out, their instinct to get back to the bush seems to short circuit and that's their undoing. Quite sad really, I don't like it much.

Originally Posted by Woody

If thats the case, why don't the landowners contact NZDA. Would be a great way to get new hunters keen. (under supervision of course, perhaps as part of the nzda hunts courses.)

Most farm owners I know of, do let people on hunting for that purpose. If you knock on the door and ask to go shoot a yearling with your kids they'll say yes.

BUT - shooting a couple or five every weekend won't do anything to curb the numbers long term.

Hunters and hunting clubs aren't interested in knocking back numbers. They want to see deer and they essentially farm them. Local NZDA clubs down here have exclusive rights to properties with good deer numbers - but still need choppers and professional cullers to sweep through annually taking a few extras out to manage numbers.

If larger numbers of deer need culled, it needs to be done by people who know what they are doing, using the correct gear. Otherwise it is a waste of time.

And they're worth $7/kg at the moment, so there's money in it. If you had a 'deer problem' and they were worth $7 a kilo, chances are you're not going to be giving them away aye

Thousands have been shot on private land in Southland and Otago over the last couple of years, because prices are good. Some of these places you'd hardly know it has been done.

Friends of mine have taken 140 out of an area that's not that large in the last month. Very selective too mind you, several good stags left and no prime hinds shot. 99% of the stags shot were absolute rubbish. We had deer walking out of the scrub a couple of hundred meters off while the chopper was hooking on and slinging their mates off the hill down to the chiller truck.

Rec hunters are never going to shoot the volume required to check numbers.

Cripes. I wish we had some hunting available up her in the central NI like that. It's really tough up here now.

Originally Posted by Woody

Cripes. I wish we had some hunting available up her in the central NI like that. It's really tough up here now.

There are high numbers down here mate in places, that's what a lot of people don't understand. Mobs of 20 plus aren't uncommon on some places.

It's certainly localized but there's still plenty of deer around/throughout these regions in general if you put in a decent day on the hill.