WTF. B FA LEFT SOON.

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Originally Posted by Friwi

The number of deer can be greatly reduced by facilitating access to remote places of bush or forest.
Creating new access tracks for exemple.
Issuing special permits to allow the spotlighting of hinds on public land.

I know these radical ideas are out of the common ideas we have of hunting and in a way are extreme measures, but every year that pass by and actions are not taken to reduce the number of deer, the numbers are actually increasing, and eventually Doc and/or the green will take the decision of eradicating a good chunk of our animals with 1080 or shooting them like they did for thar.

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I totally agree about facilitating access; to that end we can all do our bit to have unformed legal roads opened up for access. This can be a slow process with some district councils, it is councils who administer these roads NOT DOC !!.
AS an example on March 27 I hand delivered a letter to my local council regarding an unformed road which is a potential access point to a DOC hunting area. The road has a blocking fence across it where it intersects a formed road which is illegal. It also has a fence down the centre for part of its length, also illegal.
It was only last week ( 5 1/2 months later ) after escalating the matter to the Mayor that there has been some action and as a result the public access will be re-instated.

We need to all do our part and identify these roads and keep at the councils to have them marked as access points. If we do not, there is potential for landowners to apply to Councils to have unformed roads closed permanently.

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Originally Posted by stagstalker

There are too many deer in so many places. That’s pretty obvious, and yes we as hunters play a part in managing them but that part is not big enough. Hunters simply do not shoot enough deer. There’s a few reasons for this such as access which has been mentioned like private property, landlocked reserves and remote public areas etc. Another is the fact so many hunters go out to target stags and leave the hinds and lastly we just don’t actually shoot enough in general, particularly hinds. Anyone who thinks we can continue the way we are is kidding themselves. The issue we face is getting a palatable well rounded solution for the ongoing management of our wild herds. Something that strikes a good balance between hunters mentality on what to shoot, access to areas for hunters to control numbers and then most likely a commercial component that then does the fine tuning but with goals that work for everyone. We need numbers that strike the ultimate balance with the ecosystem they are living in so the deer are healthy and provide good hunting whilst the environment around them is healthy too. Anyone who hasn’t listened to the podcast by the educated hunter with Cam Speedy needs to have a listen and get a bit more educated on the subject. If done right we can setup something good for the future. It will take hunters getting educated and onboard though rather then referring to the defence “entitled” attitude so often seen. It needs to be done, what we all need to worry about is making sure it’s done right. That is a whole other topic in itself and is the concern IMO.

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Good rant, mostly correct but it the main thing the hunting community is freaking out about(and rightly so)is the current govt is clearly pro eradication of all "pests"and if you think they might listen to a common sense approach recommendation from us your kidding yourself.Sage wants to eradicate everything except natives and will do it as quick as she can while in power.I think the hunting community needs some new tactics as talking about it aint doing jack.