Thread: Deer numbers

I am surprised by the numbers visible this year. The feral venison processing plant in ChCh has closed and now there are now no flying machines chasing deer, doing their regular cream skimming runs taking all the easy ones. Without hunting, numbers will double every three years but the visible increase is out of step with this

I'm cool about knocking the numbers back so long as we maintain our respect for what are a magnificent animal. Clean kills for the particular purpose of controlling numbers and not just for the sake of it. I would have no qualms about shooting a hind right now so long as I could get the fawn too and velvet stags so long as they aren't special in some way. I prefer to recover the meat but some areas are getting to where just a pack full of backstraps might be the result from a day's hunting. 55 years of recreational and commercial hunting and I never thought I would be saying that.

And like it or not the land owners hold the trump access card, so the natural consequences are that the gates aren't going to be thrown open, which will mean a lucky minority will be shooting a heap of animals.

The big numbers are on private land but no matter where they are we just have to control them or we will have a Tahr situation without the backstop of Memo of Understanding with DOC.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I'm cool about knocking the numbers back so long as we maintain our respect for what are a magnificent animal. Clean kills for the particular purpose of controlling numbers and not just for the sake of it. I would have no qualms about shooting a hind right now so long as I could get the fawn too and velvet stags so long as they aren't special in some way. I prefer to recover the meat but some areas are getting to where just a pack full of backstraps might be the result from a day's hunting. 55 years of recreational and commercial hunting and I never thought I would be saying that.

And like it or not the land owners hold the trump access card, so the natural consequences are that the gates aren't going to be thrown open, which will mean a lucky minority will be shooting a heap of animals.

The big numbers are on private land but no matter where they are we just have to control them or we will have a Tahr situation without the backstop of Memo of Understanding with DOC.

Im with you. The only thing I wouldnt shoot at this time of the year would be a thumping stag. Everything else is fair game.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I'm cool about knocking the numbers back so long as we maintain our respect for what are a magnificent animal. Clean kills for the particular purpose of controlling numbers and not just for the sake of it. I would have no qualms about shooting a hind right now so long as I could get the fawn too and velvet stags so long as they aren't special in some way. I prefer to recover the meat but some areas are getting to where just a pack full of backstraps might be the result from a day's hunting. 55 years of recreational and commercial hunting and I never thought I would be saying that.

The red deer numbers in the western CNI are out of control and a fairly serious problem on private land. There's so much politics involved in game animals though, and so many divergent opinions as to how much is too much, and what to do about it, that the likelihood of a consistent control approach is remote.

The grass this year is exceptional and the deer numbers are way up - what is causing this I ask myself? There's a shit load of capital being spent on fertiliser to take advantage of high meat prices, and it shows, but what strikes me the most is the much lower number of hard frost days in the winter, followed by wet springs, and long hot spells in early summer. The growth season feels markedly different to me, but I was away between 2010-2016, and after an absence any changes are amplified. Whereas if you live through them, you hardly notice. The lamb numbers and weights are well up though, a good indicator. If you're a sheep cockie and setup right, you're in for a good season even with the reduction in Chinese buying.

It's become normal for me to walk over a saddle and look into the next watershed and see 50+ reds munching their way through the pasture. I can think of three such places where I'll see more way deer and goats than sheep in the paddock. These places are always the same - back blocks, quite high up, with a long, easily accessible bush boundary. Go into the bush and there's nothing in there under the canopy. Pretty much impossible for a goat or a deer to get a feed in there now.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

The red deer numbers in the western CNI are out of control and a fairly serious problem on private land. There's so much politics involved in game animals though, and so many divergent opinions as to how much is too much, and what to do about it, that the likelihood of a consistent control approach is remote.

The grass this year is exceptional and the deer numbers are way up - what is causing this I ask myself? There's a shit load of capital being spent on fertiliser to take advantage of high meat prices, and it shows, but what strikes me the most is the much lower number of hard frost days in the winter, followed by wet springs, and long hot spells in early summer. The growth season feels markedly different to me, but I was away between 2010-2016, and after an absence any changes are amplified. Whereas if you live through them, you hardly notice. The lamb numbers and weights are well up though, a good indicator. If you're a sheep cockie and setup right, you're in for a good season even with the reduction in Chinese buying.

It's become normal for me to walk over a saddle and look into the next watershed and see 50+ reds munching their way through the pasture. I can think of three such places where I'll see more way deer and goats than sheep in the paddock. These places are always the same - back blocks, quite high up, with a long, easily accessible bush boundary. Go into the bush and there's nothing in there under the canopy. Pretty much impossible for a goat or a deer to get a feed in there now.

You're right. Hard to get people who don't have access to the private land to care about the numbers and the ramifications of the deer.

Public land will probably be getting more pressure as hunting seems to be getting ever more popular but as we know pressure doesn't equal deer shot.

I was under the impression that because of the swine flu the Chinese are buying up a hell of a lot of meat. Bulls were worth 2500 at one point the cockie was saying.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

I was under the impression that because of the swine flu the Chinese are buying up a hell of a lot of meat. Bulls were worth 2500 at one point the cockie was saying.

The Chinese are getting a lot of red meat out of Australia, it's great for the Aussie farmers needing to destock due to catastrophic drought. My wifes grandfather lost his farm in 1974 due to drought, it was not too bad where they are in NE NSW but the entire East coast was in drought and the prices for everything crashed. Once the Aussie drought finishes the demand for NZ meat should be higher, until the Chinese pork industry gets itself going again. Farmers are all hoping the Chinese consumer will have developed a taste for beef/lamb by then!

A friend saw 40 stags on his lucerne paddock yesterday morning.

Certainly way more deer around these days which is great, and like others before me, something I never thought I would see. In my early days of hunting, hinds were worth 4k a piece on the hoof, so they were targeted by deer traps, helicopters and anyone with a dart gun. It means great opportunities for all of us, but with a responsibility to manage the resource. Great for new and young hunters too, being able to see and get animals, without the disapointment of many trips with no animals sighted. Easier to be selective and leave those potential trophies to grow their head gear out too. So blessed these days! Enjoy it while it lasts, as it won't be long before the greens, doc and the government object.

Originally Posted by Fred Fisherman

Certainly way more deer around these days which is great, and like others before me, something I never thought I would see. In my early days of hunting, hinds were worth 4k a piece on the hoof, so they were targeted by deer traps, helicopters and anyone with a dart gun. It means great opportunities for all of us, but with a responsibility to manage the resource. Great for new and young hunters too, being able to see and get animals, without the disapointment of many trips with no animals sighted. Easier to be selective and leave those potential trophies to grow their head gear out too. So blessed these days! Enjoy it while it lasts, as it won't be long before the greens, doc and the government object.

They'll only have grounds for their objections if we let them.

We have shoot way more hinds.

This whole shoot the spiker and stags should switch to shooting hinds.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

They'll only have grounds for their objections if we let them.

We have shoot way more hinds.

This whole shoot the spiker and stags should switch to shooting hinds.

Shoot everything. Just have respect for the game and utilise what you harvest.

Originally Posted by Brian

A friend saw 40 stags on his lucerne paddock yesterday morning.

Is he applying for a P? If ever a man needed a SLR....

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

Is he applying for a P? If ever a man needed a SLR....

Nah. He's got us

Originally Posted by Tahr

Nah. He's got us

I think you meant "Nah. He's got us and tilly"

If we shoot a hind and leave a little fawn to starve, dehydrate and die a miserable suffering death, no one will see it or punish us for our actions but that does not make such a thing right.
We are answerable to ourselves for such actions and it reflects on how we conduct ourselves in the other areas of our lives. It is a test of character.
Two weeks ago a friend and I shot a 2yr old hind that was heavily pregnant. We had some discussion over the ethics of taking such an animal prior to the shot with my own position at the time being that she would have been pregnant in April just as she is now, but not visibly so. We saw two older hinds with the one we took which obviously both had fawns hidden nearby, these we would not shoot now but they become shootable again in March when the fawn is big enough to wean.

Aldo Leupold: "Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching—even when doing the wrong thing is legal.”