Thread: Wallows

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

ha love the reply my hunting these days I know where they will be and its not a matter of if- its simply a matter of when - buts its all mainly private so captive pop in many ways - these guys plugging away in the Kaimais have it hard - don't imagine that's an easy spot to get a deer

The kaimais is a really easy place to spook deer and stumble into them without even knowing they are there. I've often spooked a big group of them at less than a couple of meters away and never seen one. I've had a multi-minute barking match with the matriarch hind from a few meters and not been able to shoot her - too close to resolve her in the sight picture of the scope as I was looking at individual hairs!!! Bit hard to work out where to sight up on the animal like that - what I should have done was sighted down the barrel and not through the scope.

The issue with the kaimais is there are areas of the bush that are sooooo tight that the animals have every advantage over the hunter and the numbers of humans going through there mean the animals are fully trained up. Also, there are a few absolute plonkers going through there that really have no business hunting on public land - by that I mean hunting directly on the main tracks, bombing up by the car parks on the way out, ripping through good hunting areas on quads and motorbikes, making dumb bivvy's and huts out of basically rubbish etc etc. I'm a little over the place just with the other gunners in there, had a mag dump rip right over my head once in a thick bush area and I know where they were shooting from as the cases were still there when I got to the area! Pissed me off, stuffed my hunt and I was on a half decent stag (for the kaimais anyway).

Edit - as far as the wallows and the poo - if it isn't steaming and warm for poo or for a wallow there isn't muddy water dripping off the trees it's not a good sign that there are deer 'right there'. Deer very rarely hold in one area of the kaimais for a considerable period of time. What they will do, is move from elevated bowls that don't hold cold air at night and are sheltered from the wind and have secure and comfortable bedding down areas. Then in the morning they will start chasing the sun through good feed areas which are very seasonal and they will favour areas with less humans and what they need in terms of water etc etc. Best plan I've found in the Kaimais is follow the sign until you find animals then work out where and how they are moving with the seasons and prevailing winds, then you have an idea where to start from with the wind you have on the day.

good on ya NO 3 thats great stuff - I always hesitate to give advice for Kaimais unless real general as its not an area I have hunted and its a real hard area to hunt - now ask me about Waioeka and Te Urewera now that area I know

Here's a couple from today when I was up there