Thread: Te Puke Fallow

Went into Otawa Scenic Reserve for the first time on QB Monday, hoping for a fallow. There were two other utes in the carpark when I pulled up, and from the wet footprints on stream crossings I could tell they were only just ahead of me. As I was departing the carpark another wagon was pulling up. I ditched my original hunting plan because of this, and decided to head straight off the track.
Over the course of the day I only saw fallow sign three times. Heaps of pig sign though, and eventually stalked in on a pig at 20m or so, a nice dry sow at about 80lb. Popped a pill from the .222 in behind her ear. Where are the fallow here? I’m picking they’re on the fringes, or are they just in small numbers? Thanks in advance.

That scallywag @Gibo has eaten them all.

He’s using them for kingfish bait

They are where they are, I'd say you wont take long to get into them. Te Puke herd is healthy is all i'll say

Originally Posted by Gibo

They are where they are, I'd say you wont take long to get into them. Te Puke herd is healthy is all i'll say

What a bloody tease @Gibo, help a brother out!

They are in there man. Fallow are the most regimented deer of any of the species here. Once you get on to an area with deer around youll be able to keep going back.

I regularly find fallow deer within 50m of where I have found them on previous hunts. Usually in pairs too.

Thanks for the advice all. Guess I’ll keep going back till I find them. Do any of you guys who hunt the area find them deep inside the native, or mostly around the fringes?

What???no lever action?

To be open, lots are on the farmland so fringes must be a close second

Going for a walk in there tomorrow, will let you know how I get on.

Which side did you go in?

Used to hunt it a lot and found most were close to the grass. I tried hunting off the track off Rocky Cutting Rd and we got a few and put up plenty. They can be hard to see in the dark bush as they blend in well. The bush in there can be testing but in saying that we found some nice areas and usually there were deer about in those spots, just remember they are suckers for grass but don't shoot anything out in the paddocks. Good luck they are a challenge in that environment.

Originally Posted by The bomb

What???no lever action?

I’m between lever actions at the moment Jase, itching for another one though!

Went with a mate who had never shot a deer to his bosses farm out the back of the puke few years ago as a guide and even though the weather was terrible we still saw 6 different small groups of animals over the course of the day,he never got a shot but you should have heard the wires twanging on the boundary fence right on dark as the little bugger worked their way thru the wires to get onto the paddocks from the surrounding bush.,he rang me a few days later telling me the farmers wife’s corgi chased a group of 17 across the kitchen paddock the next evening,lots of deer around te puke if you know where to look.

Thanks for the post. Brought back many happy memories from when I was a teenager living in Te Puke in the late 70's early 80's. I hunted Otawa after school and in weekends. Plenty of deer back then and it sounds like the herd is still healthy.