Three of us made an excursion into the central North Island last weekend to assist a farm manager control some goats , and have a bit of shooting fun .

Between us we shot something over seventy goats, four fallow deer , thirty-odd geese , a bunch of bunnies and a few hares. Had to come home for a rest...

The goats are getting a mite scary now , more than 1200 shot off here in the last three months, but the deer are not yet as scarey , but that will happen no doubt . Mr farmer has planted a large area in crop for winter feed , and the goats and deer want to eat it now , so a cull on economic grounds was in order .

Spotlight shooting for the fallow and rabbits/hares , rest in very hot dusty conditions .

Assorted photos follow ( hopefully ).













Sorry about the sequence not being in order , computer is not cooperating too well tonite.Have more pictures , need some more time to download them and get some order into the events.

Some good looking skins there Muzza.
Well done.

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Originally posted by muzza:
Spotlight shooting for the fallow .....

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Shame, shame.

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rest in very hot dusty conditions .

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Hot and dusty, my arse! You Kiwis wouldn't know what dust is, if those pictures show a "hot and dusty" place!!!!

Nice bag of game by the way.

Perhaps I should have said that travelling the farm tracks was dusty - very fine powder that gets into every part of your rifle - will likely have to strip the bolt on the Remington to get it clean again .Travelling in convoy on quads makes for a lot of dust , covered more than 60 kms over the two days on dirt tracks .

Tough on your spotlight views there John-boy .This was a killing exercise to save the farmers crop from destruction , their werent any of the nice ethical "right things to do " stuff here - we were killing goats , and deer , and it was killing , not hunting .

Nice scenery shot tho- even you would have to agree there ?

Some nice fallow for the freezer there Muzza.Any good goat heads down that way?

No TP , the heads are small as . We have better heads in Taranaki, but even they arent all that big.

The other guys saw a very good fallow head ( in velvet ) one morning , but the orders were spikers only so he lives for another day . I dont really now where you would find a really big goat spread , maybe the East Coast or Wanganui . Not really sure .

The deer bodies are at the local home-kill butchers at present , he knows more about cutting them up than us and is well priced too .

Those numbers of game you shot are quite amazing from my scandinavian point of wiew. And 1200 goats in three months even more! Makes me wonder if they try to escape at all, or can you shoot many of them in a row?

What did you do with those goats, do you eat them or what? How is it with those feral goats in general, do you try to eradicate them all or just keep their numbers low?

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Tough on your spotlight views there John-boy .This was a killing exercise to save the farmers crop from destruction , their werent any of the nice ethical "right things to do " stuff here - we were killing goats , and deer , and it was killing , not hunting .

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You should know by now that if you mention deer and spotlighting you will get comments. Maybe not on this board but on some where very dedicated stalkers visit my comments would be very tame .......

I have killed deer with a spotlight too. For a similar reason. Shame on me as well. But these deer were escapees and the ex-owner faced a big bill if all ("most") were not shot.

The problem is that for most farmers there is ALWAYS something to protect, even if it is only another 50 sheep to add to his existing 5000, if those pests (ie deer) are removed. All wild animals are vermin for most if not close to all.

I bet if you went there again this weekend you would find more deer in his crop.

Yes the scenery is very pleasant. I was only teasing about the dust and the heat. Hell it may have been 30 deg C or something.

PS That crop is probably bringing deer onto his farm as well. I could think of a lot of places a small well located crop could be planted where it would encourage a lot of deer out from parks (etc). Hey presto, instant spotlighted "trophies".

PPS Pity it is not TOTALLY illegal to spotlight deer without a very specific government permit. Then again in NZ (and probably many Aust states) the government would hand them out by the dozens for each applicant.

Mate , I would be the last person to say spotlighting is a good idea , but this was a necessary evil , and we were allowed one deer each , as long as they were spikers and not does or mature animals - which is exactly what we did . I was with the farm manager on the spotlight mission and he told me what I could shoot. Since no-one else is allowed in there at present for deer the herd is being managed to some extent , we are all waiting to see what sort of heads the place will produce , and can happily accept the conditions imposed .If we stick to the rules we can harvest a few animals over a year , and that is fine by me .

The goats on the other hand , are a major menace to the farming operation . A previous manager had been farming them because one of the perks of his employment was he could round up and sell any goats on the property and pocket the cash . New manager , new policy - goats have to go .

It seems a waste , but we just shot em and left em . The four in the photo were nailed by yours truly on the way to shoot a flock of feral geese - the other three guys had shotguns so I thought I would take the 223 along for the long range geese , plus the likey goats on the five km track to the geese .Very pretty skins on the brown ones , not a lot of that colour around .

JTH the property is 10000 acres , 8500 clearish land and surrounded by vast areas of similar great goat country so reinfestation will be an ongoing problem . Now the goats are in mobs of ten to fifteen , before they were in mobs of eoghty to a hundred , and the ranges have increased too . When they hear a quad approching they start to decamp so the shooting tends to be fast and furious .As for shooting them in a row , the four in the picture were together but spread over an acre or so , just dragged together for the picture . Too bad they dont know they are now celebrities....

Shooting distances ranged from 120 metres out to over 400 metres as checked with a rangefinder, and most shooting was over deep gorges with no chance of accessing the animals . The hills in this area are very big - 1000 feet or more from top to bottom is not uncommon , and very steep. Try shooting a small goat on the run at 300 metres over a gully with a crosswind and see how good your skills are ...

I am pleased you guys have shown an interest , this is a neat place to visit and even the scenery alone makes the trip worthwhile .

Are Kiwi goats referred to as "stinkies" like here ?

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Originally posted by NitroX:
Are Kiwi goats referred to as "stinkies" like here ?

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I thought it was the Aussies that were referred to as Stinkies by the Kiwis!



Ps. Very beautiful scenery Muzza!

Erik

After a week in Summer hunting in high 30's to 40+ heat after stinkies, sometimes we hunters also take on a similar aroma. It used to add to the experience when travelling home to duck into a fast food shop and clear it of customers.

Nowadays and maturer those solar showers find a use.

I imagine Kiwi goats smell sweet and perfumey like Kiwi men.

Sorry about the lack of replies - my computer has been invaded by a pop-up window that only appears on the AR Forum page , and completely overlays the fforum . Not to mention the 2 little f***ers that appear as well , although I have managed to block those two.

Anyone who knows how to get rid of these bloody things feel free to let me know ....

Billy goats are definately called stinkies here , although how you would tell the difference between a goat and an aussie has me beat , unless the ability to have an intelligent conversation with the goat is some sort of hint...

Cant remember the other questions , and cant get back to the forum page cos the pop-up has done just that . If I catch the swine that created this I will use him for target practice with the 12 ga and buckshot..

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Originally posted by ErikD:
I thought it was the Aussies that were referred to as stinkies by the Kiwi's!
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Erik D

Same friendly attitude the between neighbours as in Scandinavia....

Cheers
/ JOHAN

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Originally posted by JOHAN:

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Originally posted by ErikD:
I thought it was the Aussies that were referred to as stinkies by the Kiwi's!
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Erik D

Same friendly attitude the between neighbours as in Scandinavia....

Cheers
/ JOHAN

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Don't worry Johan! We Norwegians know you Swedes can't help the way you all smell! And we know that the smell helps you sneak up upon the innocent sheep you get "extra friendly" with!

ErikD

Stinks? Norwegians stink because they are having special relations to their sheep's. Now I know why Norwegians are so fond of wool The camouflage Norwegians use stalk sheep's is also their national dress "lusekofte"

Did this special bond to the sheep's was it something that surfaced while Norway occupied by Denmark? Like in other cases with Norwegian history we might have to consult Iceland and find out how it really was

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Oh you Scandavians! Can you have a fist fight and film it for our pleasure! Glad to see you haven't been totally pacified from your Viking days.

Kiwis and Aussies are actually good mates. The Kiwis just need to understand their place from time to time.

(Muzza - I had the same problem. I tried all sorts of spyware and ad-ware but then changed my virus program which was the real problem. Some attack got into it and caused the virus program to act up. Send me a PM with what you are using and I will reply off public forum)

Still trying to beat it , not having much luck so far ...