THE DEER-STALKING SEASON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14001, 6 September 1907, Page 8

THE DEER-STALKING SEASON

The Otago Acclimatisation Society will consider at a special meeting to-day some correspondence on the subject of the date of the opening of. tho deer-stalking season. The, following is a letter from Mr E. Ha'rdcastle, of Christchurch, on the matter:— 1

The following are some of the reasons why Btalkera consider the Otago and Waitaki Acclimatisation Socioties should adhere to April 1 as the opening dale for the rod deet stalking season:—(l) Stags join the hinds in the last week, in March, and in averago seasons—that is, if there has been the usual amount of frost at that time—the hinds begin to como into soason in that week. By April l.the bigger stags have rounded up thcii herds of hinds, and, therefore, by not opening the season before that dale (as was done in 1903) the free movement of the stags •in search of hinds is not interfered with. (2) It is a rare occurrence to shoot a after April 1 that has not ■ been in company with hinds. If such happens, it is generally a stag, that has been beaten off by stronger rivals. In a season when the rutting is late through the nights being too mild, it'may happen that a stag 'is shot too .early, but such seasons are exceptional in' the' hack country. Apy stalker can tell after lie has shot a- stag whether he has been' 11 on the rut," Thero is liltlo risk then of shooting stags-after April 1. As a matter of'-fact) thero are' few stags shot during the first week—that is, in the rougher country., The Btalkera have to learn the ground and locate tho stags. In tho second half of one's time, .which averages about 10 days' stalking, one. expects to do better than in tho first half, (3) In the greater part of the district the rutting is practically over by (ho middle of April; The roaring of stags is heard 1 in .the Hunter and the Dingle up to that date, but on the open, hill country lower down it is Eom-atimes later, probab'.y on account of the weather being milder. After . the roaring ceases the stags leave the hinds, and until they collect togethor in mobs during the latter, end of May, on their way back to their winter and summer haunts, very few of them' can bo seen on the higher and rougher country, and in tho bush they are, of course, invisible. It may lie asked wh> not stalk them at the end of May? But except, perhaps, the Ahuriri G-orge (where a few stalkers generally go), there is no part of tho back country, where one would have a prospect of success, that would be safe on account of the weather, tho ground then being generally under snow. (4) Second parties now frequently go out lo catch the ond of the rutting season, when tho first parlies. are leaving the ground. These parties rarely meet with much success, unless' it may be on-some of the open hill country, "ho opening of the season on April 15 would put a stop lo second parties, as they would have to be ' out-.in'..the first part of Mayone of the worst,:-'times to find stags. (5) After tho Toarin?' op'the stags ceases it is almost impossible to. find them on the high and rough .tops of-the ranges, and quite impossible to find them in the bush. Even if a stag ia located one day, he will probably be invisib.e the next. AVlien the,stags are roaring it man dees well if he can ' locate one to-day' and stalk him to-morrow, hut he does not always succeed in this. His chances, therefore, when tho roaring lias ceased, ore remote indeed. The council evidently does not realise the broken nature of the country, and the amount of cover there' is on the best stalking ground, nor the amount of climbiug involved to get iti touch with a stag seen in the distance with the aid of a telescope. (6) It is not the case that all the best stags are shot in tho season. Every stalker will report having seen as good or better heads -than those ho scoured. The thousands of acres of bush country are a sanctuary for a large number of good stags that are only heard, but never seen, for very little stalking i 8 done in the bush. A stag v;ho is known by his voice is sometimes heard year after year near the same spot in the bush, coming back to tho same place for tno rut, and to bo able to maintain liis position for so long shows that he innst be a b:g one. (7) The council evidently has an ides. that the heads.are.deteriorating through so many good stags being shot each year. The heads are only deteriorating on the open lull country south-east of the Dingle and Creek, where the bigger stags thai now winter and summer up the Hunter, Ahuriri, and Ohau Gorges do not now go a-s they can find plenty of hinds before ' they reach there. Some of those stags: that-fail to find hinds or are driven off by stronger stags may go down to the front hills, but those, as a rule, have very inferior heads. By the time -they arrive on the lower country- the rutting season has started, and the young _ stags are at work among their own immediate relatives. No suppositions on tho part of the council can set aside these facta that are so well known to many of Us. (8) To show that the heads are not deteriorating, one has onlv io lake ' tho col ection shown., at tho recent International Exhibition at Christchurch. Out of the 33 North Otago heads only four were shot prior to 1901. So that, tho last six seasons (1901-6) produced seven tiress as many good heads as all the previous seasons in- which stalking was allowed. Allowing for -the increase in tho number of deer, there surely should have been mora £ood heads got earlier if dcgcnoraiion of heads, and not improvement has taken place. Further, Mr Harold Hodekmson has about 80 heads to mount thi« year Leaving out 20 light rubbish sliot on the Morven Hills by a- visiting, sportsman's party, the averago size and -weight of the remainder is the for some years Thi l lot does not include the Rev. Mr Oliver*" great 14-pointer nor a number of other large heads shot by visitors and other sportsmen in the Hun'cr and at other places, (9) If the socioty persist in its proposal to make April lb the opening date, tho pleasure of stalking in such rough and out-of-the-way country will b! practically gone, ami many of us will give up the sport, A'hich will not be ,an encouragement to others. The society is overlooking the poacher question, which wil' be still more serious ono if the herd ia left unprotected in the rutting season.'

Mr Robert Hay, of Christchurch, also writes on tlio_ subject of why the date for deer-stalking in Central Otago should not be altered from tho Ist to tho 15th April, and gives reasons.

The following is a letter from Mr Chas. JLurnbull, Dunedin, addressed to Mr R Chisholm;—

I understand that some of the northern sportsmen (Christchurch) aro much against tlio opemna bemg so late. I expected this, lor the reason that they would naturally like to spend their Ealster holiday, as usual, on the deer ground, and few of them might be able to avail themselves of another holiday so soon aftei Lasfcr were the opening fixed for the 10th, or later, of April. As regards tha roaring of -the slags, this , - s usually in full swing at that time, but begins to sla'ck off about the 15th of tho month. I only mention this because Mr Hardcasfle says 4i mil sl ,"p s ," SUilll y stop roaring about tlio lOlh. This is not my experience. I am however, quite willing to agree lo the season being opened as usual—on the Ist of Aprilshould you and others think it advisable to do so for the sake of peace. I understand, too, that they (tho northern men) object to tho license fee being raised to £5. This is surely not too exorbitant for sport of that class, and I think we should not give way on this point, mid moro especially seeing that we shall have to incur expense this year in trying to shoot off some, or as many as we can, of the old stags and malforms tha we heard so much about last soason. I must say I am in rather a quandary as to the best method of accomplishing the latter part ol the business, but I presume we will tackle that matter later on.