Thread: Wapiti hunters. Who was better?

Just been reading a few books and I think it is interesting comparing the wapiti hunters of the 30s-50s to today's hunters.
Today's hunters telescopic sights helicopters gps gortex etc but a much more heavily hunters and educated animal.
The early hunters. All done on foot open sights no gps. Heavy gear but often an uneducated animal.
What are your thoughts

Jim Muir.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Jim Muir.

Agree 100%

The older hunters shot mature bulls and put them on their walls, the majority today call themselves hunters and shoot immature bulls and put them all over facebook, youtube, instagram etc

no comparison ..its a different world in so many ways.
when money can buy you a treestump stag/bull in so many places ,the uniqueness of a really good trophy head is gone.
back then there were few cheats available.......now there are as many as your pocket can stand..chopper ride in,thermal scope blah blah blah
and back then it was a week----month long trip vs todays fly in and out in weekend... FOR SURE the heart of the country is trying to keep it pure and untainted and its on foot or not at all...in theory... but when money talks the good intentions walk.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

no comparison ..its a different world in so many ways.
when money can buy you a treestump stag/bull in so many places ,the uniqueness of a really good trophy head is gone.
back then there were few cheats available.......now there are as many as your pocket can stand..chopper ride in,thermal scope blah blah blah
and back then it was a week----month long trip vs todays fly in and out in weekend... FOR SURE the heart of the country is trying to keep it pure and untainted and its on foot or not at all...in theory... but when money talks the good intentions walk.

Just remember the first wapiti hunters had to pay for the license to hunt which was cost prohibitive to a lot of people back then. They also had the luxury back then of big pure unhunted wapiti bulls. A 365ds bull was shot and left as it wasn't big enough. No saints back then either. I know it's hard to canister but I think it is a genuinely interesting debate

Originally Posted by Remmodel7

Just remember the first wapiti hunters had to pay for the license to hunt which was cost prohibitive to a lot of people back then. They also had the luxury back then of big pure unhunted wapiti bulls. A 365ds bull was shot and left as it wasn't big enough. No saints back then either. I know it's hard to canister but I think it is a genuinely interesting debate

I don't know what the Wapiti licenses cost but I found one of my grandfather's Otago Acclimatisation Society licenses dated 1927 to shoot one Red stag in the Matukituki. The price was 5 Pounds which was a lot of money back then.

Originally Posted by gundoc

I don't know what the Wapiti licenses cost but I found one of my grandfather's Otago Acclimatisation Society licenses dated 1927 to shoot one Red stag in the Matukituki. The price was 5 Pounds which was a lot of money back then.

My Dad showed me this on the weekend. His Grandfathers letter of employment as manager of Siberia station, 100 years and small change ago. Note the cowboy @ 30 shillings/week - a pound was 20 shillings, so 5 pounds was nearly a months wages.

Vivian Donald

Raymond Tinsley did the hard yards.

Originally Posted by tetawa

Raymond Tinsley did the hard yards.

Was just thinking along the same lines. The guys in the middle who missed the good old days and the easyish big heads, and who had to work really hard to pull one of the remaining great heads out and didnt have goretex and gps and ultra light everything.

Originally Posted by tetawa

Raymond Tinsley did the hard yards.

Think Graeme Sinclair would agree. Committed . Left the Hutt Valley to move to Hokitika so he could be closer to his wapiti grounds.

Jack Luttrell

Fiona Duley...because she took a crew with her and allowed us all to enjoy the hunt too..... you could argue Emil Hansen as he shot the animals with camera for us all to enjoy,yo ucould argue Greg D as he was the driving force behind the family doing so...Willy D as he shot one years before as did the other Brother whos name escapes me right now...... all were done on foot in the old traditional methods....
some might argue Sir Tim W...or his pilots who shot the shit out of deer of all types and arguably saved the enviroment,all be it for financial gain.
who is the greatest wapity hunter of all time???..... really it matters not in the slightest good on them all I say

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Fiona Duley...because she took a crew with her and allowed us all to enjoy the hunt too..... you could argue Emil Hansen as he shot the animals with camera for us all to enjoy,yo ucould argue Greg D as he was the driving force behind the family doing so...Willy D as he shot one years before as did the other Brother whos name escapes me right now...... all were done on foot in the old traditional methods....
some might argue Sir Tim W...or his pilots who shot the shit out of deer of all types and arguably saved the enviroment,all be it for financial gain.
who is the greatest wapity hunter of all time???..... really it matters not in the slightest good on them all I say

I would like to see the Duleys shoot one with a long Tom with the old 205gn round nose…..maybe one day.