Thread: Deer taking over Lower Hutt

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

I believe it, here's an example. I've been involved in a Landcare research study of lizard populations, the same guys have been monitoring the same spots for the last 5 years or so. They commented that when they started 5 years ago none of the local farmers ever mentioned deer, now every farmer is talking about them. 5 years ago they never saw a deer, this last time around they said they saw at least one almost every day on the monitoring trail. Yeah the feral deer numbers are up dramatically, I wasn't around in the 50's so can't comment on that aspect, but far more deer around than there ever was in my memory going back to 1970.


Only speaking for HB region.

Not the case for all of Hawkes Bay. Some of the areas that traditionally held the highest deer numbers out towards the Ranges etc probably peaked a couple of years ago.
Farms who never used to let people hunt are now letting people in. Others have given the deer a good tickle up and some have even got the chopper in. On some of the more open blocks the deer struggle to hide and can be controlled extremely effectively via a quick chopper flight.
Likewise some have just told hunters to shoot everything the see and it is amazing how quickly the deer population has dropped.
Deer aren't like goats.....they don't breed all that fast.