Stewart Island - Down South NZ

I asked a cobber had he ever shot white-tail deer on Stewart Island. - It is densely bush clad and can be wet and nasty - This is, after-all the Sub-Antarctic and the weather can change very quickly:

Hi Marty
I have been over to the island a couple of times but have never shot in the
bush over there.  I used to go out for a few days every now and then with a
mate who was a cray fisherman and we would go around the island dropping and
collecting pots.  I got a few deer on the beaches in the early hours of the
morning by shooting  in the moonlight from the top of the wheelhouse when we
were anchored up.  I only lived down there for a couple of years and did most of my hunting in Fiordland .

Fiordland bush is Beautiful in Good Conditions.

- mostly you need web-feet, blubber, and thick fur.

- Stewart Island is a nice place to visit and it can get quite hot there in
the summer so you can take advantage of the many nice swimming beaches near
Oban.  I know people who have a hunting trip there every year and love it.

I used to row over to Te Wai (where the Bluff smelter is now) with a couple of
mates in a dingy and shoot rabbits, and we also had on old fishing boat that
we would take out over the bar into Foveaux Strait behind the freezing works
and shoot sharks (not very PC these days).  They were mainly White Pointers
and there were lots there.  Most were 6-8 feet but the biggest I ever saw
was longer than our wee 16 foot boat so we left it alone!
Cheers

Those were the days - 1960s - the NZ population has doubled ** since then and the wild empty places are getting busier. Anyone venturing into these remote areas really needs to know what they are doing and be fit and well kitted-out. - Not to be taken lightly - as to this day there are five or six unrecovered bodies on Mt. Cook alone.

** note: New Zealand's population is currently estimated at just over  4.5 Million.
- "Rounding Cape Horn" in the old days was well known for its foul weather. - Check-out this map of the world and see that the arse-end of  'Gods-own' is just about as southerly and wind shredded as 'The Horn' and sits well into 'The Roaring Forties' and near the 'Furious Fifties'.

 

 

Marty K.