Disclaimer

Readers are reminded that articles printed in this publication are the personal opinion of the writer and may differ from the official views of the Sambar Deer Management Foundation Inc.

Photography

A plea to hunters and photographers. We, as editors of the news letter, like to be able to make this more than a plain document by including a few photo’s in the right places. Real good or interesting photo’s are a little hard to come by, especially of Sambar deer. So if you have any, or manage to get one while researching or hunting on your block and would like to share with us and fellow hunters, a copy would be appreciated. We don’t have funds to throw away, but the committee has agreed that payment will be made for all photos printed and the photographer acknowledged. We would like to see all types of photos of Sambar deer. Live or not. Also please remember to clearly identifying who they are from. We still require the three photos of heads taken as requested in the data packs.

Greetings

Each year when it comes to preparing the season report and news letter I start begging for articles and input. This year was no different. Members who attend our meeting or read the minutes must get sick of “We need N/L articles”. This year several hunters have helped out and hopefully the photos will be of interest.

1996 Season Report

This year we had 915 applicants for the public ballot. Thanks to the forest managers and DOC we balloted 105 blocks (9 more than last year) and drew 15 reserve positions, 7 of whom were given the chance of a hunt. Some hunters still have not realised that if for some reason they have to cancel their hunt they can contact the Foundation and we may be able reach a reserve hunter to give him a chance. In addition to the 105 licences issued for public blocks a further 132 licences were issued for private land hunters. This gave a total of 237 licences for the season.

Returns were much better this year with only 27 people (11%) apparently unable to fill in a return and post it in a pre stamped and addressed envelope. Of these people 13 were from the public ballot (12% of licences issued to public ballot). The other 14 people took private licences and represent 10% of the private licences issued. I am surprised at the number of people from the public ballot system not sending in returns. The system worked for them in getting them in to hunt and they cannot be bothered to work with the system.

To the big majority who do send these details back THANK YOU! We do use the data sent in. With future research being planned the info already gathered will be a useful starting point.

Part of the statistics we gather include numbers of deer seen. Below is a comparison of deer seen to harvested. This year 752 were seen compared with 706 the previous year. The additional numbers seen most likely to relate to more hunters than more deer. Interestingly the number of deer taken during a season does not alter much. Last year 46 animals were taken and this compares with 44 this year. These numbers seem to be relatively constant over the years. Of the deer taken this year 11 were from ballot land. Moutoa produced 6, Harakeke 1, Santoft 1, Tangimoana 1 and Waitarere 2. The balance from private land were from properties found through out the area.

Considerable time is spent by hunters in the field. During the season a total of 3355 hours was spent by hunters looking for the elusive Sambar. That's a total of 76 hours for each deer. The fastest hunt this year was on private land and took 30 minutes. The best on ballot land was 1.5 hours. In addition hunters spent 1339 hours researching their blocks. Almost all hunters spend some time looking over the block before the hunt and it usually pays off in deer sighted.

The age distribution of hunters remains reasonably constant as seen below. However about a 1/4 of the hunters don’t know how old they are.

This year hunters estimated that they spent $54789.00 on their hunting activities. I still believe that these figures are grossly underestimated and the real amount could be 3 times this amount. From this it is possible to put a dollar value on hunting activities in the Manawatu/Wanganui area.

From A Monitors Diary

This last season did have a few interesting moments. When in the field we are often expected to be able to cope with all problems that come up even if they are a hundred miles away. A couple of days we started in Waitarere Forest and ended up north of Santoft for one reason or another. Monitoring hunters in the forests can be very rewarding. The first weekend we found our first hunter and his two mates almost asleep on the side of the road at 11.00am when we arrived at the forest. We stopped and had a talk with them and found that they had been charging all over the block since 6.00am and had not seen anything. We talked with them for some time and boosted their flagging thoughts. When we left they were revitalised and ready to go. The next couple of hours were spent meeting and talking to other hunters in the area. 3.00pm and most hunters were heading back in so we decided to head home. Driving back down the track to the gate and there on the road was a pair of gumboots. We had almost decided that who ever they fitted would have them when a head appeared from the grass, followed by two more. It was our sleepy mates from the morning. Still walking through the trees too fast and trying too cover to much ground. Another quick talk, our thoughts for the evening hunt and we headed off. On the way we talked about those we had met and discuss their chances. I had dropped Warwick off and was heading into town at about 6.00pm when the phone goes. Our sleepy mates again and the hunter in the group had just shot a HUGE stag. So big the three of them had considerable trouble moving it. What is more it was just where we told them to go. Very satisfying for both of us.

This year we had an interesting experience for both of us. For two weekends of our trips to see hunters we had the company of Matthew Lark from Radio NZ. He was preparing a tape on Sambar deer, the Foundation, the hunters and land owners. It was an experience for both Warwick and I. Matthew had plenty of questions about the deer, what we did and why. He had a very alarming way of just casually talking and getting the information that he wanted without either of us being aware of how probing the questions were. Just how much of what we said was being taped I am not sure but I am certain that it was more than we realised. On several occasions we did interviews on different subject. Watching Warwick explain about preaching trees and demonstrating what stags do under one, all for an audio tape had to be seen to be believed. In addition to talking to us Mathew interviewed several ballot hunters to gain their views. We also spent an afternoon trying to find a successful private hunter. These are hard to find when you want one. We finally found one in the Bulls area who was also a land owner. He agreed to an interview and gave a different point of view again. I must take this chance to thank those who gave their time to Matthew.

While travelling and during some free time we just talked. Boy would I like to go just half the places that he has been. He also had some very pertinent insights for the Foundation and its future. On the second trip we were to drop him at the bus in Foxton. Unfortunately the bus chose that night not to call into Foxton even though he was booked. No problem just ring some other passenger services and see what is available, if we had their numbers. From the back seat the numbers came, not from a note book as most of us would but from memory! As he used public transport all the time Mathew could remember all the numbers, along with the numbers for all the DOC officers around the country and a considerable amount of others. A very useful talent to have. A piece of advise, don’t try to get public transport out of Foxton on a Saturday night. We did get him home that night, nothing like a trip to Paraparaumu after a full day in the field. As far as we know the program has not been broadcast. Maybe Warwick and I were just not cut out for radio, or maybe the conservation, management and hunting of deer is not P.C. to the P.T.B. (Powers That Be)

We had our share of problems this year but nothing major. Like most problems they were created by people not reading the instructions. One afternoon we had two calls about hunters who had locked the access gate to their block in such a way that the other lock on the gate could not be used. One was corrected in time before logging trucks arrived. The second was not and the Forest manager had to use bolt cutters on our lock. Not good for P.R.

Meeting the hunters has it stranger moments also. We found one pair (father and son, son had the block) having lunch in the sun. While we were chatting I noted from my list that they were from Auckland. As part of the conservation I mentioned that my cousin was in the same area as they were from. Not only did they know them but their daughter did sitting for my relatives, and I thought Auckland was a big place. The father had been lucky enough to to draw a block a couple of weeks later so we were able to give him some info about the block. Enough apparently as he scored a hind. Monitoring hunters can be a great time as we get to meet lots of interesting people from around the country and give them a hand. So if you see us out there give a wave and stop for a chat. We may even have heard a good joke (or would like to hear one).