Thread: First ever deer hunt....

Good for you Scouser,like your approach. The Ninja bit had me coughing on my coffee lol. The way you described the fresh prints tells me your a quick learner.

Don't be so hard on yourself with the farm hunt. You would probably have learned a fair bit as well as getting to see deer. A good learning curve that a lot of newbies could well do with that show you stuff that books don't.
You know where they are so is only a matter of time - both deer and Doc

Originally Posted by phillipgr

Cheers for sharing Scouser!

I remember my first hunt...
Got to the track and my map was outdated, they'd changed the name of the track I wanted to walk and there was another track that wasn't even marked! (LINZ, you should feel ashamed). Crawled through supplejack, fell over, got lost, got wet, fell over again (and again), wished id not gone alone, still lost, pulled the plug and headed north for the track, got home, had a beer in the shower to clean the greenery out of my ears.

Turns out the clearing I was headed for wasn't where I thought it was...

Haha lots of great memories!

Sent from my MT27i using Tapatalk 2

Phil you are skilled!!!

Keep at it Scouser, it took me ages to find the buggers on doc land, and they still elude me most trips. Just makes success that much sweeter!!!

Originally Posted by sako75

Don't be so hard on yourself with the farm hunt. You would probably have learned a fair bit as well as getting to see deer. A good learning curve that a lot of newbies could well do with that show you stuff that books don't.
You know where they are so is only a matter of time - both deer and Doc

Cheers sako, im not that hard on myself, just dont consider it a 'real hunt'....learnt a shit load on the guided hunt, that was why i did it, was fed up being a 'keyboard hunter' and wanted some first hand, gritty, get your knife & hands bloodied
and stop 'talking about it, and fukn do it'!!!!!!.....know what i mean....

I started hunting in the early 90’s with no idea what a deer look like. We even did a chopper trip into the Boyd in the month of September not even thinking that fine weather in Auckland could mean snow in the hills. After a dozen or so trips with not seeing anything, including 1 week in the Ureweras, threw it in.
In 2004 a mate said “lets go for a roar hunt” so we did and shot my first deer, a spiker.
I have been back every year since except for 1 year and a trip to Fiordland.
I have done a couple of “behind the fence hunts” not just for the easy meat but also a bit of fun and good to watch the deer move about. Always learning
If I had done a farm hunt (or a HUNTS course) when I first started all the years ago, I would not have thrown it in for a few years and missed out on all the good times in the bush.
In my books, doing a farm hunt the way you did should be encouraged if not compulsory for all newcomers. It puts you in the “square” as far as recognition and familiarity goes and may well reduce the chance of Buck Fever.

I’m pretty screwed for time now-a-days (preggy wife) but if I can get a bit of time off from home, I will be more than happy to get out there with you for a weekend

Stilll having trouble with the pics? Try resizing them on MS paint, that's what I do

Originally Posted by sako75

I started hunting in the early 90’s with no idea what a deer look like. We even did a chopper trip into the Boyd in the month of September not even thinking that fine weather in Auckland could mean snow in the hills. After a dozen or so trips with not seeing anything, including 1 week in the Ureweras, threw it in.
In 2004 a mate said “lets go for a roar hunt” so we did and shot my first deer, a spiker.
I have been back every year since except for 1 year and a trip to Fiordland.
I have done a couple of “behind the fence hunts” not just for the easy meat but also a bit of fun and good to watch the deer move about. Always learning
If I had done a farm hunt (or a HUNTS course) when I first started all the years ago, I would not have thrown it in for a few years and missed out on all the good times in the bush.
In my books, doing a farm hunt the way you did should be encouraged if not compulsory for all newcomers. It puts you in the “square” as far as recognition and familiarity goes and may well reduce the chance of Buck Fever.

I’m pretty screwed for time now-a-days (preggy wife) but if I can get a bit of time off from home, I will be more than happy to get out there with you for a weekend

Hi sako, huge thanks for the invite mate, i will defo look forward to going on a trip with you when time & family matters are convenient, experience is what i need the most right now......

cheers scouser

Originally Posted by Matt2308

Good effort mate, keep going like that and your first wild deer won't be too far away!

Cheers Matt, i took your advice on the traffic cone, actually found one in a skip that had been damaged....who's a greenie recycler then!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Scouser

Cheers Matt, i took your advice on the traffic cone, actually found one in a skip that had been damaged....who's a greenie recycler then!!!!!!

They work surprisingly well...my hunting buddy substituted his cow horn for my traffic cone on our hunt on Saturday morning with very good results! ;-)

Christchurch has no shortage of traffic cones at the moment!