Thread: Summer Deer Hunting Strategies

What summer strategies do you folks use. I'm picking the heat will mean deer only in the open first and last light? Cloudy days more productive? Have access to spots that have bush and some open land fringed by bush

on the hottest day wander into the sticks around lunchtime, head for a gully head that has a flowing water.stalk into the head 20 yards sideling above the creek on the northern side and get ready for some quick draw shooting.

Originally Posted by Yesmate

on the hottest day wander into the sticks around lunchtime, head for a gully head that has a flowing water.stalk into the head 20 yards sideling above the creek on the northern side and get ready for some quick draw shooting.

Spot also has an old power pylon service track that cuts through the bush along the ridge although partially overgrown and I've seen a couple of deer on this a couple weeks back. Covered in grass and mostly sheltered by overhanging trees. Skirts a couple of valley heads. Would this make for good summer stalking? The first section also has farmland on one side of the ridge and bush on the other with a lot of game trails meeting the ridge, although a lot of goats so don't know specifically where the deer bed.

Another question, do goats make beds like deer do?

Took a wander around the Tahakopa Beach block yesterday and set up a couple of cameras. Worked my way north from the bottom, hugging the west side, to the base of the hill. Cool and damp with plenty of sign where the creeks bottom out. The hillside is fairly steep but negotiable so will prowl around those when I go back in but the rest is a bloody wet hellhole. Basically bog hopping from one dry hump to the next. Found a couple of beds on those dry humps but she’s tiger country in there. Whoever started the thread on taking the hunt out of hunting doesn’t go where I do!!
Certainly less pressure on the blocks this time of the year but love the adventure. The body doth protest too much after 6-7km’s of that though

Strategy.hmmm let's see....get my fat arse off couch and head into the bush canopy and just mouse along in cooler areas. Dawn is plurry early at 05:15 and dusk is getting past my bedtime at 21:30

Goats love to be dry so bluffs with overhang are gold if it's raining.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Goats love to be dry so bluffs with overhang are gold if it's raining.

Thanks Micky, what I was trying to figure out is if I might find goat beds and mistake them for deer beds?

Originally Posted by Sidetrack

Took a wander around the Tahakopa Beach block yesterday and set up a couple of cameras. Worked my way north from the bottom, hugging the west side, to the base of the hill. Cool and damp with plenty of sign where the creeks bottom out. The hillside is fairly steep but negotiable so will prowl around those when I go back in but the rest is a bloody wet hellhole. Basically bog hopping from one dry hump to the next. Found a couple of beds on those dry humps but she’s tiger country in there. Whoever started the thread on taking the hunt out of hunting doesn’t go where I do!!
Certainly less pressure on the blocks this time of the year but love the adventure. The body doth protest too much after 6-7km’s of that though

There's a bit of that in the bottoms where I go but thick as in there and impossible to be quiet, or I'm just a lout

Originally Posted by hamishg

Thanks Micky, what I was trying to figure out is if I might find goat beds and mistake them for deer beds?

Nah.goats shit in bed.deer don't. A goat bedding area,if dry,is great to store in memory as they will head there when rain is on the way. In the king country we used goats as weather gauge,when you saw them heading for cover it was time to do the same.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Nah.goats shit in bed.deer don't. A goat bedding area,if dry,is great to store in memory as they will head there when rain is on the way. In the king country we used goats as weather gauge,when you saw them heading for cover it was time to do the same.

Good to know! It's hard enough trying to tell their shit apart

It’s been that wet here over the past year even the deer have the runs. A lot of sloppy jobs out there!!

Originally Posted by Sidetrack

It’s been that wet here over the past year even the deer have the runs. A lot of sloppy jobs out there!!

I was finding a lot of these 2cm long ones that were really green, kinda cylinders with rounded ends, not sure if deer or sheep but still new to this game

Originally Posted by Sidetrack

It’s been that wet here over the past year even the deer have the runs. A lot of sloppy jobs out there!!

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....8/#post1636242

Any ideas?

My strategy is to go diving and fishing. It’s too hot to climb hills in summer haha. But yes, first and last light are much more critical as not much moves during the heat of the day.