Getting away from sheep jokes.

What do you hunt at home on North Island?

Probably bloody wild horses; look how fast they run the melbourne cup after they see what happens to sheep!

Well , lets see now , on the home range we have rabbits and cats , further afield , but not far , we have goats and fallow deer and proper pigs , bit further afield we have red deer , and after a few hours in the vehicle we have access to those nerve wracking little bast*rd deer called sika . And then if I should be lucky and win a ballot for sambur....

Mostley the reds and fallow , bit of goat hunting to help guys with conservation blocks to protect the bush . We have access to big areas for possum hunting too.

And just for Wallace with the problem ass , we can hunt horses in some areas , only it is officially frowned upon , but I consider a horse is half a tonne of petfood awaiting processing so .....

we have goats and fallow deer and proper pigs


Proper pigs! yeah i have seen some of those sheilas over there,i thought they werent "proper" but bush pigs

Whats wrong with Sika?

I hope to be over your way next year on exchange, we'll have to catch up. The sister-in-laws family live on the North island and hopefully I'll get a crack at some deer with old uncle Phil.

Ever had the feeling that what you are hunting is hunting you ? Sika give you that feeling at times , as well as scaring the crap out of you by waiting till you are standing real close to them and then whistling and running away with out you seeing them . I think they are the hardest of our deer to hunt because of the nervous tension involved .

Other than that , and their natural aggression towards intruders , I like em , they are pretty and cunning and a more than noble adversary in their home territory .And not too big to carry out.....

Thanks for the reply.

So "proper" pigs, does this indicate the Kiwi pigs are closer to wild boar than Australia's feral (domestic) pigs at least in the South. Given Northern Australian pigs have more wild genes.

Sika has become a target trophy for more Aussie deerhunters heading over to NZ I feel probably as the bush hid them better from the choppers.

Back when I was in shorts, I almost booked a hunt with Sika Safaris and I wish now I had. I think $$$ were the problem as always.

If I ventured over now I probably would look to book a hut or block or whatever and do it myself.

Which is harder in NZ, Sambar or Sika, to get a trophy? Assuming equal access to hunting country.

By sheer weight of numbers the Sika win , but you can get good Sambar trophies if you are lucky . I havent ever got lucky enough to hunt them so cant speak from personal experience

The Sika are expanding their range all the time so the likelyhood of trophy heads has to improve as well . There are more than a few hunting guides who specialize in the little sods so finding a good one neednt be difficult.

I suspect many of our wild pigs are more wild than your northern ones even , certainly few of them look like farmyard escapees , and there is none of that sissy girl sneaking up on the waterhole in the late afternoon stuff here lads , it is mans territory...