Thread: Venison meat hunting in NZ in the past

Some of you guys will know Brian Goodwin used to be based in Taihape. not sure of the date , probably around 1990 ish. These deer were all shot ground hunting ,just carried out the easy way

Originally Posted by 30late

Attachment 232539
Some of you guys will know Brian Goodwin used to be based in Taihape. not sure of the date , probably around 1990 ish. These deer were all shot ground hunting ,just carried out the easy way

Ha! Good 'ol HLL

We threw a lot of $$ for air time in HLL. (NZ Army)

Its also had more than a couple of non notified prangs.

There was an excellent VHS video of he and his shooter Bugs using buckshot in the Ruahines. Was awfully effective in the later part of the venison days

I believe Brian is now in Aussie??? Not sure if he's still airbourne.

He propped up the Gretna's profits for quite a few years...

Originally Posted by XR500

Ha! Good 'ol HLL

We threw a lot of $$ for air time in HLL. (NZ Army)

Its also had more than a couple of non notified prangs.

There was an excellent VHS video of he and his shooter Bugs using buckshot in the Ruahines. Was awfully effective in the later part of the venison days

I believe Brian is now in Aussie??? Not sure if he's still airbourne.

He propped up the Gretna's profits for quite a few years...

I know Brian was still flying around 2015 -17 as i heard him interviewed on the radio while i lived in WA. He was based in Esperance in the south west of WA.

Couldn't find this photo before to add to my earlier post , this after Brian dropped our load of deer at the road end.!!

Originally Posted by 30late

Attachment 232558
Couldn't find this photo before to add to my earlier post , this after Brian dropped our load of deer at the road end.!!

My god I had a Vdub the same bloody colour at one stage,was'nt chopped down though. I love that pic, brings a lot of aches with great memories
back. They were bloody great wee machines along with the poachers Honda step through 90 lol.

Originally Posted by XR500

Ha! Good 'ol HLL

We threw a lot of $$ for air time in HLL. (NZ Army)

Its also had more than a couple of non notified prangs.

There was an excellent VHS video of he and his shooter Bugs using buckshot in the Ruahines. Was awfully effective in the later part of the venison days

I believe Brian is now in Aussie??? Not sure if he's still airbourne.

He propped up the Gretna's profits for quite a few years...

Bugs Bosher ?

Originally Posted by tararua60

Bugs Bosher ?

Yes Bugs Bosher, he was there on that little mission along with Brian's other shooter /loader driver at the time.

Originally Posted by 30late

Attachment 232539
Some of you guys will know Brian Goodwin used to be based in Taihape. not sure of the date , probably around 1990 ish. These deer were all shot ground hunting ,just carried out the easy way

@30late

Is there a story around this you can share? Curious about ground hunters using helicopters to take out shot animals in any number as late as ~ 1990? Used to see it a bit in the earlier days, but not so much that late in the piece?
Cheers

Originally Posted by Maxx

@30late

Is there a story around this you can share? Curious about ground hunters using helicopters to take out shot animals in any number as late as ~ 1990? Used to see it a bit in the earlier days, but not so much that late in the piece?
Cheers

Yeah mate, its a bit complicated but it certainly helps to have a friendly helicopter pilot !!! we had a very active hunting club going at the time in Taihape which funded some of the helicopter costs.

Originally Posted by Maxx

@30late

Is there a story around this you can share? Curious about ground hunters using helicopters to take out shot animals in any number as late as ~ 1990? Used to see it a bit in the earlier days, but not so much that late in the piece?
Cheers

...I think the answer to your question is lying on the ground to the RHS of the carcasses.

By the early 90's the deer had wised up big time to the helis shooting and netting the tops and slips and valley bottoms. Yet up in the thick northern Ruahine forest proper there remained a reasonably healthy population of forest dwelling deer that only came out onto the tussock well after dark. The only way to get onto those sorts of animals was wait till they came and fed right out well clear of the forest edge, then hit them with the Murapara moonbeam. Access to those hallowed high tops around Ruahine corner (.....and a wee bit further north) for this sort of caper was really only by Helo, in and out of valleys etc. Tidy a bunch of redskins up over a couple of days, hump them into groups capable of being lifted by a 500C, and wait for the tail rotor whine to tell you he was on his way back to pick you up.

Originally Posted by XR500

...I think the answer to your question is lying on the ground to the RHS of the carcasses.

By the early 90's the deer had wised up big time to the helis shooting and netting the tops and slips and valley bottoms. Yet up in the thick northern Ruahine forest proper there remained a reasonably healthy population of forest dwelling deer that only came out onto the tussock well after dark. The only way to get onto those sorts of animals was wait till they came and fed right out well clear of the forest edge, then hit them with the Murapara moonbeam. Access to those hallowed high tops around Ruahine corner (.....and a wee bit further north) for this sort of caper was really only by Helo, in and out of valleys etc. Tidy a bunch of redskins up over a couple of days, hump them into groups capable of being lifted by a 500C, and wait for the tail rotor whine to tell you he was on his way back to pick you up.

Couldn't have said it better myself mate, wondered when someone would notice the spotlight lying beside those carcasses!!