Thread: Venison meat hunting in NZ in the past

Originally Posted by XR500

The open tussock land of Waiouru got an absolute pasting from soldiers that could make more from selling a couple of deer shot during the weekend, than they were making from their salary as a Corporal instructor. Back then most all of the training schools for Army trades resided in Waiouru, hence the large number of junior NCO's posted to Waiouru. Alan Jones, the game buyer running the Waiouru chiller was just one of them. EME from memory. The guys I started hunting with had been shooting Waiouru lands for a decade and had numerous stories of daring do. One guy, Red Susmilch (RIP) was an absolute machine with a deer on his back. He would merrily poach the land to the immediate south of Waiouru in the early morning, when weather conditions would cloak it in fog. The area was often used for winter grazing by Maunganui station, and had a winter crop on it. He could outrun an an angry farmer with a deer on his back, throwing taunts back at them as he ran

It was well known by Army hunters that any fire started in the tussock would become a deer magnet in a year or two post the fire. There were more than the odd incident of paraflares being fired off at less than the recommended angle by soldier hunters during army exercises to 'improve' the hunting opportunities in their favourite zone.

Two years after such an 'accident' three of my mates were out in the northern zones for an early Saturday morning hunt hunting their favorite valley. One murmured from behind his binos "I've spotted three donks". Next mate said "no, there's four there". Last mate said from behind his binos "you guys are blind, there's five in that mob". They put their binos down and looked at each other. Each was looking in a different direction!

They made a really neat series of super 8 films on how to go hunting: One was how to drive and winch your hopelessly underpowered Series 1 long wheelbase Landy in and out of some horrendous terrain. Another was how to fetch the deer from the more difficult areas by Suzuki mudbug and bring back to the Landy. In one area it was always a tossup if it was more efficient to negotiate a 100m long steep descent with the landy and have to spend ages winching back up it with half a dozen deer on board, or leave the Landy at the top and do several trips with the mudbugs to go pick them up. The video of the underpowered mudbugs attempting the hill climb always made for entertaining watching. The film narrator, based at the bottom of the hill, talked the viewers through how the rider had stropped the deer onboard the mudbug and was now going to ascend the hill. Mudbug loaded to the gunnels screams in second gear towards the face, gets one third of the way up, wheel stands and loops out, rider with 60 kg deer and now upside down mudbug yells at mates to help him out from under the bug, as all the petrol from the carb overflow is now dribbling down all over his deer and onto his face. Mates are rolling around pissing themselves before going to lend a hand.

In its time the mudbug ruled the roost. In later decades the XR's were seen as superior, but the low slung nature of the mudbug permitted a lot more stable platform for hauling out deer in one piece for sale. It just lacked horsepower so was geared right down accordingly.

When it all became too difficult to sell deer by the average soldier hunter, more powerful, comfortable capable bikes brought the venison out broken down in the pack.

By the late 1980's deer had become relatively scarce there and 'hot spots' were coveted, and only close mates were invited along, so as not to empty the venison larder too rapidly. It really only picked up in the mid 00's and has got progressively better, depending on your wild animal stance.

That's a great post mate, i know that area well to the immediate south of Waiouru and yeah the manager on Maunganui station was always chasing poachers around, don't think he ever had much luck catching them LOL ahh the good ole days. I had one of those suzuki mudbugs too, the were certainly good for carrying a deer out.
Cheers