Thread: Public land deer - 53 years ago.

and you ARE STILL bringing out venison for other people to consume,(and not being paid to do it)...and a hell of a lot more of it than most of the rest of us combined shoot too.
said it before and will state it again You and Brian are inspirations ...I feel privileged to know you both

Youv'e aged well son

53 years ago I shot my first deer too!
And used a 222 but it was a Sako.

Great photos and write up, an era gone as Dave Ratcliffe would say. Ive hunted public land for over 40 years and mostly still do, but approaching 60 now and have recently had the opportunity to hunt back of a farm that backs onto DOC. Must say, enjoying the easier retrieves using quad at times. And bringing out whole animals, more meat is utilised and given away (i usually just boned out hindquarters and backsteaks when back in the DOC bush) So as my body ages, my attitude to hunting private land is changing haha

My dad used to do a lot of meat hunting in the Urewera's. Next time I go over to his place I will see if I can get some of his photos and post them on here. He has some neat ones of a pack horse team loaded to the hilt with deer carcasses going to the meat buyers.

I remember one of his stories about shooting a huge stag, which they had to drag out with a horse to a bank to load it, which when sold was more than a week's wages for him!! (I think it was over 250lb, but cant quite remember the weight)

Originally Posted by Tahr

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

Probably a bit of envy there - I wouldn't mind a private block I could hunt on.

Those 601's were nice, a mate I hunted with got one, the .223 I think - the old police model. I had the 600 with a bigger hole in the barrel and I liked that well enough - still got it.

Nice to see those old photos ..............

You sound like someone I knew ................ ?

Spent some time in the Caples Valley in, I think, 1964-5, with an open sighted No. 4 Mk1 .303 Lee Enfield that I'd modified: Monte Carlo butt, and a shortened, tapered fore end. I thought this deer stalking caper was a breeze..at midday, in early January I walked through (!) a mob of 84 fallow deer, including 4 albinos. They were feeding out in the open, and shuffled to one side or the other as I strolled through. That same year, every time I drove through the Desert Road from Turangi to Waiouru, I would park the car on the roadside, walk a few hundred metres to any random tiny block of beech surrounded by tussock, and nail a sika. Couldn't see the point of buying one of those fancy telescopic sights!

Love those older pics, there is something about Black and White photos. Really cool. Thanks for sharing some of your past.

Originally Posted by tac a1

My dad used to do a lot of meat hunting in the Urewera's. Next time I go over to his place I will see if I can get some of his photos and post them on here. He has some neat ones of a pack horse team loaded to the hilt with deer carcasses going to the meat buyers.

I remember one of his stories about shooting a huge stag, which they had to drag out with a horse to a bank to load it, which when sold was more than a week's wages for him!! (I think it was over 250lb, but cant quite remember the weight)

I carried a 200 pounder once, knew it was too heavy as I could feel my sinews creaking - but it was only half a mile to the car and moderately flat. That was the Akatarawa's.

I did carry 147 hind carcases that weighed 130/140 lb between 1975 and 1979 as I'd bought some land with my mum's money and had to pey her back. Most of those animals were from the same spot and were a three hour 'carry' - was getting a dollar a pound back then - good money.
Possums were better though, and easier - so I trapped and poisoned when it was dry and hunted deer when the weather was dodgy .......... seems such a long time ago, almost like I flogged someone elses memory.

Photos are good, and I got none as a camera was unnecessary weight .................

Forgot - the longest 'carry' I ever did was 8 hours, just got stubborn with that one and it did require some recuperation.

I shot a 130 pounder (dressed) a couple of years ago and couldn't get it off the ground. Thought - "Shit, that's a heavy bugger."
Got it out whole with a bit of help and got a shock when it only went that heavy ..............
"I swear, I used to be able to carry one of those."
"In your last life ............. was it ?"
"Yeah."

Nother thing - if you got known as a 'meat hunter' people would trash your car - and I even got bailed up on a river flat while carrying .........
"You selling that ?"
"Nope."
"I think you're selling."
"Well, fuck you then."

It could get a bit hostile back then - depending on where you were. It was also hard yakka and really only romantic in retrospect ...........
I don't shoot much these days - I still carry a gun in the bush because being 'out there' never wore off, but the last 7 deer I saw in the bush I just never pulled the trigger on ............ I think those earlier days fucked me for that ........... something did.

Hard to beat the spirit of the era than reading Neville Toohills book Out Spotlighting. It is a cracker including the sales of possum skins to Dunedin. Went down the Whanganui river road this week and saw them making the old short hay bales. Spent 2 years doing hay including 24 and 36 hour stints. Imagine asking people today to do that.

Originally Posted by tac a1

My dad used to do a lot of meat hunting in the Urewera's. Next time I go over to his place I will see if I can get some of his photos and post them on here. He has some neat ones of a pack horse team loaded to the hilt with deer carcasses going to the meat buyers.

I remember one of his stories about shooting a huge stag, which they had to drag out with a horse to a bank to load it, which when sold was more than a week's wages for him!! (I think it was over 250lb, but cant quite remember the weight)

that will be neat to see - pack horses - as a young bloke we used 4 to pack posts out to back of station - not many now would know how to load one up

we still make a lot of conventional bales up here. its a great work out picking them up.

When we had the dairy farm it was nothing to pick up 2000 a night ( there was a gang of you doing it)

good fun and a beer at the end of it.

Originally Posted by TeRei

Hard to beat the spirit of the era than reading Neville Toohills book Out Spotlighting. It is a cracker including the sales of possum skins to Dunedin. Went down the Whanganui river road this week and saw them making the old short hay bales. Spent 2 years doing hay including 24 and 36 hour stints. Imagine asking people today to do that.

- we run up to three conventional balers peak time - they do both hay and silage wrap - I should add I work for a large contractor with up to 35 drivers in a big day and we can do 1000 acres in a good day - we do a lot of little square wrap bales and can sell all we do - we do 100,000 rounds a year- wrap silage and hay - thousands of tons of silage with loader wagons trailers and trucks into pit silage - who would do it today - well Dec 3 I turned 70 - what did I do - 16 hours in the tractor - dumb - but Zoe and I can go out for dinner every now and then instead of chicken -

Originally Posted by Ranger 888

Spent some time in the Caples Valley in, I think, 1964-5, with an open sighted No. 4 Mk1 .303 Lee Enfield that I'd modified: Monte Carlo butt, and a shortened, tapered fore end. I thought this deer stalking caper was a breeze..at midday, in early January I walked through (!) a mob of 84 fallow deer, including 4 albinos. They were feeding out in the open, and shuffled to one side or the other as I strolled through. That same year, every time I drove through the Desert Road from Turangi to Waiouru, I would park the car on the roadside, walk a few hundred metres to any random tiny block of beech surrounded by tussock, and nail a sika. Couldn't see the point of buying one of those fancy telescopic sights!

My experience with the Caples in the early 70’s was the same - many deer wandering around in the open in broad daylight and would have definitely seen me.

Changed days now eh?