Thread: Doc land hunting report or lack of!)

Originally Posted by Hahn

I can top that. Shoot a deer, walk up to it with knife but leave rifle. Deer gets up runs off. Try to chase with knife. Give up when it's dark. Finally find it the next day. Shoot it again. Roll truck down hill trying to pick it up...

That venison would've been expensive per KG!

Originally Posted by JesseYoung

Sometimes I hate hunting , it can be so frustrating!.
Currently living in the nightmare of a Doc land drought. Think I’m on hunt number 10 without success and I’ve been trying!
I’ve seen a lot of my local up the back of Te Puke, I’ve seen the Kaimais, I’ve hunted some new grounds in Waitomo region, and just recently spend 24 hours in National park/Ruapehu. Plenty of close encounters but for one reason or another just can’t seal the deal.
Shit I can only but keep trying!
Rant over, happy hunting out there

I'm with you on that. I just can't seem to find, see or shoot anything on my own. Sometimes you wonder if there's actually anything lurking out there at all. I'm pretty patient, but it does get a bit demoralising. There's definitely more to hunting than just walking out into a paddock and shooting some food.

If I lived up in chch,I'd never be home.Theres so many deer within 2 to 3 hrs drive of Chch.

My hunting sickness started after reading those hunting books, no background in hunting as parents were competative sports folk. Year was 1980, Kiangaroa forrest and only shanks pony to get around. I came to believe that deer were ghosts. Point being the place was shot out in those times. Gave deer hunting away as a bad joke, went fishing AK based, as time went on that dried up as well. Now times have inproved, ended up in Mainland, health wise not up for these mountain hoping aventures. I now pay to knock over a animal every year or so. Still do a fair amount of the small stuff, even back to PCP air rifles. Yep, Deer hunting requires putting the time and effort, sounds like the hard yards will pay off for you, good luck.

Originally Posted by Trout

If I lived up in chch,I'd never be home.Theres so many deer within 2 to 3 hrs drive of Chch.

That’s ironic Trout as I live just out of Christchurch and quite often lately I’ve been hunting deer down your way, although I’ve mostly been looking for Fallow and there aren’t many of those on public land near Christchurch.

Originally Posted by Trout

If I lived up in chch,I'd never be home.Theres so many deer within 2 to 3 hrs drive of Chch.

If I had to live in Chch again I would never be home either, but that's because I hated living there for the 3 years we did.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

If I had to live in Chch again I would never be home either, but that's because I hated living there for the 3 years we did.

Try, Auckland, ChCh is a paradise.

Originally Posted by Sauer

That’s ironic Trout as I live just out of Christchurch and quite often lately I’ve been hunting deer down your way, although I’ve mostly been looking for Fallow and there aren’t many of those on public land near Christchurch.

For every 20 reds I shoot,there maybe only one fallow unlucky to walk pass me.More bang for yr buck shooting a big red to a small fallow I reckon.

Have a favourite spot just down from our hut on the Coast, we can only get there if the river is low and that's via 4wd or quad bike. Down there...sit and wait and I've found as a new hunter they come to you. I've just spent the last couple days there and couldn't get down the river unfortunately so I wandered around the upper river bed, despite prints in the sand I didn't see any either. Yes it's demoralising and I headed back to the shed at 9.30pm when it was just still light.

Keep at it. Law of odds says the more you go out, the probability of encountering something gets higher and higher. Just try to keep the basics like wind and being as quiet as possible. It will happen.

Originally Posted by Trout

If I lived up in chch,I'd never be home.Theres so many deer within 2 to 3 hrs drive of Chch.

Yep!

In the middle of a 4WD trip visiting a bunch of places. Carting the thermal but no rifle. Exquisite campsites above remote rivers each night and there's deer out all over the show just on last light, and more so at leak time at half five in the morning!!!

Originally Posted by Trout

For every 20 reds I shoot,there maybe only one fallow unlucky to walk pass me.More bang for yr buck shooting a big red to a small fallow I reckon.

Just a phase my son and I were going through. We have shot plenty of reds over the years, just looking for something different to hunt. Pretty much scratched that itch now, unless we find one with a couple of big paddles on his head.

Originally Posted by Rusky

I struggle at this time of year to get a deer on the deck in those places you have mentioned. Late evening is your best chance but you have to be prepared to walk home in the dark.

Wait until Mid March after some rain and you'll have better success.

Good to know its not just me Rusky, Yeap at least 3 of my previous hunts I have headed for the bush knowing damn well the conditions aren't ideal, hot days, 4 inches of crunchy bone dry Rewarewa leaves on the forest floor, swirly high winds. Good reminder to revert back to basics.

Originally Posted by earplay

I recall a school camp to Mayor island, where we had the somewhat well known Bill Hohepa accompany us offering his snapper secrets. He had this theory that if you sit there anxiously waiting for a bite you'll never catch anything - it's not until you relax and take the focus off catching something that you'll have success.

I've found something similar to happen after a bit of a hunting drought - the more you are desperate for success, sometimes it seems even harder to achieve. Funnily enough, even during a hunt (in the bush especially), you'll start the day with a razor sharp focus on spotting an animal, but not until the mind starts to wander a little that an animal presents itself.

As an aside, I was in Nat Park a couple days ago and it was harder hunting than expected. Quite a lot of human activity by the looks over the break. Nearly pulled the trigger on a distant red, but after I found a more stable rest, the opportunity was gone! Still great to be out there.

well said mate!

This won't be much of a consolation for some of you younger guys in a deer drought.

But quite a few of us on here were in our teens in 80s when commercial deer recovery ( dead and alive ) was at its height.
Tahr were nearly wiped out.

We used to make a lot of trips and not even see any sign.
We could hit a barn door with our budget rifles
Binoculars were pretty basic
We didn't often see animals and shot very few.

But we learned to be persistent because it was what we wanted to do.
We grew up on cullers stories of huge numbers shot.

As we learned the art and craft of hunting and shooting things slowly improved.

Currently these are the best of times for several generations.
Deer and tahr numbers are easily the highest I have known in my lifetime.
Both species ( and fallow) are vastly more wide spread and abundant.
They all pop up in some very unexpected places ( CHCH suburbs recently ).

About 25 years ago when numbers increased and I had time ( after farm, business and family sorted ) to hunt more often again.
The gear was vastly improved.
I was older, stronger, wiser and more patient.
We started see and WATCHING a lot more animals.

In my younger days when deer were rarely seen we tried to shoot everything we saw.
I learned very little.

Once I stopped shooting everything I saw, I learned a lot and saw even more.

So to you new aspiring hunters.
Knock over a few to get started but then slow down, sit for a day in a place with good sign, learn how to hunt and not just shoot.

Stay fit, active and healthy and even when you are older like some of us you will still love hunting.
And you might even get pretty good at it once you slow down.

And don't worry that you get home with nothing tangible to show for your efforts.
It's just part of the process of becoming a Hunter