Photo: Composite image via Unsplash / Supplied
David Miller remembers a time when if he shot and delivered a deer to buyers, he would rake in more than he made in his day job in a week.
He had a good job too, a civil engineer at a local council.
He recalls his hunting days in a new book 'Wow', A Dollar Pound.
The venison boom of the 70s
He had no interest in hunting until a chat with mate in a pub alerted him to the price venison was fetching, he told RNZ's Nine to Noon.
"He told me he'd just got $100 for a deer, and I scoffed a bit, because I was pretty highly paid at the council, and $100 was more than I was earning in a week. In fact, I was one of the higher paid people, and I was on about $60."
Read more:
But when he saw the cheque, he realised there was serious money to be made.
"I thought this is gold mine. He lent me a rifle, and I went off. And after three trips, I managed to shoot my first deer, and I became a deer hunter."
He'd never shot a deer before, he said.
"Never even seen one. The lure of money sort of filled my nostrils So I became pretty successful at it, and I coupled up with a mate and away we went."
When they delivered the deer there were formalities to be observed, he said.
"When you took a deer and they weighed it they said, 'who shot it?' So sometimes, by mistake, somebody would say, Rob Muldoon, so they would write that down.
"Another big hunter was 'C. Ash' and they would write out a cash cheque for you. And then away you went to the nearest hostelry, and they would cash it for you.
"But unfortunately, sometimes you forgot to pay the tax on it, of course. In fact, I don't think anybody ever paid tax on it."
At the height of the boom 'Rob Muldoon' was a top shooter in New Zealand, Miller reckons.
These days $100 doesn't go far, but in the mid-'60s it was serious money, he said.
"It would buy you 170 litres of petrol, it'd buy you about 700 loaves of bread, it'd buy you 200 jugs of beer. So, $100 was a was a lot of money, and 30 deer would buy you a brand-new Vauxhall Velox car."
The price was driven by lack of supply in Europe, he said, and the herds in New Zealand, lacking any predation, had grown rapidly.
"Once they established an export market, I think it was in Germany and Holland mainly. I don't know how they established the market. All I know is it was like a gold mine, and I jumped on the bandwagon."
All good things come to an end however, he said.
"The boom time stopped in about 1972 and it just fell to bits, so from over $1 a pound, it went to 23 cents. So, you sort of knocked it on the head then."
Nevertheless, Miller made hay while the boom was on, he reckons he shot 300.
He believes foot hunting deer should be encouraged today.
"I think it is a terrific resource there, real high-quality meat with game animals, and it's a pity we just poison them and leave them to rot on the ground when people could be advantaged by them."