Deer Wars

The success of live capture and the skyrocketing prices inevitably encourage poaching.The success of live capture and the skyrocketing prices in the mid 70's (up to $4-5,000 per animal) inevitably encourage poaching.Opotiki-based Milton Kuri sums it up well; "I used to wake up in the morning and open your arms up wide and whatever was out in front of you was all yours, and that's how you looked at it."Poaching was widespread and indiscriminate. Deer were poached off paddocks or the bush edge on farmers properties. Choppers were shot at by enraged farmers and others who resented the unrelenting poaching. Civil Aviation tried to prosecute crews and did catch a few but the poachers were so mobile it was an uphill battle.By now many of the older pilots and shooters had either retired or gone elsewhere and the lure of big money (and the perceived glamour) saw a flood of new and inexperienced pilots coming into the industry to try their hands.Once again it was learning on the job and only the best could manage the demands of live capture, flying fast into tight gullies or dodging trees while chasing a deer through the forest.Crashes and deaths were all too frequent and as usual the women at home had to deal with the consequences. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

By the mid 70's things were about to change dramatically. The hunters had become so efficient they were shooting themselves out of a job.From 1967 on, businessman Tim Wallis had exclusive hunting rights to all of Fiordland National Park and was taking out deer in their thousands.Resentment from other operators at being excluded came to a head in 1973 in the so-called Helicopter Wars with constant poaching in the park. It went too far with helicopters being sabotaged and eventually the RNZAF stepped in to try and sort it out - to no avail.But things were about to change dramatically again in the industry. The hunters had become so efficient they were in danger of shooting themselves out of a job. As deer numbers diminished it became uneconomic to keep flying and the end was in sight.In desperation the industry tried their hand at live capture to set up deer farms. It was highly risky work at first. Leaping on running deer from a helicopter - known as bulldogging - or firing tranquiliser darts into animals. Each approach had its own problems of having to be so close to the animals - and the ground.What saved the day was the invention of net guns. The first were very crude and took a terrible toll on the shooters with their savage recoil. Many a net was fired into the rotors or snagged on helicopter skids or tangled in bushes and crashes increased. Eventually more sophisticated guns were developed that the pilot could fire remotely.Because of tax breaks for investors, the so-called "Queen Street farmers" got into the game, and the demand for live deer skyrocketed. The price of a hind rose from three or four hundred dollars to three, four and even five thousand dollars a beast. On a good run, pilot and shooter could make $10,000 before breakfast - unheard of money for the times.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The mid 1960's are the golden years for aerial hunters. Venison prices are high, fuel costs low and there seems no end to the deer. But something has to change.The numbers of animals are now dwindling. Deer start to become wise to the danger of choppers and hide in the forest, laying down in the tussock or rocks or change their feeding patterns so they only come out at night.It becomes harder to find deer and harder to cover flying costs and make a profit. So the pilots and shooters take more risks. As they push boundaries, inevitably there are accidents and deaths.Brian Bluey recalls a typical aerial crash with a chopper written off and a badly injured shooter airlifted out on a stretcher. Just another accident that hardly rates a mention in this high adrenaline world.By now some men have suffered multiple crashes and the toll begins to tell with different families coping in their own ways. Lyn Bond tells how she became a believer in fate, ''when your time's up, your time's up."This belief will be tested in the worst way possible. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Shooting from choppers is a game changer but teams are learning from scratch, working at break-neck pace in such dangerous terrain that an accident is always on the cards.Shooting deer from choppers may be a game changer but everyone is learning from scratch. Working in such dangerous terrain, an accident is always on the cards. As shooter Jeff Carter puts it, "there were no margins for error."Pioneering pilot Tim Wallis crashes his first chopper within ten days of getting it. A series of accidents and fatalities follow, rocking the industry.Each man reacts differently but almost everyone smokes. Veteran shooter Pete Campbell recalls the stress of flying "in one of those damn machines.""I'd probably go through about two pack of cigarettes. I dunno, it was just the height that scared you and this was the safest time in the whole lot."Many shooters drink every night after work, probably to calm the nerves and avoid dealing with the stress of this dangerous work. But families suffer as a result and alcohol becomes a major factor in fractured marriages.The consolation (and the lure) is big bucks. The men are earning huge money for the time and spending it on new cars, land and or fancy furniture for the missus. A few wise ones save their money.But the money doesn't compensate wives and families for the long periods when they're left alone wondering, as the accidents mount, if they'll see their husbands again. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details