Michael Rowntree - A Journal of Deer Hunting in New Zealand

This is part of a journal about hunting deer in New Zealand and the journey of teaching and learning to hunt with my dog 'Tia'.

I got Tia when she was the age of three months. I was at a good friend's house and he asked me if I would like a puppy. I umm'd and err'd so in a cunning plan he let the puppies into the room and in no time at all one had climbed on top of my boots and promptly fallen asleep. So that was that, I had been chosen!

Tia is a 'Bitsa': her father was a 'bearded collie' and mother a 'Lockley' (NZ breed of pig hunting dog). Both of whom were great hunting dogs in their own right.

I started giving her basic obedience lessons and she was extremely eager to please, I was astounded by how fast she learnt. I took her out into the bush on a few trips to get her used to being with me, a lot of the time I carried her in the front my jacket. I took her to the range and got Tia used to the sound of a .22 rifle. We are allowed to use suppressors on our high powered rifles and my .308win and .338 federal both are not much louder than a .22 magnum. By the time I took her out to have her first deer encounter she was very well behaved and only 5-6 months old.

A little about deer hunting in New Zealand:

In New Zealand we are very fortunate to have a wide variety of deer species, Red deer, Sika, Fallow, Sambar, Rusa, Wapiti (North American Elk) and 2 small herds of Whitetail deer. There was a liberation of Moose but the last to be seen or shot was in the 1950's. We also have European Chamois, Himalayan Thar, European Boar and Goats. All these animals have been introduced by man.

Pre human settlement there was only one type of land mammal (two species of small bat). Birds, lizards and insects had adapted to fill the ecosystem so some very unique flora and fauna had developed. Unfortunately with the introduction of a wide variety of different animals, insects and plants let alone the impact we human have made a lot of these unique life forms have become extinct or are now endangered.

Because of this impact nearly all our wild game animals are considered to be pests, this has in turn brought about the way we are allowed to hunt for most game species with no seasons, limits, tags or gender specified restrictions. But with no break or restrictions it also means that the animals can be extremely wary and very hard to hunt on public land.

New Zealand has an awesome amount of National Parks, Reserves and Recreational areas deemed as public land where anyone can hunt if they have a permit (which is free to obtain) and a firearms licence if using one. This basically means deer hunting is free and we hunters in NZ are very lucky to have it this way.

When doing an internet search or looking at videos on hunting in New Zealand you will come across a lot of Safari/Game Parks/Lodges and Guides who offer hunting, most of these are very expensive and most of these 'hunts' are not on public land, these are "behind the wire"(fences), where they have farmed the animals to be of trophy size and if that is your kind of thing all good, but it is not what 90% of NZ deer hunters would consider to be hunting.

All hunts in this journal are on public land where anyone can have the same opportunity to enjoy what NZ has to offer.

March 20th 2010:

Tia was now 6 months old, I had been giving her basic command lessons and things were going very well so I decided to take her on her first proper hunt.

We were at the car park by 5am and waited for it to get light enough in the bush before heading off. It was looking like a nice clear day after a few days of rain. A light breeze was blowing sideways across the ridges and was perfect for an explore.

So I put a check lead on Tia and headed up the closest ridge, when we got half way up we started to sidle across a few ridges until seeing some good stag sign. When we get to the 3rd ridge we hit good fresh sign, a lot of prints and pellets, still pre rut really and didn't see any scrapes but a fair bit of rubbing.

So I picked a spot where we could get a reasonable view of the surrounds, mostly only 20 yards but one quarter up to 50 yards to a secondary ridge. Positioning myself on a log with a bit of cover, I got Tia sitting at my feet and let out 2 single calls with my SikaXT caller Meeeeeeyaaawwww... Meeeeeyaaawwww...

Within seconds a typically curious "Bush Robin" was jumping around in front of us only a meter away and Tia was beside herself hoping to give it a chase. So here I am trying to keep her sitting still and not chasing the Robin, this went on for 3-4 minutes when out the corner of my eye I saw movement on the secondary ridge. I slowly turn my head and here is a nice Sika Stag broad side on looking down at us from 50yds away. Now my dilemma is I have to let go of Tia, hoping she won't chase after the robin, cock my rifle, turn 90 degrees and try get a shot away before he spooks.

Amazingly enough by the time I got the cross hairs on his shoulder the stag still hadn't moved, so I squeezed the trigger and after the crack of my rifle I heard a good whack of the bullet hitting and saw the Stag collapse. Tia was looking around wondering what was going on and getting quite excited about everything in general (still mostly the Bush Robin). We waited a few minutes then headed over to the Stag, as we approached I let Tia off the lead and told her to go look, she promptly charged off haring around in circles like a typical puppy until she bumped into this great big hairy lump lying on the ground.

Her first instinct was to step back and growl so I went up to her, got her to sit, then I sat next to the stag and got Tia to come over for a look. Once she had a lick of blood curiosity got the better of her and she was all over it. A nice young 8 point Sika stag in prime condition.

*Photos were taken on my old mobile phone and are of dubious quality sorry.

Roar 2010:

4th April, the weather was clear and fine.

This is to be Tia's first real hunting trip, she now knows what we are looking for and it will be a good test of how she reacts.

We got to our spot about 7am and could hear a couple of Sika stags he-hawing but the wind was wrong to go after them, so I decided we would push our way through the scrub to a patch of Beech 400 meters away up wind, where I had found some scrapes the roar before but never had the wind right to go back.

It took almost an hour to pick our way carefully through the Manuka scrub to the forest edge, Tia was winding on and off the whole way. When we got to the Beech there was a scrape right where we came out and it had been tuned up earlier in the morning. I settled us down in a spot with a good view down a gut and side of the ridge and let out a couple of single calls.