REINDEER STALKING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 64, 16 March 1936, Page 8

REINDEER STALKING

FUTURE IN NEW ZEALAND (By A. D. Kitto in the N Z. FL'hing aud Fishing Gazette, Feb. Id, 1936). While the present programme of deer destruction continues unaltered, noiiiing can be done by deerstalkers. Tuut L, not many bother now about making arrangements for, cr going sialking. Despite this, there is an optimistic spirit prevailing amongst deei. talkers. This is caused by the luct l.nat at Jong last we have a sportsman ud- Minis-le* in charge of the Internal Affai.s Depart are in—toe Hon. Mr. \Y. E. Parry. J a the Hon. Air. Parry’s bands lies tiie future of red deer s-alking in New Zealand. 'J he question, is, will me Hou. Air. Parry rise to the occasion, re- , view all Li)2 tacts available pertai ung lo the red deer question and give decx stalkers a equate deal, lune alone will toll but personally 1 belic'e that he wiil. it is my desire iu this article to place bcloie the Hon. Air. Parry some tacts and opinions regarding me deer question. I nave not me space herein Lo delve into the subjects of liberation, acclimatisation, distribution etc., of the. deer. That sort of thing moreover, would not, 1 feel, very much interest him but J can point out. that th® propaganda directed against the doer nerds is entirely unmerited and misleading. The chief grievance, laid against ihc deer seems lo me to be that of forest destruction and that by destroying the forests is caused the flooding o. Jctv lands, erosi ca and similar troubles. Now, it L an indubitable fact that to date there is not an acre of forest land in New Zealand which has been cleaned up utterly and entirely by deer. Shrubs have been eaten out in sc-rne localities but tne forest Ims not been Theoretically when deer become too numerous and the ground, forest, or land (call it what you like) become overstocked the deer eat themselves right out of food (shrubi?) in the forest and the forest then takes xery heavy 101 l of the deer by starvation during the winter months. If this continued unchecked, the forest would then automatically cariy only such deer as could find a living therein. In other words, a given aiea of forest would support so many deer and no more. Jn this country however, up to me present tne deer have timply moved to ire.-ii ground aud spread out and if allowed to increase unchecked would lake possession of much of cur hign forested country, It is ut.erly absurd of course to assume for a single moment that the deer herdi< could do more than overrun the high count ry and the unfarmed areas of at least those, parts of New Zealand which are almost entirely unpopulated by man. O'er thirty years ago,, deerstalkers were the first to point out to the controlling auihorities, i.e., that unless inreosi'e, practical, ami systematic culling war undertaken annually throughout the deer forest of New Zealand the deer would not only deteriorate as regards growth of antlers but would get. entirely out of hand and overrun the mountains. Tne question then arises why have d’eer at all —what for? Well, deer such as we have, in New Zealand are the finest in rhe woild; they are admittedly the best and such being the case, why exterminate them? (If that be possible!) Our red deer are a tremendous asset from the tmnist point of view; they are known ns the best throughout the world and if properly coni rolled (which is not impossible) would be a continuous source C’f revenue. IJ.S.A. would probably give many millions sterling to possess iu their country our deer herds. That deer cause, or have caur/ed, or will cause flooding of our rivers in so childish a statement as to be ccnlemptibie and beneath notice. If the deer antagonists vreie to take a toree month’s holiday m M.arch, April and May iu the Haast or Landsborough ValleMH ' -i ■ ■ w ' i! an p u M I'm opH of

bianco cT a solution to our deer trunuies; and let me reileraie tnal. devrbLdlkcrs are fully alive to the fact that the deer are aud have b«en lor some considerable number of years back, a definitely, vciy big trouble. It is agreed ihal, firstly, in our prer’ent deer herds we possess a very definite asset from both the native and tue overseas sportsman's point of view, also, the fact that the best herds or red-deer in the world are a splendid lour'itt office advertisement, if used correctly. Secondly, that the deer herds must at all tunes be protected, culled and mana’ed. To manage such a vast concern as the red deer herds of New Zealand is a big job and must be lackied in the right manner by the right man. W« must first then find the mao and men to woik under him. Next we, require finance; and money must come in part Jrom the sale of Jiceni-es. Necessarily, these licences must be highpriced as deer culling is an expensive job. Overseas sportsuren must pay big 1 money for the right to kill vur big slags. It is a kink in human nature that cheaply priced goodt- are generally neglected by those able to afford dearer even although the quality of both be the same. Thus, it is absurd to charge a sportsman, as has been done in the past, £5 a licence to kill four stags when he would cheerfully pay up to £5O for the same privilege. £5O is not too much to charge overseas to kill four big slags of N’c-r-th Otago or South Westland and would compare very favourably with the. cost of kill ing four stags in Beotland. £lO poxlicense for Loin stags to New Zealand sportsmen would ai»o be better than to-day chaos. The license fee to kill stags would not. cover the total cost of annually culling cur red deer herds and thus the stalker should be compel i Jed (he it is who gains most) to do some culling on his own account. All stalkers i-houbl on application for licenses l/e charged an extra £5 for same. This money to be refunded to all stalkers who kill twenty hinds on their stalking blocks, or stalking areas, as the ca*?e may be. Evidence of this to U) the headskins complete of each hind shot. Any malformed stags shot equal four hinds and, iu this maiiormed antlers uould be All hinds not killed up io carry a iree of 5., per io. ad. blo' kr the .'lalkei v ould have to save his fine. On others. let it go altogether but insialKcrs would reap ihe morro'i". uni so many stags would 1"' killed for meUiod winch could be ?m--earn tor would up to ten hinds killed per secured, ea< .i such hind iu 3s io the rtalker. It would as follows:-- Four trophy stalker, cost of licence to £lO. Uosf of bio'h ten pej at os eat £lO. This if a rtalker was lucky I ki'i four tropli;.- ■-tags l>c i be req tired re kill oil 40 ss per iv d for every that numbo' killed by Ihu). bl<»« 1.-.'OuLl not cniai. hardship re- secure forty oiners, i> assuredly coirei Thu-, i-ome <laikers womu io i the ia re that they were w I best giOuiid. would Deed an annua! a sliding <1- l<.-r numto be snot out, as tLeia be .'rew Zea the. harG) - reding plan-' to be kept. Up. it nut. a either Jur t-ialkvrs lo lilt at me and say, “ I atn not a Let Kitto kill binds |l|||||^Hnps.'' Like the rot of you, r ; i se , c Lie oid.mtry r ,| iibut I realise alb-- > not that £•) kill lour good JSouta stags fan or proper. blocks siojuld come i--to bein all those forests wi.icj them. At. least three b ockgjound of both North est West.and and North C; nbe reserved annually spoilsmen. T.iesc becks ext ensi vely a<i \ eri i s?d by High Uommi-i ioricr’> Uffi e tor in London on oi oxember the Ist. in each year. nll bUtll l,lo '' ks t 0 l,e P iocur ' this office in London and stalkallowed to take friends on to to shoot p.ovided rent no the specified number of slags are shot. Acclimatirej.cn of New Zealand to have notha (soever to do with the deer or their management as some of fell down once on laeir should not get the chance to The New Zealand Govcrnmust lake over the deer herds them in a busines. like mangain.