Back at the hall for our third visit to the area October 30 to 2 November. Dan P and I were there a couple of weeks before for three nights. The results are here. Dan P and Chris went back up to the end of Creek Road and stayed at the shearing quarters with instructions to cull as many deer and goats as possible. Blair, Caleb and I stayed at the hall.
It was pretty wet the first day but pretty much cleared by nightfall. We went and saw Mark and Paul and covered some of their blocks again. We got 50 or so birds and a couple of fallow and goats on Mark's. We were going to cover the forestry side of the river across from Jill's but with extra people around for the wedding, we decided to give it a miss this time.
The next morning we went to see Mike as he had made a submission to the culling page. There was a lot of country to cover including pest deer problems in a young pine block. He reckoned there were thousands of peafowl to cull.
Then we processed what animals we had then Caleb and I went to see Dan and Chris for a shower and catch up. Blair needed a nap as we did not get much sleep the night before. Chris and Dan had seven fallow hanging already and that was a good start too.
So on night 2 before dark, Blair and Caleb went up to Mark's cutover and got two sambar to collect the following morning. I had a nap this time. Then we headed to Mike's and drove the main track on the home block. We picked up another 50 or so peafowl and some more fallow.
The next day the boys went and boned out the sambar while I processed peafowl. Then they cut up the other fallow. We expected an excess of venison so Blair brought his freezer all the way from Tauranga.
On the last night we started at Mike's young pine block and picked up some fallow and a few peacocks. Even up there there were plenty of peafowl around. Then we headed back down along the river and finished off on Long Point. We shot a lot of birds there (120 for the night) and three more sambar. We were using a .223 with a thermal scope for deer culling. It is extremely accurate and with all head shots, we did not waste any meat. By the time we were leaving and shooting the last lot of birds, Caleb had hit the wall and fell asleep in the truck. He never did get a nap in earlier.
On the last morning I processed all the hens and juvenile males while the boys recovered the sambar. We packed up the loot, including all of the big peacocks recovered the night before. Then we cleaned up the hall and got out around 3 PM. Blair's freezer was full. My big chilly bin was full and deer carcasses were packed evrywhere we could fit them. Dan and Chris stayed one more night. They wound up culling 20 deer and 16 goats.
It was a busy few days when we got home. The day before yesterday, Caleb and I butchered eight fallow that had been in a chiller all week. Blair has been processing and mincing sambar meat all week as bits thawed out from his freezer. And yes, sambar is excellent eating and so is hare meat. Feel free to friend me on Facebook and you will see some of my creations. We do not waste much. The bones and scraps all went to feed working dogs and everyone around us who likes venison (useful people) gets some meat.
We are going to try get get down to Mangamahu for one more trip before we knock off for summer. We appreciate everyone who made contact about culling and we will make a difference in the area by next winter. We have made a pretty good start but there is much work to be done in the entire area. Please get in touch if you need a cull.
Totals for this trip were: 257 peafowl, 38 deer, 27 goats, 34 possums, five hares, and three bunnies.