had put the deer off feeding in the open . Alternatively , some fresh tyre tracks in the sand indicated that the block might have been spotlighted during the night . It was too cold to sit still so the three of us made our way slowly south , staying parallel with the coast and thoroughly glassing each area before moving through it . After two hours we still hadn ’ t seen a single animal .
We walked slowly along a sand track with Peter in the lead , when suddenly in front of us a doe bounded out from under a toitoi bush , across the track and came to a stop side-on 25 metres away . Peter had a permit to shoot a doe and you wouldn ’ t get an easier shot , so this was his big moment . Unfortunately , as he worked the bolt the cartridge wouldn ’ t feed properly . He pulled the bolt back again , ejecting the round , and proceeded to pick it up and manually feed it into the action . Meanwhile the deer stood patiently looking at us , waiting to be shot , but it eventually got bored and trotted off . There ’ s a lesson here for inexperienced hunters : you should know your rifle , know how the action works , practise dry-firing it – and , most of all , get lots of practice at the rifle range .
A doe in the toi tois on the edge of a sand track in the forest . ( photo : Brian Witton ).
“ You owe it to yourself and to the deer to make sure you know your rifle .”
Over many years doing patrols at Woodhill I have seen a lot of hunters – some good , and some not-so-good . A common theme is “ I missed a deer because my rifle wasn ’ t sighted in ” or “ I borrowed the rifle off a mate ...” You owe it to yourself and to the deer ( you don ’ t want to wound them ) to make sure you know your rifle and that it ’ s shooting straight . Plus , of course , it costs time and money to hunt . The least you can do is go to the range and practise before hand .
Our party felt a sense of frustration all round but then continued our way slowly towards the southern end of the block .
In a westerly at Woodhill it can be a bit tricky getting the wind right when hunting below the sand dunes or beside a block of tall pines . The wind blows at right angles to the dunes and often you get a backdraft from the east as the wind forms a little rotor in the lee of the dunes . Sometimes in light winds the breeze is channelled down the firebreaks or access roads between blocks of mature pines . So even though you think you are hunting into the wind , it can be coming from a completely different direction .
Lunchtime found us on a small dune overlooking a large area of 3-year-old pines at the southern
We found these cast antlers almost side by side in the block
end of our block . The wind was still bitterly cold and Dylan and I huddled down and had a sleep in a small depression among the trees . For me there are generally only two times to hunt : early morning and late afternoon ; but of course there will always be exceptions to the rule . The other big rule is always to hunt into the wind . So after a sleep and a bite to eat we discussed our plan for the afternoon hunt . There were two options : stay where we were and watch the area of young pines in case a deer started to feed out in the open , or walk back the 5 – 6 km to the north end of the block and hunt south into the wind again .
10 NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196 - Autumn 2017