Thread: Fallow Bucks getting hard?

Anyone shot any bucks in last week, mature ones, and if so, how far off hard antler were they?

they will be hard in May...same as every other year.... not much use to the hinds/does if they arent.

another month at least

End of Feb at the earliest down here

Have a look in the "here and now" thread. Well off yet.

on another note, what dates do fellow kick off croaking? Reds from easter for roughly 4 weeks, sika roughly thew same, with the second cycle around mid may. but no idea on fallow ( from experience )

Mature buck last night.
Don't growl - legitimate culling

A while off stripping yet (for him, never).

Cheers Guys,

Im in situation where have sold the farm to forestry and cullers arrive in couple of weeks, So trying to use as many as I can before that so they are not wasted. But theres a couple of big guys that Id like to let go hard. Trying to have my cake and eat it too so to speak. Went out last night when the rain stopped with a mate and tipped this guy over and all but the tips of a couple of his points were hard.



Any guesses as too weight?

He is fat alright

Originally Posted by whanahuia

Cheers Guys,

Im in situation where have sold the farm to forestry and cullers arrive in couple of weeks, So trying to use as many as I can before that so they are not wasted. But theres a couple of big guys that Id like to let go hard. Trying to have my cake and eat it too so to speak. Went out last night when the rain stopped with a mate and tipped this guy over and all but the tips of a couple of his points were hard.

Attachment 215607

Any guesses as too weight?

Leave them as long as possible and cure the velvet heads. On a real note mate shot a fully stripped (maybe a day or so as was not colored up yet fallow buck 18th of Feb so realistically it was strippable a few days earlier than that. It's was north canterbury and the buck was pretty ancient so probably ahead of most.

Originally Posted by whanahuia

Cheers Guys,

Im in situation where have sold the farm to forestry and cullers arrive in couple of weeks, So trying to use as many as I can before that so they are not wasted. But theres a couple of big guys that Id like to let go hard. Trying to have my cake and eat it too so to speak. Went out last night when the rain stopped with a mate and tipped this guy over and all but the tips of a couple of his points were hard.

Attachment 215607

Any guesses as too weight?

230lb, looks good farm land, why are so many farmers selling off for tree farming? Reading the news, foresty residue/ slashback is making a right mess of river mouth's, what's happened to farming in NZ.

Originally Posted by nor-west

230lb, looks good farm land, why are so many farmers selling off for tree farming? Reading the news, foresty residue/ slashback is making a right mess of river mouth's, what's happened to farming in NZ.

Easy rising administrative costs of farming and the mental strain of constantly being made out to be terrible greedy bastards combined with the extremely lucrative carbon credit market makes selling an appealing way out.

Originally Posted by whanahuia

Cheers Guys,

Im in situation where have sold the farm to forestry and cullers arrive in couple of weeks, So trying to use as many as I can before that so they are not wasted. But theres a couple of big guys that Id like to let go hard. Trying to have my cake and eat it too so to speak. Went out last night when the rain stopped with a mate and tipped this guy over and all but the tips of a couple of his points were hard.

Attachment 215607

Any guesses as too weight?

The lower tynes will harden first. This is evident when they point and the velvet on them looks like it has dried out. The tips harden last. They need to appear pointed before they are fully developed. So at the time the tips are fully pointed and the velvet on the lower tines looks dry and life less is the earliest the head can be taken. It should then be hand stripped immediately before the velvet dries on

Originally Posted by nor-west

230lb, looks good farm land, why are so many farmers selling off for tree farming? Reading the news, foresty residue/ slashback is making a right mess of river mouth's, what's happened to farming in NZ.

I cant answer for other farmers, but suspect some of the reasons will be the same. In our situation we had built a dairy unit on our better land, but it required the support of our steeper country to be viable. We had too many creeks that could not feasibly be fenced off and indications were that in a short period of time We would be forced to remove our cattle from those areas. It meant we would have to return to sheep and it would have made our dairy unit less viable. Plus a few other reasons mixed in and we decided was better to sell now before more farmers came to the same conclusions and look for a farm that offered us a similar lifestyle but that did not have the same issues.
Forestry were quite simply, paying the most.

you could go and get it mounted in velvet..there are a few guys doing it.