Canterbury foot hills in winter

I’ve finally got a weekend free in a couple of weeks so I’m planning a day hunt/overnighter somewhere in the Canterbury foot hills.
I’ve hunted Thomas a few times with mixed success, Oxford has been productive, have been up Richardson a couple of times but it’s been a Barron wasteland when I’ve been up there.
But all of my trips have been in summer or autum. I’ve never hunted this area during winter.

Am I safe to assume that the deer will be feeding on whatever new growth is kicking off around the 7-800m altitude mark on the north facing slopes or am I way off track there?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated feel free to PM

Cheers
Strider

You won’t find much new growth kicking off at 700-800m in winter. Generic advice: Find the wintering areas -concentrations of animal tracks and crap- and check out the sunny faces and sheltered bits in those areas.

Deer are miles up in the back country I found over the weekend. My usual haunt up oxford is not been very active recently

Hey Strider. Are you talking the weekend of the 25th/26th? I'm planning a trip then as well, would be more than keen to link up if you're interested. Can't help with locations though sorry - I'm still new to this, I've tried Richardson and found a spot with a lot of sign but no animals (I may have spooked them before getting near enough to spot anything though). I was planning to head back there only because I know the area now and can plan the hunt a little better, but I'm keen to find new/more productive areas relatively close to home.

I found that in north canterbury the deer were 1300-1600m last week on the sunny faces. They still have to eat though so look where there is some vegetation on the north faces.

look on the little knobs / dry faces , they are usually the first place to start drying off as summer progresses but the first place the grass starts growing in the spring , forget the misconception of grass growing first at the bottom of the valley !.

Sun. They will be in the sun all day.

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Originally Posted by cobber

I found that in north canterbury the deer were 1300-1600m last week on the sunny faces. They still have to eat though so look where there is some vegetation on the north faces.

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Exactly where I was seeing them over the weekend too. Above the first line but below the freezing air level!

Cheers for the feedback chaps, ill get up for a look, at the very least ill get out for some fresh mountain air.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Strider

Cheers for the feedback chaps, ill get up for a look, at the very least ill get out for some fresh mountain air.

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A suitable high over the Canterbury this weekend....nows good ;)