John deLury (right) and Dr. James Kroll review how the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association is helping to manage whitetails on Stewart Island. Photo by Gordon Whittington.
LOOKING AHEAD
Where the New Zealand whitetail story leads from here remains to be seen. With a liberal government being nudged along by an active en-vironmental lobby, it's no secret that the pendulum has swung toward tightly controlling non-native species, if not eradicating them. This goes for not just whitetails but all other wild deer, along with chamois, Himalayan tahr, brushtail possums, rabbits, wallabies and other exotic wildlife, plus feral pigs, dogs, cats, weasels and more. At the very least, the government wants free-ranging deer controlled to a point that forest regeneration can occur.
"Wild deer will continue to be valued as a recreational and commercial hunting resource," notes DOC minister Sandra Lee on the depart-ment's Web site. "But under the Biodiversity Strategy, the protection of our unique plants and animals and the places they live takes precedence over introduced species. We will not place at risk those things found nowhere else on earth such as our indigenous forests and grasslands, which give New Zealand -- and its people -- a unique identity."
There is at present no overt push by the DOC to wipe whitetails off the New Zealand map. Currently research is aimed at determining how much whitetails and other wild deer are impacting the forest. While John and other Kiwi hunters are understandably skeptical about the future of deer management in their country, they continue to work hard to keep their proud hunting tradition alive.
Here on our side of the Pacific, the next goal regarding New Zealand whitetails is less politically charged. Through DNA samples, we simply hope to learn as much as possible about the genetics of the Stewart Island and Glenorchy herds. For instance, if we can get enough hair and/or tissue samples from NZDA members, James says a test using mitochondrial DNA could reveal how many does from 1905 still have descendants in each herd.
Despite having begun with only two bucks in 1905, the Stewart Island whitetail herd has diverse antler genetics. The two strikingly similar racks in front were collected many miles and years apart. Photo by Dr. James Kroll.
We'd also like to know if those two populations are genetically linked to each other and/or to a known group of deer here in North America. That could teach us some valuable lessons about inbreeding and other potential genetic problems in isolated herds. Of course, it will take time to find the answers to such questions, but James and his staff at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas are eager to begin the job.
Meanwhile, down in the South Pacific, the descendants of those 18 deer set free in 1905 have clearly found a home. The habitat is a world apart from anywhere whitetails live in North America, and the size of the deer suggests that they lack the food needed to grow big bodies and trophy antlers. And yes, the government now wishes, in the name of preserving native habitat, that a certain ship a century ago had never been allowed to unload its hoofed cargo.
But regardless of where anyone stands on the issue of exotic imports, let's not blame those first deer for doing what was asked of them. They met every challenge in their way and, in the end, figured out how to make a living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'd say it's pretty hard to fault them for that.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
For more about Stewart Island, log onto www.stewartislandflights.co.nz. To find out more about deer management in New Zealand, visit the DOC's Web site, www.doc.govt.nz and run a search for "white-tailed deer."
If you want to purchase uniquely New Zealand videos that document everything from Stewart Island's whitetail herd to the early days of capturing various species of deer with helicopters, visit www.videosouth.com. To learn more about the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, log onto
www.deerstalkers.org.nz.
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