Thread: Does gunshot clear a area in the bush

. Learning a new bush area 2nd time in yesterday. I have never met another hunter in the bush. I had come through some shitty supplejack infested bush and into some fairly open bush 50m visibility. Stalking slowly along a gunshot rang out very close and I almost shit myself, 5 seconds later another shot. I just stood hoping a mass of deer would come running. My guess was the other person was on my right just over the ridge that I could just see, hunter less than 100m away. I thought what now is that it all game gone, but within 2 mins the birds were back making noises after the silence, so I carried on stalking and about 10/15 mins later a nice semi clearing was ahead of me. looking closely movement on the edge, I took a sidestep for a better look and there was something there the back of something, then it stood upright the other hunter he had no shirt on. I called to him but he didn't hear me. I walked into the open and called again he answered. We had a quick chat then I headed out and home. On reflection I was fairly happy that although I had spotted movement and something was there I had not put 1 up the spout, so subconsciously I was identifying my target beyond all doubt. So the question is after a gunshot do the deer take off and dont stop until they get to the boarder or run a little then go on high alert, or do they just stay put on high alert. Is that area worth hunting next day, next week, or the same afternoon. Your thoughts .providing there is more than 1 deer in there.

I wonder if your shitty supplejack infested bush was the same shitty supplejack infested bush I was looking round in last week? Was it closeish to town?
As for the do deer hang around question I'd be interested to know as well. I was having a walk around the Western Okataina last year when I heard a shot. Done the same as you and was waiting for something to run past then heard a second shot then a third. Still waited but a bit aprehensive about the number of shots. Then heard a string of 4 shots and figured the piece of bush wasn't big enough to share with some one with no trigger discipline. Was meaning to go back but got too busy then tourist season came.

Many years ago I had another hunter take a shot at me. The shot smacked into the papa bank just in front of me. We were in shitty manuka at the time. I immediately fired a shot into the air. A conversation ensued.

Deer running off into the next province or staying put. I have seen both.

As an about 8 year old I went out with my Dad and his mate who was the manager of a Farms and Survey block out from Taupo. The mode of transport was the farm's ex army 6x6 GMC. There was my Dad and I in the cab, Dad's mate driving, with 2 others on the back. We were crawling along a track in freshly broken in scrub when there was a tap on the roof. Truck stopped and all hell broke loose. 4 deer down. The guys went out, about 200 yds across a gulley and gutted out the deer. They dragged them to the bottom of the gulley and then used the truck winch to bring them up the last steep bit. As you can imagine all this wasn't a 5 minute activity.
So we set off again and hadn't gone maybe a few hundred yards and another tap on the truck roof. Single shot rang out from one of the guys on the back. What the hell are you shooting at my Dad's mate yelled. Stag came the reply. Sure enough he had shot a stag. The stag was hardly visible in the scrub and had obviously hunkered down the whole time the other 4 were being dealt too.

Back in those days the Lands and Survey developed farms in the Taupo area were crawling with deer. Halcyon years.

Depending on bush cover and pressure of hunting/ Humans will depend on them hanging around a short or long distance. They will run and depends on Hinds with fawn at the mo as well

Originally Posted by Steve123

I wonder if your shitty supplejack infested bush was the same shitty supplejack infested bush I was looking round in last week? Was it closeish to town?

Spot x, Never really seen vehicles parked there, but yesterday 3 parked up when I came out and I was first there so only fair that it should be my deer. I am no great white hunter Steve123 its no secret. Te kopia scenic reserve. I have found from others that hunting around Rotorua area can be dodgy due to unsafe parking, but could be the same as elsewhere in the country

from my experience I would not expect any deer to hang around in the immediate area for at least a day . It I think depends on hunting pressure as mentioned by beanie also. but would not be surprised if any animals not in the immediate area when shot was taken , over the next ridge for example and couldn't pin point the shot location or felt unthreatened by it , perhaps moved through the area . As an example there was a spot we used to hunt fallow . One area specifically you were virtually guaranteed to see an animal . One morning we shot a fallow out of a small group . The next morning the spot was empty . But 500 mtr away over a small ridge were plenty of deer still . The next morning again there were deer back in the original spot as well as over the ridge .
On another occasion in same general area we shot a fallow from a ridge top across a gully around 340 mtrs distance , just below the top of the next ridge . It jumped up several times and ended up dropping on top of that ridgeline. Whilst gutting the animal where it fell we spotted a group of around 11 fallow slowly moving through the bush on the next hillside not more than 200 mtrs
away . They did not appear to be spooked or threatened and were in no obvious hurry to vacate the area .
This is just an example of some of my experiences and others may have differing opinions though .

Originally Posted by chindit

Spot x, Never really seen vehicles parked there, but yesterday 3 parked up when I came out and I was first there so only fair that it should be my deer. I am no great white hunter Steve123 its no secret. Te kopia scenic reserve. I have found from others that hunting around Rotorua area can be dodgy due to unsafe parking, but could be the same as elsewhere in the country

It was a different piece of shitty supplejack infested bush then. I think it's luck of the draw whether your car gets messed with anywhere you go these days though.
Had a brief look for sign at the Mokaihaha a while back, didn't go in to far as it was a spur of the moment thing and I was only wearing jandals so was only a half hour walk. Dunni about leaving a vehicle there though. Passed a convoy of three offroaders that would have made madmax proud coming from Mamaku on the way out, probably me being paranoid but who knows.

seen both,,......... depends if the deer sees human or not during the shots....

cos when big thunder goes off in the bush, Deer dont run to town

seen em look lost an totally unsure of what went boom, mostly after hunter sits tight when misses.

most the spooking comes from the 'macho' Rambo type coming out of the bush (movement) followed by bang bangs..


A ol timer, perhaps it was Jack oconner? or perhaps it was indeed Jack luttrel, he mentioned those seldom hunted Wapiti would dissapear from Valleys for up to 3 weeks after being Shot up........ that extremity is likely due to the lack of noise any other day... where as in the localised bush like North island, shots would be heard commonly.... so the visual comes into play... they see ya they spook... why, cos ya Go Bang

Back in the not-so-long-ago days my nephews and mates had a bomb up of .223 and .308 rounds amounting to around 1800 unsuppressed bangs finishing about mid afternoon...later that day a couple of my friends, who knew nothing of the bomb up, went for an afternoon hunt and bagged 2 deer, both within 800 metres of the bomb up.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Many years ago I had another hunter take a shot at me. The shot smacked into the papa bank just in front of me... A conversation ensued.

Understatement can be underappreciated. I'm picking that conversation was quite eloquent, possibly commenting on the other guys ancestry as well.

The buck turned in my direction after I whistled. Attempted a head shot. I heard the 'whup' sound of a hit and saw the animal shaking its head. The follow-up shot went through its chest ending proceedings. Upon investigation, my first shot had pierced its ear. Like humans, the fight, flight or usually the freeze reaction holds true until such time as intended prey learn movement is essential to survival.

Many years ago in the Urewera I was climbing a spur out of the Waimana and all of a sudden a hind came flying down the spur, stopped 10m away and looked at me. After I shot her, I sat down on the carcass to have a smoke before gutting her. While rolling the smoke, a 4 point stag wandered down for a look. The first shot didn't seem to bother him. The next shot did.

Don't give up hunting an area just because shots were fired.

If the deer have cover, I don't think they move far if at all. If they are in the open and feeling vulnerable, they will probably run for cover.

I have sat on a cliff top shooting over a gully for rabbits with a 22-250 firing probably 30 rounds in 1/2 hour, and then 13 deer including two stags meandered out of the scrub below me no more than 200m away, and I had been shooting over the top of them. They came out for their early evening feed. I stopped shooting and watched them with my two boys, telling them to soak it all in because they probably would see another sight like in in all of their days hunting.

Two weeks ago I was using the thermal to hunt for rabbits. Drove the quad into a paddock of hill country and with the motor running and the lights on, did a quick thermal with the bino's. Spotted 4 deer out in the open on a face probably 250m away. Thought 'this will be interesting test on deer behaviour'. I deliberately drove the bike with the lights on for 100m into the paddock parallel to their position and stopped the bike. Checked the deer with the thermal and they were on alert, and had moved off and up the face by 50m or so but where still reasonably settled. Got kitted for a walk on rabbits and headed up a ridge in the opposite direction to the deer. Checked them a couple of times and they had settled and were feeding. Shot the first rabbit with the .17HMR with a suppressor on, then checked the deer. The had bunched up and started to move off across the face. Another couple of shots at rabbits and checked the deer and they were now going over the ridge line. These deer were in a paddock there there wasn't a single tree or piece of scrub for +300m in any direction. They clearly felt vulnerable. That said, they probably only went 500-600m from their original position and settled again, after a noisy quad bike, lights and shots fired.

IF DEER SMELL YOU...its game over,usually.....but as others have said a loud bang isnt always end of day....it depends on what individual deer has learned to do....I mean at end of day it is in its home territory...its unlikely to leave that but may well move off to other end of block...

Originally Posted by kiwiaviator

Many years ago in the Urewera I was climbing a spur out of the Waimana and all of a sudden a hind came flying down the spur, stopped 10m away and looked at me. After I shot her, I sat down on the carcass to have a smoke before gutting her. While rolling the smoke, a 4 point stag wandered down for a look. The first shot didn't seem to bother him. The next shot did.

But I am guessing it did not bother him for too long...?