Thread: Taking the Hunt out of Hunting.

Originally Posted by Tentman

I think you've been reading too many Robin Hood books, British people have hunted both at home and on every continent for hundreds of years - how do you think they got to have the world's best gunmakers in the late 19th century?

yes agree tentman if I had been poor in England years ago I likely would have been a very skilled poacher

Originally Posted by Bagheera

The strength of that hunting instinct seems to vary a lot between individuals. As does an instinct for gardening but gardening is more common. Perhaps genes for instinctive hunting have been negatively selected in some regions like England where it was the preserve of a ruling class and common folk who hunted the King’s deer were hung drawn and quarterd over many generations. The more individualistic and the determined poachers left their descendents in the colonies.

Well the all beasts of the local Forests and Chase are now taken by my hand alone, guess that makes me the noble of the land

I've got no problem with how people choose to hunt, what really pisses me off is videos that pan around and show the country side that they are hunting, some of these places are quite sacred to some and these videos have the potential to ruin it.

Originally Posted by Tentman

For my part a rifle in hand tells me to turn off the beaten track and explore. Shooting an animal is secondary but meat in the freezer is great.

Hunting is for me a bit different.
I love being out in the nature and the wilderness and be away from cities, towns and a lot of people.
It is in the nature I belong.
But I hunt to kill.
Shooting an animal when I hunt is my primary goal.
Being in the nature is secondary.
Then the meat I get from the kill to eat comes after that and some nice antlers or horns are only a nice bonus.

I would love to live a life where I could be out in nature all the time and live of what I shoot and fish, with a fine woman enjoying the same by my side.
Sadly that life is extremely hard to find/get these days and finding a woman that wants to share it with you is even harder.
She is a unicorn in an ocean of horses.
Specially because I have a hard time thinking women around my own age(57) or a bit younger are attractive

Originally Posted by Titanium

I've got no problem with how people choose to hunt, what really pisses me off is videos that pan around and show the country side that they are hunting, some of these places are quite sacred to some and these videos have the potential to ruin it.

I have made the mistake to teach and help other hunters by taking them to my good hunting areas for them to get experience in hunting and have success in killing animals.
Either totally new hunters or hunters struggling to hunt the right way to be able to shoot a deer or another animal.
They have all joined me with the promise to never tell anyone else about the area and how to hunt it and almost all of them have broken that promise.
With the result that my good hunting areas have been totally ruined.
Some times they also have behaved so badly that all, including me have lost access to some private areas.

So now am I only taking my father, my kids or two of my friends to my hunting areas and I have stopped teaching new hunters how to hunt.
Teaching new hunters how to hunt is something I enjoyed a lot, but to many bad experiences have stopped me doing it.

I think you can only hunt for so many decades and its good to pass on knowledge and hunting grounds.

Good places close to town tend to get discovered by many anyway.

More remote places are well deserved by those who can get there and regaling others of your adventures and where you were is half the fun. Like most people i’m a bit discreet about the locality when posting on the internet or in print.

Originally Posted by Titanium

I've got no problem with how people choose to hunt, what really pisses me off is videos that pan around and show the country side that they are hunting, some of these places are quite sacred to some and these videos have the potential to ruin it.

Can't anyone have a fly-over in a chopper/drone and take a good look with thermal?

I think it won't be long before Google Earth or similar has heat-maps, even under the canopy.

Nowhere will be 'secret' for much longer.

Other people enjoying my videos on youtube is a secondary outcome. My primary reason for producing them is memories for myself and my family to re watch. It’s a lot of time and effort to make them, something i’ve struggled with motivation for lately (plus an actual lack of decent hunt time).

Good thread.

Agree, Tasman is the man. The weights he carries in and out I still struggle to compute.

To be fair to the YouTubers Tahr and Chamois are tops hunting animals, and there's lots of country like Otago, South Canterbury, Marlborough that doesn't seem to hold much bush hunting opportunities.

As a newish hunter (3 or so years) I pretty much only hunt the tops/open, shots are between 150-300m because it's easier than bush stalking and a good entry pathway. I'd personally love to learn to bush stalk, but it appears to be a whole different skill set and without a teacher/mentor it's a tough sell. Reading books and this forum isn't the same thing to learn the skill. There's also something awesome about being on the tops and the views that it provides, and as someone who enjoys the hiking and camping part of hunting, I get a lot of satisfaction from climbing new mountain ranges.

If there are any Canterbury based experienced bush hunters that are up for teaching the skill I'm happy to cover driving, food, ammo, costs.

Good onya mate, I'm sort of in the same boat...I had the perfect opportunity to tag along with my brother in law over the years on the West Coast, he could have taught me everything I needed to know including 'where & how' to hunt the bush, river flats and scrub that he hunted with success. He died about 4yrs ago now and I rushed out and got my FAL so that I could keep his rifles in the family (that took about 2yrs +) as licenses were taking that long at the time. Anyhow...I'm now hunting those areas myself and having to teach myself & learn along the way, would have been waaaay easier if I had thought about it at the time and tagged along with old mate. Never mind, what's done is how it is, I got my first deer a few months ago and I've seen plenty in the area and that includes seeing deer in the flesh as well as setting up a game camera in our local spot. A couple of weeks ago I cruised spot X then made my way back through the bush to camp, didn't see anything but I KNOW they are there, I'll continue to teach myself and I'll keep going back and I WILL be successful, if you look at my latest posts I recently had 3 big healthy hinds in my scope at 27m....and I farking missed on 1st shot rofl. It was operator error and won't happen again. But yeah...long story short - tag along with someone who knows the drill when it comes to bush stuff...or like me just wing it and teach yourself .

Originally Posted by Twodiffs

Good onya mate, I'm sort of in the same boat...I had the perfect opportunity to tag along with my brother in law over the years on the West Coast, he could have taught me everything I needed to know including 'where & how' to hunt the bush, river flats and scrub that he hunted with success. He died about 4yrs ago now and I rushed out and got my FAL so that I could keep his rifles in the family (that took about 2yrs +) as licenses were taking that long at the time. Anyhow...I'm now hunting those areas myself and having to teach myself & learn along the way, would have been waaaay easier if I had thought about it at the time and tagged along with old mate. Never mind, what's done is how it is, I got my first deer a few months ago and I've seen plenty in the area and that includes seeing deer in the flesh as well as setting up a game camera in our local spot. A couple of weeks ago I cruised spot X then made my way back through the bush to camp, didn't see anything but I KNOW they are there, I'll continue to teach myself and I'll keep going back and I WILL be successful, if you look at my latest posts I recently had 3 big healthy hinds in my scope at 27m....and I farking missed on 1st shot rofl. It was operator error and won't happen again. But yeah...long story short - tag along with someone who knows the drill when it comes to bush stuff...or like me just wing it and teach yourself .

Your attitude is just the ticket. Keep it up. Only a matter of time before you enjoy sweet success.

Im self taught as nobody in my family is even remotley interested in hunting etc old man only had a rifle in the back of the cupboard to put animals down. Went for a hunt on the farm yeaterday and started getting gear ready when nearly done I looked at it and thought wtf am I taking all this crap for. Threw it all back in the car and just grabbed rifle and some ammo didnt even bother putting boots on and went bare foot. First time ive done that and still saw animals....

Some good opinions and banter on here for sure.
I think the intent of my initial post may have been lost in translation.

This isn't an ethics thread or which form of killing deer is the best thread.
It not a bush vs long range or a bush vs open country type of thread either.
As I tried to say a few times, in my opinion there is no right or wrong way of getting game meat on the kitchen table.
People can hunt however they want, I'm not putting any method or type above or below in a rank.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, is modern technology and advancements in gear slowly taking the hunt out of hunting.
Do we as hunters need the same level of skill nowadays as we did say I don't know 20 years ago.
Are our hunting skills slowly being eroded by technology advancements.
Is killing deer becoming easier with what we as hunters have available to us now. Putting current deer numbers aside.

I like to keep it old school because i like the challenge of the stalk in the bush. That's it. I'm not saying I'm a better hunter than others or my way is better than another type.
Can i kill deer more easily in easier country with the help of modern equipment. Yes I could, but I'm not time poor or cash poor so I don't have to come away with a result every time or in the least amount of time or money spent.
I understand others do and that's fine I have no problem with that. Horses for courses.

As advances in modern warfare slowly filter over into the civilian market I wonder what the next advancement will be to increase the likely hood of a successful hunt.
Are those advances slowly taking the hunt out of hunting.

You will always do better if you understand the animals and country you hunt. Tech can only get you so far.

Originally Posted by whanahuia

You will always do better if you understand the animals and country you hunt. Tech can only get you so far.

Yeah I understand what you're saying for sure.
But do we as hunters need less understanding of the animals and country with the help of Tech?

Back in the 80's and 90's we saw stuff all pig hunters because only so many pig hunters had the navigation or map/compass skills to understand their whereabouts and ability to keep up with their dogs so they could hear a bail.
Fast forward to today and it seems every second ute has a dog box on the back because GPS and tracking collars means a lot more people can now participate without those fears or having to learn to the same degree.

Great as it allows some people to participate in an awesome sport that otherwise they might not of been able to enjoy and experience because of those fears.
No hate from me.


It doesn't matter to me, but its sort of a rough example of maybe modern tech helping take some of the hunt out of hunting.
Might be a poor example.