Thread: Queenstown Hunting.

@nzradar7m Yip I've got a permit for the Mount Aspiring National Park and the Cadrona Glenorchy Shotover blocks. PM incoming as any extra info would be awesome.

And to @planenutz That's the exact information I'm after, no where online or on the doc website that I've seen does it say anything about the whitetail heard in the area and I'd feel like a massive prick to take one out after all the effort to re-establish the numbers in the area. If it wasnt for this forum I'd go out guns blazing (that's a lie, I probably couldn't sneak up on a tame deer in a paddock). So Reds it is and hopefully I can feed some of the Yanks and Canucks that are travelling over for this wedding some wild venison.

Cheers guys I really do appreciate it.

The real reason that the Whitetails haven't ever established around Glenorchy is because they are very susceptible to MCF or Malignant Catarrhral Fever. This is a windborne disease carried and spread by sheep. Any susceptible animal within 3 km of sheep is at risk.

Well there you go... you learn something new every day!

Never knew that but did wonder why they weren't more prevalent.

Originally Posted by planenutz

Well there you go... you learn something new every day!

Never knew that but did wonder why they weren't more prevalent.

I have seen fantastic Whitetails on a Trophy Hunting park near Queenstown decedents from stock that came from Glenorchy. One Buck if shot in the wild would have been the new NZ record. I have seen does on the same park with triplets all as big as mum, so the environment is fine for them in the Queenstown area in places sufficiently isolated from sheep. In the US MCF affects (kills) Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep ( +Muleys, Bison, Whitetails ) in country where their grazing overlaps domestic sheep. On Stewart Island, hunters complained that DOC was poisoning deer in one area because dead deer were being found continuously. DOC were not poisoning the deer, the deaths were all occurring in a radius from a small sheep farm on the Island.

Lots of better spots to go around here. You can pm me for ideas.

Wow thanks for that @Moa Hunter interesting. Question why only white tail in NZ and not other deer species?

And it's all fallen through, caught something bad from vietnam, quack seems to think Giardia. Puts my day trip fishing my way down to queenstown and the day trip to find some deer off for a while. Such is life eh.

Giardiasis is nasty. Take the antibiotics and take care. You’ll be off colour for a few weeks.

Just be aware there was a virulent form of gastroenteritis also doing the rounds and that one beats you up too (I was off work a week, and will not share further details other than to say those adult diapers do have a use after all).

It’s a beautiful area so even if you miss out this time, it’s well worth planning a trip there.

Originally Posted by Sideshow

Wow thanks for that @Moa Hunter interesting. Question why only white tail in NZ and not other deer species?

Other deer species are susceptible to varying degrees. The Pere David's deer herd that was established at Invermay 'Mosgiel' then moved to Mount Hutt Station were very susceptible. Red deer and Fallow in NZ mostly have come from a UK genetic base. In the UK, Deer have been exposed to MCF through a close association with sheep over hundreds of years. This means that over time animals that carry resistant genes have become dominant in the herds and the susceptible genes have died out. Some Reds still die here from MCF as do some exotic or continental cattle but on the whole the reds are resistant. Whitetail on the other hand have no resistant genes in their DNA that can bring about a resistant strain of deer, so they keep dieing

I like nature to take its course......but on this one himmmm me thinks maybe not!

The Dart did get 1080 last year and the white tail did take

The Dart did get 1080 last year and the white tail did take a rather large hit being that they are a small animal. It is funny how the Rees Valley next door didn't get 1080 even though the main land owner is on the Forest and Bird "band wagon". Maybe she has a double standard when it comes to dropping poison on her own property?