Water Valley,

Anyone got a contact for the place, my local gun shop swears they allow people to pay to hunt without an ouftitter.

Sometimes being an enlisted man working overseas is taxing on my ability to hunt neat stuff.

I can afford the trophy fee, but I can't afford to pay somebody else $600 a day to drive me around when I have my own 4x4 and camp stuff.

Your out of luck there mate.A fucking cock head got caught poaching there and Angus(owner son) cracked it big time and you can only hunt there with a guide now which is a great same cause I have hunted there for a long time and you don't need nor would pay a guide to hunt there unless you were from OS. This idiot has ruined a great place to self guide/hunt!

And said cock head is reputed to have been employed as a writer for a Hunting Mag they say.
But has been turfed as a result of his 'wanderings'

Ouch!

Poaching is a huge problem here in ACT and NSW, probably Australia wide.

That's terrible, poaching never occurs in New Zealand.

Ha Ha Bon Ton nor here is aussie But the guy in question fucked up a great hunting property for many guys that don't have the time or the funds to go on guided hunts and he still doesn't give a shit. One can only hope that he get's screwed financially via the courts as i here is suposse to happen but it wont help change the hunt situation there.Correct gryphon he has been sacked but wankers like that don't change and i am sure he will screw someone else over!

Just about every deerhunter in this state (and others) knows his name too.
And the non stop rumours (?) of his midnight habits in sambar country continue.

quote:

Originally posted by Bon Ton:
That's terrible, poaching never occurs in New Zealand.

Seriously?

In the States it varies from rampant to non-existant.

In California it is Asian-immigrants hunting for food, for a family of 300. Nothing is really safe.

Along the Mexico border there is a bit but not much poaching.

In the South it is rampant, part of good old boy culture similar to Blokes-World Australia stuff.

In the North West it is usually out of staters poaching while hunting coyotes for big mule deer on the winter range. Occasionally they will shoot a bighorn sheep or moose.

Of course every state has the asshole who has horn fever and can't help himself.

In all honesty guys Angus had been contemplating restricting access to guides only long before this recent incident.... I think this may have just been the final straw. It is apparenty that lots of heads were being smuggled outside the property gates, without payment... possibly by some guides as well. The idea is to bring a little more control to the place, esepcially important now they seem to be getting some better game management working there.

Yes this is something of a direct loss to unguided hunters but I reckon the general region there has benefitted from the WV deer and experience over the last couple of decades.. so the overaall situation has probably actually improved for rec hunters - depends how you look at it.

quote:

Originally posted by MOA TACTICAL:
Water Valley,

Anyone got a contact for the place, my local gun shop swears they allow people to pay to hunt without an ouftitter.

Sometimes being an enlisted man working overseas is taxing on my ability to hunt neat stuff.

I can afford the trophy fee, but I can't afford to pay somebody else $600 a day to drive me around when I have my own 4x4 and camp stuff.

from my recent convos with the guides there - $600 will get you a whole lot more than simply being driven around mate!! Now that the place is no longer something of a dustbowl the good deer are a tad harder to find and some very, very recent local knowledge and guidance would be well worth it. depends on the species and timing of course!!

Just sayin...

Matt I dissagree if the average Aussie can't hunt himself around Watervalley they are in real trouble especially if they try to do any big Sambar hunts on their own!That was always the draw for the place to guide yourself and unless the current guides now have dancing girls in camp serving drinks every night they have nothing special to offer $600 a day that you can't do yourself!

quote:

Originally posted by zhaba:
Matt I dissagree if the average Aussie can't hunt himself around Watervalley they are in real trouble especially if they try to do any big Sambar hunts on their own!That was always the draw for the place to guide yourself and unless the current guides now have dancing girls in camp serving drinks every night they have nothing special to offer $600 a day that you can't do yourself!

Hmmmmm c'mon - let's be honest about the average ability!!!

Yeah look I know what you mean - but that is his decision and I dont think it was just from being coached by outfitters. He would know when he is getting screwed.

Cutting the ordinary guy out from the place, just means a lot more guys are going to poach the place.