OUR DEER COUNTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1682, 25 May 1904, Page 81 (Supplement)

OUR DEER COUNTRY.

A CLOSE SEASON RECOMMENDED

TE A WAITE' CLOSED TO STALKERS

Among the visitors at present in Wellington is a Wairarapa , bushman and deer-stalkers' guide with sixteen years' experience of the rough forest-clad ranges of the Lower Valley, and the rugged Gountry that extends away down to Cape Palliser. In the course of a chat with a “Mail" reporter, the guide stated that the season which closed' on April 30th last was a very good one, much better, indeed,than the previous season throughout the Wairarapa, and there were better heads secured. In his camp alone twenty-two heads were brought in, eight at least of which were ‘‘royals." Some of the eleven-pointers, too, were very fine, and those stalkers who came his way, out on the ranges from Martinborough, were well satisfied with the sport obtained, most of them expressing their intention of returning next season.

“'One thing/' he said, “I would like to point out to the council of the Acclimatisation Society is the enormous benefit it would be to sport if a close season were observed. The heads are not decreasing; they are rather on the increase, but the result would be that much better heads would be obtained generally. At present many Ten-point-ers’ are shot that a genuine sportsman would pass, if he was sure the better class cf heads could be got. _ Closing down for a year would have this desired effect besides giving the herds a cliance

to reoover from the heavy slaughter rt the last feAV years.

“Another matter that is of even greater importance is the date when deer-shoot-ing begins. At the end of the shooting season the stags that have escaped the gun have been driven well back into the green hush, and there they stay generally for the greater part of the year. They never start ‘roaring’ until about the 18th or 20th of March, and it is only when they commence to look for the hinds that they leave the dense bush for the more open places. I can find them in the bush, but the average sportsman, particularly the Englishman, renuireS fairly open country to do good shooting, and he can't get it until well towards the end of March. The shooting that now takes place early in March, from the first day in fact, drives the stags still further into the rough country, and I know that many of them don't come back until the season has closed. They, are too far off to chase after, for if a head is got, the job of fetching it back to the camp would not be worth while ill that rough country. As a result of this, I have seen finer heads away back in the green bush than are ever secured elsewhere. If the season opened about March 20th, and only lasted until the end of April, the results would be much more satisfactory than at present. If the date of the opening of the season were put forward three weeks, and a close season declared now and again, it would greatly improve the deer country of the Wairarapa."

“You know that Te Awaite lias been closed for stalking on account of the murder? The result will be seen next season." In reference to the Te Awaite murder, the guide’s opinion was that Ellis is still in the district, and furthermore it was suspected lie was being aided by persons in tho district wlio are supplying him with the necessaries of life. So far as he knew, the reward of AIOO offered for bis capture bad not induced anyone to search for the missing man.