Thread: Sunday morning Kaweka hunt - Why do I hunt? (Video)

I had a really enjoyable hunt up the Kawekas on Sunday morning. Whilst I never pulled the trigger, it was a very rewarding trip.

It made me think that while some would class it as an unsuccessful hunt due to not bringing home an animal, to me it was a very satisfying and successful trip. It made me ponder what i like about hunting and some of the reasons that i choose to hunt.

The short film can say the rest

https://youtu.be/Au5ASoBSvyE

That was damn good footage, and a really good message and sentiment.

But cripes, what I don't understand is why you didn't go home with a spiker and a couple of fat Kereru?

Thanks for this - I now regret not heading out on Sunday....

Stunning country and great footage. I agree you don't need to kill an animal every trip, last weekend I seen 11 deer hunting a block of mature pines, out of those deer one mob of nine had 5 hinds and 4 fawns in it and the other two were a hind and fawn. I didn't want to shoot a hind and leave the fawn so choose to leave them be. It was interesting as the big mob ran up onto an open ridge in the pines and milled around for a good 5 minutes barking and carrying on. It was a magic morning one I won't forget in a hurry.....that's the reason why we hunt.

awesome man

Originally Posted by Mooseman

Stunning country and great footage. I agree you don't need to kill an animal every trip, last weekend I seen 11 deer hunting a block of mature pines, out of those deer one mob of nine had 5 hinds and 4 fawns in it and the other two were a hind and fawn. I didn't want to shoot a hind and leave the fawn so choose to leave them be. It was interesting as the big mob ran up onto an open ridge in the pines and milled around for a good 5 minutes barking and carrying on. It was a magic morning one I won't forget in a hurry.....that's the reason why we hunt.

Interesting about hinds, and I have always thought that the majority of hunters took the same approach about hinds with fawns as you do @Mooseman. But maybe I'm wrong about some other hunters. If you look at the face book pages like NZ Venison Hunters there are plenty of pics of hinds being shot currently. No one seems to care, or comment. Maybe its just not worth the indignant wrath from the face book supporters. I dunno.

Great vid and and ethic

As an aside I have always considered (here in the top of the south at least) end of feb no worries for a fawn(red deer) to survive.....a spring and summer like we have had(here) (and a mild wet winter)with massive growth threw-out the season realistically it could be a lot earlier here...this year...... but generally end of feb.

Others regions will be different year by year and species.

Awesome video. i agree its not always about shooting an animal

Originally Posted by Tahr

That was damn good footage, and a really good message and sentiment.

But cripes, what I don't understand is why you didn't go home with a spiker and a couple of fat Kereru?

haha yes, lets just say that spiker was a very lucky deer. My hunting mate had called it a hind, and he swore he had seen a fawn under it ;-) After he had anounced that i guess i didnt look at it hard enough. It was 465 yards away and couldnt see the little button spikes in the 10x binos, and on the little camera screen didnt notice them either. It wasnt until i reviewed the footage at home on the big pc moniter that i saw that the hind was in fact a spiker ;-) It did look tasty too eh.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Interesting about hinds, and I have always thought that the majority of hunters took the same approach about hinds with fawns as you do @Mooseman. But maybe I'm wrong about some other hunters. If you look at the face book pages like NZ Venison Hunters there are plenty of pics of hinds being shot currently. No one seems to care, or comment. Maybe its just not worth the indignant wrath from the face book supporters. I dunno.

The face book crowd get up in arms about velvet stags though. Ain't no velvet stags without the hinds but I don't think their internal flow chart has reached that conclusion yet!

Great footage. Every day in the bush is to be treasured, good on you for not pulling the trigger. So much to learn by observing.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Interesting about hinds, and I have always thought that the majority of hunters took the same approach about hinds with fawns as you do @Mooseman. But maybe I'm wrong about some other hunters. If you look at the face book pages like NZ Venison Hunters there are plenty of pics of hinds being shot currently. No one seems to care, or comment. Maybe its just not worth the indignant wrath from the face book supporters. I dunno.

I don't have a problem shooting hinds with a fawn but the fawn should be taken too, over the years I have shot hinds/fawns especially when I was younger and have no problem with anybody doing so. The area we hunt has a good population of deer and we can "farm it" and take what we need, had we been short of venison one would have gone down for sure.
More interested in trying to find those better stags we have seen on the camera's.

a nice day on the hill as they say,some very good shots of the wild life there, not a tree hugger but like spending time watching when they show themselves

Originally Posted by Huk

a nice day on the hill as they say,some very good shots of the wild life there, not a tree hugger but like spending time watching when they show themselves

Yep same here mate, nice to see when we are up there chasing deer, but i could never be a "bird watcher", well not the feathered variety anyway.

days like that put you at pace with the world