A Book for Every Thinking Deerstalker

A Book for Every Thinking Deerstalker

“Tracking and Finding Deer in New Zealand” by Roger Lentle, published by Bateman books. Price $34.99. Reviewed by Tony Orman.

Readers may recall Roger Lentle’s fine books – co-authored with Frank Saxton – on big game hunting. The titles were “Red Deer in New Zealand”, “Stalking the Seasons Round”, “Alpine Hunting in New Zealand” and “The New Zealand Hunter’s Companion.”

They were all fine books, all deserving of being “a must” for the keen hunter’s bookshelf. Now after some year’s absence from book writing, Roger Lentle with over 50 years of hunting experience under his belt, has written a new book basically on how to find deer with some finely detailed research and insights to tracks and deer sign.

This is yet another Roger Lentle book which should be on every hunter’s bookshelf.

There’s a fairly well known quote which says, “Experience isn’t the best teacher, evaluated experience is.” Hunting like fishing is a constantly learning exercise. Experience is important but you have to get full value, by non-stop evaluation and analysis.

Roger has been a hunter for 50 years – in short a very experienced hunter enhanced by his medical and scientific career with a heightened analytical mind.

The book works its way through deer tracks which vary from the animal’s mood at the moment, to differing soil types, weather and moisture etc.,

There’s advice on how deer transit from cover to feeding areas, their distribution patterns over the seasons of the year and techniques in not only ensuring you are in deer territory but in seeing them.

The lesson is to sit and look and be systematic in glassing with binoculars.

Roger Lentle writes,  “Even on high tops, good hunters generally spend about a third of their time, sitting and glassing and listening and pausing to look for sign in likely areas.” He emphasises “minute examination” of likely deer areas “by searching bit by bit in a sort of grid pattern so that no areas are missed.”

There’s a particularly excellent chapter on tracking and finding wounded deer. Even the most sportsmanlike hunter has the potential to occasionally wound an animal. The advice will go a long way to ensuring the animal is retrieved and not lost to rot.

I personally would have liked some anecdotes to exemplify the advice to have been sprinkled about. But that’s not a necessity and “Tracking and Finding Deer in New Zealand” is an invaluable manual for every Kiwi hunter.