Thread: Venison meat hunting in NZ in the past

That reminded me of some hunts on Lochiver where I had some mates. The station had several isolated patches of bush clad gully heads. One would go up top with a dog and a couple of us stationed at bottom end in scrub. Usually took about half an hour before sika would come down into the scrub. Mostly snap shots and the deer went to the rangitaik pub chiller and us into the pub for the night drinking most of the proceeds. Great weekends

Day 1.Heavy Podocarp forest with thick as supplejack guts in the damp spots.Gave the dogs the edge in the head long rush to the valley floor.Funnily both animals ended up in the valley floor within 800 yards of each other.A memorial coupla days but wasn't always like that.Just fluked it

And finally.Did the Blue Merle thing in my pack too.He didn't set the world on fire.Close finder/ ear holder but needed back up.Took a lot of hits and went off his stroke early @ age 3.Someone did me a favour.Came home from work one day @ age 4 and some low life scum had flogged him off the chain.Dont know how they did that cause that breed is fiercely loyal one man dogs and he take the arm off a dog thief

Ace was his name.Tattooed on left ear.But he,d be long gone to the happy hunting ground.If it's brown it's down

He has a big smile on his furry face

His vice was cyclists.Just couldn't help himself coming in for a quick heal.Think it was the pedaling motion that always got the better of him.And those deviant Aussie eyes

Well here's another one.
" A couple of risky moves by a tyro".
I was based in the big K when I was 18 and still a learner hunter. One of my work mates was from rangipo where is dad was a prison officer. We always talked hunting at smokos and he reckoned he had heard there were plenty of deer up the whitkau area. He invited me for a weekend at rangipo so Kim, then about 9 months old and a few possums and pigs under her belt and my old three o headed down on a friday night. Garry had no rifle and was 17 and his younger bro 15 was to tag along. Garrys dad decided to take us down a hydro trCk and drip us off at the pillars of hercules. WOW! There was an ancient no'8 wire swing bridge slung over the gorge. Many of the boards were missing and the rest looked pretty iffy. Big drop to the tongariro below. It was like the darn bridge from the temple of doom! I tried sending Kim across ahead of me but she rwfused so I put her in my 'mule and gingerly went over placing my feet only on the outside wires and avoiding getting any sway on. The other two then followed one at a time.
We wandered around the unfamiliar bush on the east side. ( i had no map but later figured the area to be the waipa tributary catchment. As the day wore on with no game sighted we either had to backtrack to the pillars horror or drop down close to the tongariro and find a place to cross. Voting for the latter we came down onto large flattish benches with the river visible below in places. We were unaeare that years prior a bunch of cattle had escaped the prison farm, crossed the river and gone wild. Suddenly there wad a bellow and first one then another charged us through the open bush. I saw no chouce but to shoot them both as headshots when at about 15 yards. Sbot! whst now? Well, rather than waste it we cut off three hind quarters, one each but man were they heavy! By now it was late afternoon so we scuttled along until we could see a long straight river reach below so dropped down to check it out. The river was wide and deep but not rapids. I tried sending Kim acrosd but aftef a few yards she baulked and swum back having been taken downstream several yards. I felt I had no choice but to give it a go as the reach extended about 100 yards below before a bend. Steep shingle banks then bush both sides. I strapped my rifle to my pack then tied a cord to the dog holding in in one hand and held a leg over my shoulder with the other. By now Garry wad not looking happy and the 15 yr old was crying. I told them to wait to see how I fared getting across. Started in having to angle downstream in order to stay upright. The weight of the lef kept by boots firmly planted on the bottom rocks. The water got progressively deeper till about 20 yards from the other side the bottom dropped away and then over my head. I was still upright with that leg holding me down to I held my breath, let the dog go and in the clear water jogged along the bottom fully submerged for several seconds. The bottom started shelving up quit steeply as I jogged along but I could keep my balance and running out of breath I dropped the leg and bobbed up to swim the ladt few yards to the bank and hauled myself out. Kim was there and we were about 50 yards downstream from our opposite side starting point. Garry and his young bro sripped off and waded and swam across. We had a fair climb up through the bush till be hit a boundary fence and swede paddock so we had a relieved munch on some nice swedes and headed west across the prison farm. We ended up opposite the village a bit after dark so we had walked a bunch of miles north from the pillars before recrossing. Tas, the local ranger gave me a bit of a lecture next day and said the last bod to try crossing there three years ago had drowned.
Learn by your experiences in those days and what the limits are ay.
( As a footnote, it turned out those wild cattle were the source of bovine TB infecting the possums through the waipa and adjoining catchments and as a result the area suffered the green rain for several years on.)
Over the years I've taken several dunkings in river crossings even when using a pole of rifle as a prop but a lot more careful than I was on that one as a tyro. Be careful out there

There used to be a fair few good pigs over there at one stage , just a bit dodgy getting to them and out gain
Was a couple of keen dudes from Turangi that used to chance it with good success but also knew when to leg with dogs in tow to get out real quick

That experience was over 60 years ago now.

A qn for the mods.Is it possible to 'like' a post more than just the once?Ive reread Barry's post more than 1/2 dozen times and just completely loose it every time.Laughing til it hurts.John Tahuri RIP.

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.

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

Taking a quick break on the main drag in Te Anau after a sneaky all nighter up the Mavora area.
Both these ol buddies would be laughing their heads off if they thought that one day in the future all would be revealed lol..

Something tells me I've put this ol pic up before eh..never mind there's plenty more.

Nothin like tidays tussock hoppers that's a fact. We did however own early Landies later on along with different types of
motor bikes..the buggy was made from an ol Austin,seen here near the Mossburn area...another sneaky trip I believe.