Thread: Hawkes Bay Today wild deer article

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

be great if one could get some co-ordinates of the mobs and post up for the new hunters going in there - any help to new hunters would go down well

I've done that on almost every ruahine thread for years Barry
While they are my stomping ground I have no hesitation in helping others out.
I'd rather we managed it ourselves than doc stepped in.

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10 percent of the hunters getting 90 percent of the deer holds true.
Farmers know that and are choosy about who they let on for a reason. A free for all would be a shambles.

Fill your boots on public land. But even if coords of hot spots were posted the majority of hunters would still come back disappointed.
I wonder if the new thermal rule will up the success rate?

From the experience a number of associates had.
The hunters get cunning (lazier) once they're over the novelty of seeing deer they would have missed.
Preferring to wait until the recovery is easy.
It takes lots of experience & practice to make a dent once the easy animals are gone.
It was a job I did.
Used to get a few strange looks when you called at the farmhouse on the way home. Hours after dark some nights.
Wish we had todays technology then.
A decent torch was a novelty.
Shows my age

Went on a recent management hunt where there had been considerable pressure on the animals. They were very trained up, and new the score. Spent a considerable time in the area I had playing tag with a pair of does, eventually getting ghosted by them. I moved, they moved and as soon as I was stationary they were shadows. Kept the sun behind them making scoping slower than ideal as looking into the sun, and also meant I had a lovely spotlight on me highlighting every movement. Eventually they got sick of teaching me a lesson and backtracked into thin air it seemed, eventually saw them several hundred meters away gapping it into a big chunk of bush. Ranges 80-120m up til then, I had the scope on them several times just to watch them move into shadow and gone behind something. It really was an education in how well they learn to play the game with a lot of continuous pressure on, they really were dictating the rules to me. Spotting tech or a second set of eyes would really have helped me track them into the shadows and be ready for them to step out with the rifle on target, but without it I was on the wrong side of the equation. Rest of the animals were like that more or less as well, not ideal.

As far as culling, taking females is the best approach to get control of numbers as one female = 4 deer in three years. Most hunters aren't really looking for those though. Also, dropping everything you can out of the group as quickly as possible so the animals that are remaining and have learnt aren't huge in numbers. A farm I knew a while back left a buggered fence at one point on the boundary with doc land with another 5-wire further in for the farm animals to stay behind. This gave them a known access point which with the right conditions (wind direction, temp, weather and moon/sun phase) they could sit observing and drop everything trying to step through. Some nights they were getting 25 or 30 or more deer. This before the semi ban though, not sure what they are doing now. Having rec hunters coming on and paying for a couple of animals every few days is maybe a good supplementary money thing but no good for controlling animal numbers.

Originally Posted by BRADS

I couldn't agree more the ruahines are a classic example of this, a mate came out of the ruahines yesterday with his kids after a loop walk, saw mobs of 10- 20 deer the whole trip.
Yet when someone posts on here they went up there and did some culling they get accused of wasting meat...taking two many animals etc..

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Brads - what part of the Ruahines / what loop was that? I am heading up for a few days mid week next week.

Open invite too if anyone wants to join.

Originally Posted by bear308

Brads - what part of the Ruahines / what loop was that? I am heading up for a few days mid week next week.

Open invite too if anyone wants to join.

Hey mate mill road, Howletts hut , over the Sawtooth down past Tarn Biv.

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Originally Posted by BRADS

Hey mate mill road, Howletts hut , over the Sawtooth down past Tarn Biv.

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Thanks mate, will mark it on the map. Was intending to hunt Rangiwahia side but will reconsider, good to get to know the area regardless cheers

Originally Posted by bear308

Thanks mate, will mark it on the map. Was intending to hunt Rangiwahia side but will reconsider, good to get to know the area regardless cheers

PM if you want some info are hunting over on the Rangi side.