Hunters Comments

Harakeke My 7 year old daughter and I enjoyed the weekend hunting, both sighted a huge stag on the Saturday and shot a hind on Sunday. Photo taken by MAF officer who did post mortem as my camera went off the air. Thank you.

Moutoa Stalking the Sambar in the Moutoa flax is heart stopping stuff, great, I’m hooked. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity next year, unfortunately no stags seen but plenty of hinds and young stuff.

Moutoa Poachers! A great feeling to see Sambar. Special thanks to Trevor. He should be paid expenses!
(Monitors are voluntary - Do we want to commercialise Sambar Management.)

Private Land Over the past two years I have been spending every spare weekend door knocking asking people if they would be kind enough to let a keen hunter shoot on their property and finally someone said yes. Over the 6 weekends of the season and 5 prior weekends I have learnt a lot about Sambar feeding, territory & cunningness. I have come to respect sambar deer as much as any and at times they made a Sika look stupid in just how switched on they are. I feel you have to put in many hours researching your block and then with a bit of luck you might score. I came close but not close enough. Thank you S.D.M.F for the 1996 Sambar season it was most rewarding in teaching me about the cunning Sambar deer. Yours thankfully,
(Could we all learn from this guy. He obviously got off his butt and made it happen.)

Private Land The block I got was pitifully small and was more like a picnic area!! No sign of animals. Despite this I think you guys are doing a good job. A very professional approach, however it appears this system does not prevent local landowners hunting when they feel like it.
(More info please on the latter!)

Private Land Why No Dogs?
(Define dogs. Hounds, Barkers, Chasers, biters, Senters, Pointers, Holders, Bailers or just uncontrolled ones. We feel if we allow one we would end up with them all - What chaos.)

Round Bush Very hard block to hunt. Would have been better if I had my mask and snorkel. Very enjoyable hunt. Thanks for the opportunity.
(Believe it, Hunters in this block almost had to swim due to extreme flooding.)

Santoft Not large numbers of deer, saw fresh sign in only two area of block. Saw one good stag, good head. Cattle all through block. Forest well eaten out by cattle. A real privilege to see such a fine stag. Thanks for the opportunity to hunt Sambar keep up the good work.
(If its a privilege to see one, can you imagine the honour to shoot one.)

Santoft Santoft a brilliant block. Saw total of 12 deer in two days. One stag was a real trophy material. Only one comment is that it is too big for one ballot. Total of 21 blocks. Spent 2 days in one block & still didn’t hunt it all.
(Not all of these blocks hold Sambar all the time. You obviously found the right part at the right time.)

Santoft Unfortunately we were very disappointed to find the army in our block at 6.30am. This ruined the whole day as where-ever we were walking into hunt the army were coming out on motorbikes or jeeps. Did not bother to hunt Sunday.

Santoft Thanks for the opportunity to hunt this block. A lot of old sign including tree rubbing. No deer seen but I guess they are there some where.
(You didn’t see any deer but I bet you were seen by them!)

Santoft I enjoyed the opportunity to hunt Sambar. It was a big thrill to see a stag. With a touch more luck I could have shot this animal. On the down side to find the army with a camp in my block was very annoying. Air force jets doing low level passes every 20 min. made things very noisy and hard to concentrate. PS Ian & his monitors were extremely helpful & a great source of information. Thanks

Santoft This is the second time I’ve hunted Sambar and I’m only just beginning to realise how truly elusive they are! There are plenty of animals there but they have adapted perfectly to life near humans and know how to remain unseen no matter what tactics you try. A big stag is everyones dream but I think any Sambar is a trophy considering how challenging they are. I think this is deer stalking at its most frustratingly addictive. I’ll be back!! I know how much time and effort the S.D.M.F put into making these hunting opportunities possible and I’d like to thank all those who helped organise and run the season esp. Warwick & Ian - Thanks guys.
(Warwick & Ian are only two of a great bunch of guys that make the S.D.M.F happen.)

Tangimoana Pity the access to this block isn’t more restrictive shared my block with 4x4, go cart and motor cycles. Possibly 2 others had rifles. Wouldn’t accept this block if drawn in ballot for future years.
(All ballot blocks are public land which gives the public the right of access. We can only warn the public of a Sambar hunt in progress, not exclude them.)

Tangimoana Yes I have one little comment there was just too many other hunters in my block and just too many other people in the forest. We slept on the beach over night and saw people driving into the forest off the beach with spot lights I managed to get the no. of 1 Land Rover with 3 guys on board (EQ$(%%) This is not a fair go to balloted hunters in fact a bloody joke.
(We at the S.D.M.F agree.)

Tangimoana Boundaries should be more clearly defined on the map. Was not happy paying $20 to have my block hunted by neighbouring block before 6am on the first morning.
(Some guys get lost in the dark and others just don’t play fair.)

Tangimoana I’d just like to say that I really appreciated the opportunity to hunt Sambar, although I found the area I had was too noisy due to all the dead debris underfoot. I saw quite a bit of sign & heard Sambar move which helped to increase my knowledge on these deer. Hopefully I’ll get another chance one day to actually shoot one.

Tangimoana First thank you for the opportunity to hunt Sambar. Secondly I saw some fresh sign in one area only. Spent most of my time sitting and watching but failed to see any animals. Needed more time to succeed as the deer were there somewhere. Annoyed at cars, motorbikes, four wheelers, walkers, dogs, and rifle shots all inside my block. These are pretty educated deer I believe. Surprised at the size of foot marks, not what I expected
(Hadn’t we told you, Big animal, Small feet.)Waitarere The Foundation members Warwick & Ian always seemed to find us asleep on the side of the road! But their advice & encouragement put us onto how to get a Sambar and we did! To get it out took 3 people & a fair bit of sweat but well worth it. It isn’t every day you shoot something as big as a Kaimanawa horse. Thank you both for your tips and time. The Foundation organisation and management was excellent and gained our utmost respect. Thank you again, and we hope to see you next year.
(Sorry about the ear bashing fella’s, our reward was your success.)

Waitarere Appreciated the professionalism in which the ballot was run and enjoyed hunting the elusive Sambar. Thank you Ian & Warwick for all your time and information. Count me in for next years ballot

Waitarere Monitors are helpful.
(Any volunteers - become a member and enjoy the rewards of being a monitor.)

Waitarere I went to hunt Sambar. On Saturday I looked to no avail - sign only. On Sunday I found animals then all afternoon I am sure they followed me. Probably to see what this idiot would do next. Everywhere I went they had been, even back to the truck. A great experience. Thanks.
(If the hair on the back of your neck stands up for no reason try back tracking a few hundred meters.)

Waitarere Due to weekend work commitments prior to the season any researching the area was unable to be done. Would of been a big advantage to have checked the block out first because the size of the area was large and the first day would of been used more productively. First time hunting Sambar so wasn’t easy but enjoyed the opportunity heaps and feel the experience will be a big help next time round. Appreciated the advice & motivation given by the monitors.
(Research is essential but we all need a little bit of luck.)