Thread: Ruahine deer control

Yip. If the weather is half decent this coming weekend, the hills will be seething with trampers undertaking 4 day missions.

It would certainly improve Roar hunting if hind numbers were culled back, the stags don't exactly need to fight over hinds with the shear numbers of them. Part of the problem, particularly in the Southern Ruahines is that a lot of hunters no longer want to or know how to bush hunt- there's only so much you can shoot by sitting watching over a slip face. Also there are high deer numbers on the private land bordering the Park, with landowners not wanting to control them so there's always an "easy" deer for them to knock over when they want.

Originally Posted by Riflewalker

Also there are high deer numbers on the private land bordering the Park, with landowners not wanting to control them so there's always an "easy" deer for them to knock over when they want.

A mate of mine has been taking advantage of this fact for years. If you want easy deer, hunt the DoC side of the bush edge. He will often head off to pick up an easy deer from a road end and be back home after only a few hours.

Didn't need to be told twice to go shoot some more Ruahine deer. Fruits of a quick overnight mission.

I was on the NZDA cull, a very well organised and successful event run in partnership with DOC and local Iwi. One off permits were issued by DOC allowing hunters to be landed in some difficult to reach areas like the Saw Tooth Ridge area which does not see many hunters. It was hinds only, no stags to be taken.

Check out this very young 10-pointer I photographed, showing plenty of potential for the Ruahine which is known for poor head quality.

Originally Posted by earplay

Didn't need to be told twice to go shoot some more Ruahine deer. Fruits of a quick overnight mission.
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Deadmans on Saturday?

Originally Posted by Remutaka

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I was on the NZDA cull, a very well organised and successful event run in partnership with DOC and local Iwi. One off permits were issued by DOC allowing hunters to be landed in some difficult to reach areas like the Saw Tooth Ridge area which does not see many hunters. It was hinds only, no stags to be taken.

Check out this very young 10-pointer I photographed, showing plenty of potential for the Ruahine which is known for poor head quality.

Thats a neat photo mate, as you said a young 10 pointer. People say there are no good stags/heads in the Ruahines, well if hunters didn't shoot all the 3/4 year old stags and let them mature a bit I'm sure you'd see some reasonable heads come out of the Ruahines. While they certainly wont compare to South Island trophy's they would at a least be better than the average stag shot now.!!

Originally Posted by 30late

Thats a neat photo mate, as you said a young 10 pointer. People say there are no good stags/heads in the Ruahines, well if hunters didn't shoot all the 3/4 year old stags and let them mature a bit I'm sure you'd see some reasonable heads come out of the Ruahines. While they certainly wont compare to South Island trophy's they would at a least be better than the average stag shot now.!!

50 years ago we called them Ruahine Rats. I remember one year the Orua Cup at Palmy NZDA was won by a 4 pointer. From what I see on here they have improved since then, but as said knocking over hinds and leaving the young stags will improve them further.

Originally Posted by Tahr

50 years ago we called them Ruahine Rats. I remember one year the Orua Cup at Palmy NZDA was won by a 4 pointer. From what I see on here they have improved since then, but as said knocking over hinds and leaving the young stags will improve them further.

In 1976 Colin Cox got a nice head over Otukota area. Best head out of Ruahines for years. A young bloke got a*nice head over Mokai station wayin recent times but it looked*like a bit of farm in it.The northern Ruahines probably has the best genetics. *

Originally Posted by Tahr

50 years ago we called them Ruahine Rats. I remember one year the Orua Cup at Palmy NZDA was won by a 4 pointer. From what I see on here they have improved since then, but as said knocking over hinds and leaving the young stags will improve them further.

Have to agree with you @Tahr also letting them get to the roar and not taking them when still in velvet (hard underneath then stripped and stained) would help as well as the dna gets past on. Hinds Hinds Hinds. Besides back steaks are easier to carry.
On a side note do drag them away from the tracks and out of the streams if possible.

Originally Posted by TeRei

In 1976 Colin Cox got a nice head over Otukota area. Best head out of Ruahines for years. A young bloke got a*nice head over Mokai station wayin recent times but it looked*like a bit of farm in it.The northern Ruahines probably has the best genetics. *

Yes. Otukota was good for heads. Alex Henderson (used to be "Cooch" on the old forum) pulled 3 good ones in I think successive years out of there. Early 1980's.

Yeah. The limestone country in the north western Ruahines certainly produces some good sized animals and ensures calcium is not a limiting factor for antler growth. Bottoms of the slips was always brilliant hunting, even when deer were 'scarce' in the 80's. I had the North Eastern Ruahines as my possum block a bit of 79 and the winter of 1980. Would bump or spook deer only once every two or three days. My how times have changed.

Shoot to waste and own it. My last proper trip in there last roar we got our Norwegian friend a NZ Red Stag and then smacked every hind we saw after that. Rec hunters will never do enough but we can contribute. Will be interesting to see what management options they come up with as it needs to happen. Organised rec hunter hunts although a great idea will never be near enough either - it’s still just rec hunting.

Originally Posted by stagstalker

Shoot to waste and own it. My last proper trip in there last roar we got our Norwegian friend a NZ Red Stag and then smacked every hind we saw after that. Rec hunters will never do enough but we can contribute. Will be interesting to see what management options they come up with as it needs to happen. Organised rec hunter hunts although a great idea will never be near enough either - it’s still just rec hunting.

If there was enough of the organised rec hunts they certainly would make a dent. 80 hinds for one isn't too bad. Sure it doesn't quite compare to some of the professional culling ventures but considering it doesn't cost the tax payer anything I think there is merit.
If there were another few more of them organised over a 12 month period with more people participating, reaching outside of the nzda etc. I think you would find over 12 months it would start being comparable to hundreds of hours of professional culling.

Combine that with the initiative of financially incentivising waro, which DoC is going to try undertake, and you will find the numbers will decline.
It wasn't that long ago in the scheme of things that throughout alot of the Ruahines the deer numbers were not that high. Enjoy it while it lasts!

The last time I talked with the doc manager they were only paying for hinds over 40kg, I tried to point out that it should be paid out on any hind not just the weight the factory wants