Thread: Venison meat hunting in NZ in the past

Originally Posted by charliehorse

So was the chiller manned full time? What would have stopped someone from swapping tags or pilfering carcasses?

Chillers that I had anything to do with always had a guy on hand except down in one particular area in South Westland.
In this area you had guys that were shooters on machines etc and guys ground shooting on foot,from buggys,4x4's etc and jet boats.
Every one capable of holding a big moon or knowing where ti put a bullet was on board,local and their wifes alike.
Myself and a coupla mates ground shot an area or three down at the Haast and were parked up at Mussel Point fi some time.
We were in the habit of swapping our kills for the bigger stags etc that were hanging in the chillers whenever we had the chance. The dudes dropping off the big boys were working off the machines for companies and did'nt give a shit. We did very well outa the chopper boys.
We each had silly names on our tags..mine was miro,when the tax man finally arrived.......well thats another story eh.
I'm sorry if I jumped the gun here charliehorse

nah it was honesty - one knew if you were ever caught cheating fellow hunters leave the district real quick or you would be a marked man- we did not tolerate that sort of bullshit - neither did we ever interfere with vehicles or steal from each other - poach well all I can say is we did not have GPS to tell exactly where boundary was

I was building down in TeAnu on the waterfront mid 70s for about 18months.Up to 26 choppers operated out of TeAnu chasing deer.Some evenings youd see 4 or 5 choppers racing down the lake with a few deer hanging under edge one of them.Our part time crane operator was their chopper machanic as well.Use to be some piss ups on a Sunday afternoon out at their shed hanger.
There was the odd scap at the local pub between the pilots shooters verses fisherman shearers.No body really won.Cops wouldn't get involved till the next day if needed.
Use to be a lot of flash uts n cars around in those days.Good money n deer,crayfish n shearing.Another good money spinner was possum skins.Lot of freezing workers use to come to TeAnu and do a lot of trapping for the winter.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

nah it was honesty - one knew if you were ever caught cheating fellow hunters leave the district real quick or you would be a marked man- we did not tolerate that sort of bullshit - neither did we ever interfere with vehicles or steal from each other - poach well all I can say is we did not have GPS to tell exactly where boundary was

Ha,ha the only ones that lost out on occasions were like I mentioned,,the big companies.
The ariel shooters themselves were pretty close mates,,not all of them but a few we were living with along with a coupla pilots.
We had a thing goin on and no one was jumping up and down about it either.
There was bugger all poaching on each others blocks..that was a no. The poaching I mentioned was around areas where joe cocky boundried
the bush etc, not where we were in South Westland..other areas in the South Island.
Sounds like you were a tad more civil Barry the hunter than us lot were back then...lol good fi you.

Originally Posted by doinit

Ha,ha the only ones that lost out on occasions were like I mentioned,,the big companies.
The ariel shooters themselves were pretty close mates,,not all of them but a few we were living with along with a coupla pilots.
We had a thing goin on and no one was jumping up and down about it either.
There was bugger all poaching on each others blocks..that was a no. The poaching I mentioned was around areas where joe cocky boundried
the bush etc, not where we were in South Westland..other areas in the South Island.
Sounds like you were a tad more civil Barry the hunter than us lot were back then...lol good fi you.

nah some of those Matawai meat hunters one did not muck around with bloody loose cannons - called themselves the bush rats

An old Tokoroa mate of mine who was a very capable hunter, and accomplished poacher, put some through the chillers/system, and some cash.
He had a restaurant in Auckland that took meat. He would drive up, and return with cash, not sure what state he provided them in? Whole animals, skinned or not.

I also remember him complaining about all the tax, so he split the sales up between his two kids to stay in the lowest tax bracket.
Hard, strong men who did it for a crust, he worked full time at Kinleith, and hunted his days off, and nights if on day shift.
He had a legendary reputation for his ability to carry large animals whole for hours.

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

yip and the odd chop up with the chainsaw in the public bar . it was a bit wild west at times .

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 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 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 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!!

So how about now? I assume there are`t as many people as before doing it, how much is for a game red deer worth in SI now? I understand most of those meat will go to pet food company, only small portions actually will appear in market for human consumption. I heard one guy doing rabbit hunting in Qtwn area and supply it to a restaurant, and another making pie sell it online. premium wild catch meat....

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

nah some of those Matawai meat hunters one did not muck around with bloody loose cannons - called themselves the bush rats

Neville Tohill wrote 2 books based around Matawai on the ground based venison era; Out Spotlighting and Bushrats. An index in Spotlighting has a number of explanations for various terms.