Goat hunting (NZ)

[Balotelli]

On 29/11/2020 at 08:00, Houseplant said:

Sad to say, no need. You pretty much just walk up to them and shoot them. Very stupid birds. Can't see why our American friends get so excited about turkey hunting. 

Hence the expression "Turkey shoot"

[lakeside1000]

Hi houseplant, I emigrated to NZ , Auckland to be precise in 1969 , had 4 years of hunting around the north shore, Kumeu Riverhead etc mainly rabbit pheasant and quail with the shotgun, 

A friend lived near Hamilton and took me on a pig hunt , no guns , just two dogs and big knives, the dogs would track and pin the pig and we had to rush in through the undergrowth and stick it before it killed one of the dogs, it was a manic style of hunting but the pigs tasted amazing, especially cooked underground at the hungies (I think thats how you spell it, sorry to my old Maori friends if its wrong. 

Dig a big fire pit, stick huge rocks in the fire embers to heat up, all the meat and veg goes in wrapped in huge leaves and wet sack cloth, covered in soil and watered for around 3 hours with a hose pipe spray to stop it drying out, dig it up and start eating, the meat would fall off the bone , a-maz-ing, never had food like it.

We could have done some deer hunting in the forests but it was tightly controlled and you could only shoot with a centre fire rifle, so my little rimfire .22 and the shotgun were not man enough for the job.

I would go back tomorrow , best time of my life, Sailing and fishing around Auckland, Trout fishing the lakes around Taupo and Rotarua, spearing flounder on the North Shore mud flats at night with a lamp, and all the shooting , its a wonder I found time to go to work.

We did see a lot of goats on a trip out to the Coramandle peninsular but were on a fishing trip with the wives and kids ,so no guns on board. Thanks for reviving the memories. 👍 

[Houseplant]

Hi lakeside, sounds like you had some good experiences. I can identify with most of those. The centrefire only rule still exists for hunting on public (Department of Conservation) land. It's not to do with humane kills. Nothing as quaint as that in NZ. It's a public safety issue. The thought is that folk are less likely to go blasting away at everything that moves with expensive centrefire ammo!