Thread: Goat hunting?

Just wondering does any body here hunt goats for dog tukka and where abouts in the kaimai, Waikato region is there any farms or doc land with accessible goats on.
cheers

Probably need to go further south for goats these days mate. East Cape has plenty. Goat meat traders have been buying mustered goats from around Waikato/king country by the hundreds as they sell it to pet food companies. Very few pockets of unwanted goats around now as farmers realise their 'problem' goats are worth a few $$. Good luck finding a spot and if ya find a good one, let us know so we can come with ya

Goats fall in and out of favour with farmers all the time. One year they're worth a little money, the next they're worth nothing....however the sharp farmers out there have done the maths and soon realise that the couple of a grand for 50 goats doesn't really stack up against a flock of a thousand sheep getting rejected for sheep measles (goats are a major carrier) at the works, and the thousands in dollars worth of damage done to fences each year by the goats pushing through the wires and popping the batterns, and the best grass tips being taken by the goats etc...

It's the old story, do some homework on who the sharp operators are in your area, do the leg work, offer something back, prove you're trustworthy and you'll be surprised how doors will open.

Kj

Ps the kaimais have never had a lot of goats. The coromandel only has low numbers currently, most Waikato blocks are under sustained management, so on public land goats are in pretty low numbers. However funding for goat control is getting reduced, so in a few years I'd suspect there will be a lot more goats if things don't change. This is not great for the bush we all love and enjoy so much, as goats are only bad news for the bush.

The goats round this way have mainly been smashed by the choppers from the council, much to the Farmers' dislike as they leave the bodies on the farm. This bring up the pigs from the native who also come and rip the paddocks to buggery.

There's a pretty low population as most people have their own measures to control them, ie three farms have me, they all feed goat as dog food.

I got into it by putting on my best smile and talking to the grand-daddy of the area who then took a shine to me and introduced me to other land owners.

Not that any of this is really helping you with your public land goat issue but I guess just rock up to a farm and say gidday. Seriously, it works. You have to pluck up a bit of courage but as long as you're not a complete muppet, I'm sure you'll get some great pointers. I knocked on the door of a farm in the Wairarapa once and got so much help it wasn't funny. Just don't take your shotgun to the door!

G'luck.

Originally Posted by Dougie

The goats round this way have mainly been smashed by the choppers from the council, much to the Farmers' dislike as they leave the bodies on the farm. This bring up the pigs from the native who also come and rip the paddocks to buggery.

There's a pretty low population as most people have their own measures to control them, ie three farms have me, they all feed goat as dog food.

I got into it by putting on my best smile and talking to the grand-daddy of the area who then took a shine to me and introduced me to other land owners.

Not that any of this is really helping you with your public land goat issue but I guess just rock up to a farm and say gidday. Seriously, it works. You have to pluck up a bit of courage but as long as you're not a complete muppet, I'm sure you'll get some great pointers. I knocked on the door of a farm in the Wairarapa once and got so much help it wasn't funny. Just don't take your shotgun to the door!

G'luck.

Great advice Dougie....

Cheers, yeah it's worked for me.

Advice on the interwebs does certainly help but getting out there and meeting people in person is where the spot x's are at!!

There is plenty of goats around if you know where to look most on private land though, a good way to get into a spot is go for a drive along some of the smaller ranges, if you spot some goats on a farm go ask the farmer if you can have a crack. It helps if you say you saw a large billy and you want to collect its head as they wont invisage you leaving goat corpses all over their farm once you prove your not an idiot you can usually get much less restricted access quickly. farms or runoffs near forestry blocks have allways been a winner for me, especially if they are in the process of logging or have just cleared a section. The worst that can happen is you well be told (politely in most cases) to fuck off or pointed in the direction of farmers who are wanting rid of a few pesky goats.

There are some in the northern waikato public blocks also but spend the day on the surrounding farm land and hunker down in the native at night if your keen enough get out there just before first light on the edge of the block and snipe a couple as they make the transition.

Originally Posted by Dougie

Cheers, yeah it's worked for me.

Advice on the interwebs does certainly help but getting out there and meeting people in person is where the spot x's are at!!

I wonder if your luck was helped by being female with alien blue eyes

Dundee everyone knows Aliens don't have eyes!!

I agree with Dundee on this one....

Originally Posted by Dougie

Dundee everyone knows Aliens don't have eyes!!

My pet one does