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I.Paradox mentions Sika and New Zealand, and I feel I can fill in some info that:

The sika of NZ mainly exsists in the central North Island. The Kaweka and another adjoining park, can't remember the name at the moment, and there theylive and thrive very well indeed!
The heads taken out of the Kawekas every autumn are most of the time Very good!
There are several reasons:
1. They have very good genetics.
2. Enough and good feeding.
3. The bush in this area are so dense and of such a size, that hunting is bloody difficult! I've been in there roughing it for 12 days alone, and I connected with Sika only a few times and only cathed a glimpse most of the time. I connect with reds "all the time" in same type of bush for comparison..
They are, IMHO, the most difficult deer to hunt due to its keen senses. They do have a weakness, as all males- the rut! Some outfitters in NZ are very good at calling them in during the rut, and thats when the good heads are brought out. These stags are to elusive the rest of the year, even in velvet... You can bump into a big red stag by accident, but not a sika stag in dense bush. Due to its terrain, the Sikas do well on their own. In other areas that are more easily hunted the good heads are far between.
4. Cross breds:
I saw many heads of Sika, reds and crosses while in nz. You're seldom in doubt when you see a great head, wether it's pure or crossbred. The pure Sika head has a distinct form. Like our roebuck, it stops at a maximum number of spikes. The pure sikas are even 4+4s. You do have the odd animal that has abnormities, but alas, the same happens with roebuck. Exceptions from the rule..

Conclusion: This kind og "free deer management" probably wouldn't work any other places, except the very most remote areas.

II. Great heads of Red-deer ,living "free-range" is a thing of the past in nz. Unless they live on private land(with or without fences), they get hammered long before they reach any good size... The great heads of the 40-50-60s are long gone! Sad but true! Enjoy the pictures in the books.... (Rex Forresters Hunting in N.Z. f.ex)

I've worked on a nz station, and the owner had a little deer farm along with the cattle. This farm attracted deer from the National Park (thick bush!) close by, some were captured, and others left to live partly on the farmland, partly in the park. These grew big! They were also sold to hunters who wanted good heads. They were as wild as any deer, as they came out from the wild. The terrain was easier going than the neighbouring forest and gave better feed, but by no means so easy that you could just pick a deer.. It was still pretty bushy, and the animals still "wild" as far as I'm concerned. The farmhouse was 15-20 min away with the ATV... This is in fact the way most hunting in N.Z. by foreigners are done today. On private estates at the S.I. they do the same with chamois and Thar. (These to species are the only ones left that you can shoot on public land, and still get a good trophy. Only because it is difficult hunting, and takes some planning to do. pretty steep terrain too by the way..)

Every hunt can be done as hard or easy as anyone wishes. It's not my cup of tea to shoot a red stag at a field in nz, but I do shoot roedeer at the field in Norway (and would in England too for that matter), and I have no bad feeling about dooing so. When in Rome, do as the romans. That says it all I think..

The pictures of the deer posted earlier on are probably the same kind of reds my boss sold: Wild deer living on farmland. Hunting and shooting these are by no means unsporting, or easy. They are more difficult than most red deer in scotland f.ex.

Canned hunting sure is unsporting: The problem is you never can tell only by the pictures...! I won't judge the heads before I get the story behind..

I'm rather appaled by the reaction CF got:
The only thing that is 100% certain is that they're taken on PRIVATE LAND! Why draw the paralell to canned hunting and unsporting hunting Paradox?

In most areas in the world, there are more hunters than there are good deer heads..: We DO need some sort of control, and on private land that control is good herdplanning, and the money talks when it comes to hunting -as always!

Congrats on some really nice heads CF! I hope you had a great time hunting, and that you won't let other destroy it

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill

Edited by bonde (09/05/09 03:39 AM)