Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 100 i NZ Hunter

What a great break that was! We ran a It has been a huge roller-coaster ride with the fight for common sense conservation and bureaucracy occupying such a large chunk of our time. The years have flown, and we really are making some gains now with the current government seeing the value in what we've been saying for many years. I know I'm preaching to the converted with our readers, but hey, I've got a captive audience so you've gotta listen! We all need to become ambassadors for the great work the Wapiti, Sika and Tahr Foundations and Fish&Game NZ are doing in the outdoor recreation and conservation space. The public of New Zealand are largely oblivious to what we do and it's too easy for the ardent ideologists like…

It was the Sika rut 2023, mid April to be exact, and Jed and I had made plans a while back to chase roaring Sika stags together. It was the third night of our trip, and as we lay in our bags listening to the chorus of Sika stags roaring their hearts out, we chatted about the great times we had spent chasing them in the roars gone by. Jed and I have been hunting Sika together for more than twenty years, and as Jed now lives five hours drive from me, it was great to be on a hunt together for the next week. Unbeknownst to us, the next few days would be one for the memory bank. Dawn broke the next morning, and we were already 20 minutes…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To The 7mms have the highest BC projectiles available able to be pushed at good velocity without the recoil becoming unmanageable in a lightweight rifle. Various 7mms have been the most popular standard and magnum chamberings in new rifles sold for many years – specifically the 7mm-08 and the 7mm Rem Magnum The 270 is also making a bit of a resurgence now that there are some great projectile choices available in .277”, but its only 7 thousandths of an inch smaller than .284 anyway so is really an honorary 7mm. The 308 is popular in bush rifles but can't compete ballistically with the 7mms, and the bigger 30 cals shooting the heaviest projectiles that can compete have a pretty significant recoil penalty that proves too…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Better Hunting is a free online training platform built by the Game Animal Council to help hunters upskill and hunt safely and successfully The programme is also intended to provide a pathway and support hunters going on to do practical training, such as through NZDA's HUNTS courses. The platform has tonnes of content all designed by New Zealand hunters for New Zealand hunters. You can do it on your phone and even download the courses for offline viewing using the app. For new, inexperienced and casual hunters, the two main courses, Hunting Essentials and Firearm Essentials, cover basic hunting and outdoor skills. More experienced hunters will still find useful information throughout many of the modules, in the maps, forecasts, hunting and ballot calendars, intentions form…

Hunt for the future this Roar By the time this edition of NZ Hunter hits the shelves, we will be in the middle of the Roar, or what I like to think of as ‘Christmas time for hunters.’ The Roar is undeniably an exciting time; however, it is also a time when we need to think about the animals we are hunting, the environment they are in and what we want hunting to be like in the future. The reality is that if we want to hunt bigger and older stags or bucks with trophy potential in the years to come, we have to be judicious about the animals we harvest today. This is one side of the game animal management equation, and the Roar is when we see its…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire Owned by Debra and Cody Howell, long distance trampers with international experience, they manufacture their Ultralight gear here in little ol’ New Zealand. Tents, packs and quilts are their major offerings, and I have to say their lightweight DOC mattress-sized fitted sheet is a stroke of genius. When I first encountered the concept of a quilt I thought they were for ultralightweight madmen, or Te Araroa trampers going between huts. Who would give up half of their sleeping bag? However over the years, as I have appreciated the insulating qualities of quality sleeping mats, I have gained an equal appreciation of how much weight can be saved with a quality sleeping mat and quilt combo. The other consideration is that when you have a conventional sleeping…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire Cuddeback is based in Wisconsin, an area synonymous with whitetail hunting and we all know how clever the grey ghost can be! The CuddeLink cameras come with an edge on the competition. Not conventional cameras, not cellular, but a private wireless mesh network where up to 23 cameras send their information to a home network. We're using the latest generation, the L series. These cameras are the pro-level system of cellular cameras. They create a mesh network allowing you to have eyes on multiple parts of your hunting area from one home camera, and ultimately they will be able to send them directly to your phone once the cellular module is rated for NZ networks. It's not here yet, but once that unit is here (soon,…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Food & Fauna I have been perfecting this recipe for a while and believe I've finally got it right. I tested it on the front shoulder of a two-year-old Red just to be sure. It certainly got the thumbs-up from those who tried it. This recipe is divided into four simple key tasks – however, you will need some specialist cooking equipment. It is a great dish to do in advance and is easy to serve, or equally good to do for a bulk catering trip, as mentioned in the previous edition. The four key tasks are: smoking, sous vide cook, pressing overnight and BBQ or grilling. Some of you may not be familiar with sous vide cookery. The method is not new as it's been around…

I can still vividly remember my early teenage years when Greg was sent a Dear John email (actually more of a single line bomb) out of the blue from the hunting publications he'd been a regular contributor to for some years. Being abruptly cast aside as Gun Editor of the existing publications was a puzzling one for Greg to comprehend, having passionately poured years of time and energy into this position. What to do now? Following a lifetime of working on the land across varied forms, Greg and Fi were operating their own orchard and vineyard and managing a large deer farm at the time. This could sound appealing and somewhat romantic from the outside, but at the coal face, running a productive and profitable horticulture operation requires intense and…

The day started in my happy place. A frosty winter morning, my mates Jack Bird and Trent Flay had come out for a weekend morning hunt, and I had Kohi and Moon in the trailer ready for an adventure. Moon was Kohi's sister but had only recently come back to us as a three year old, so was still assimilating in to our pack of dogs. I was looking forward to a relaxed hunt with just the two adult dogs, no pups doing stupid things, the weather was beautiful and I'd just found fresh sign. Walking along the boundary fence between the grass and the public land behind there was some fresh rooting in the rich Waikato soil. It wasn't super fresh, certainly not still steaming, but it was likely…

MZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To A SERIES PROFILING A TAHR BALLOT BLOCK EACH ISSUE TAHR BALlOT BLOCKS With an exposed campsite at 1350 meters above sea level the potential is there to get an absolute hammering if the wind gets up, which is exactly what we experienced on our last visit. We spent most of one night with our tents folding over and slapping our faces in the big gusts. Water is fairly handy with both a creek and a tarn if it's not frozen over, and this is one of only two ballot blocks I know that gets a bit of phone reception here and there, whether you mention that to the boss or the better half or just turn your phone off is really the question. The campsite provides some…

MZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire They gave up only a few minutes of light at the end of the day and I was more than happy to make that sacrifice for the weight and bulk saving they provided. And then came the EL Ranges with the integral rangefinder which became such a game changer, binos without one just didn't cut the mustard anymore! When I bought the first set of these, Willie tried them once then promptly sold my 10x32 ELs to buy himself a set of EL Ranges! We've been hounding Swarovski for years about bringing out some 10x32 EL Ranges, for all the reasons the earlier binoculars in that size were so popular. They had always said they would struggle to fit all the electronics and laser transmitter/ receiver…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire The LZ Jacket is arguably the flagship garment of the line. A hard-wearing, waterproof, waterfowl specific shell jacket. It has huge pockets, a deep, stowable hood and spectacular ergonomics - as you'd expect from First Lite. The hood fits very well, showing the watefowling heritage with special attention paid to maintain your lateral vision, allowing you to keep an eye on circling birds as you put your head down. The stiff, foldable peak works well. When flipped back, it doesn't direct the rain into your face, and when forward it acts like a brimmed hat. It also includes a nice high collar so you can hide away from the elements when you're on the bike or boat in rough weather. The LZ is made to be…

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NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Some of these tips may come just a little bit too late to be useful to you this year, but you can refer to them next season. GETTING AN EARLY START How are all the jobs you promised to complete in the mai mai progressing? That floor you said you would replace or the leaking roof that needs some TLC - are they done? Chances are that they're not. I must admit I'm often as guilty of this as the next hunter. If I were an Opening Weekend pond hunter, I would want to keep the ducks as relaxed and settled as possible. So, I would be getting any repairs or alterations, and the bulk of the scrubbing done as early in the new year…

IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING, GUIDED BY HEADLAMPS, WE FOUND OURSELVES MOOCHING UP ANOTHER WEST COAST BUSH TRACK WITH LADEN PACKS. IT WAS MID-MARCH AND PETE HAD SUGGESTED A WALKIN, PACKRAFT OUT TRIP UPRIVER FOR A QUICK OVERNIGHTER. It wasn't a targeted trip as such but more a chance to catch up with Pete, who was now based in Wanaka, and an opportunity to tick up a few k's on the hoof to get in some pack fitness. It was a bit early for roaring, but we knew there was still a chance of hearing the stags spark up here and there as they began to settle into their work for the rut. Furthermore, we knew there was a chance of a bull or a chamois buck mincing…

The first happened in the last week of March. I was hunting some tenure review country in Canterbury. That's Public Conservation Land (DOC land) previously leased for grazing and which has since been returned to the Crown. I walked up an easement, gaining about 1000 vertical metres in the process, and ended up camping on a ridge which marked the boundary of the PCL and private land. It's worth noting that this boundary is marked only by the remnants of the old high-country fence, dilapidated to the point where a lazy merino wouldn't even acknowledge its existence. The sheep have long gone from this country but the deer move freely across the boundary. I had every intention of hunting the public land but couldn't help noticing a stag answering my…

It's the email we all want to receive; an exclusive invitation to one of the world's most incredible hunting opportunities. Fiordland is world-renowned for its steep mountains, jungle-like bush and wild weather – described as ‘the Amazon on top of the Himalayas’. At 6am on Wednesday, 19th April, we were full of nerves and excitement as we boated across Lake Te Anau heading for the Mid Burn. The block was shrouded in early morning darkness, leaving my imagination to run wild about what was ahead of us. With ten days’ worth of gear, we set off into the unknown, immediately pushing our way through thick ferns and wet bush with our sights set on the tops above. As the sun rose behind us, the morning chorus chimed out above with…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Why? Because I could, and because I wanted to challenge myself and push the fringes of what was workable and safe as part of my journey toward a lighter approach to hunting. So here are some thoughts, a bit of the storyline of that hunt, and what's in it for you - all part of adventures for New Zealand hunters and celebrated in this 100th issue of the magazine. Peter Ryan's excellent book “Hunting Moments” recounts a Yup'ik hunter's story from a community with a long history of fishing and hunting traditions. These people live in Alaska and across the roof of the world into Siberia. Peter tells how they have words for ideas that we cannot express simply, such as their word “upterrlainarluta” which…

THERE'S A BLOCK I LIKE TO VISIT FOR THE ROAR It always has a high number of hinds, but on the flip side it gets hammered by quite a few hunters. This doesn't bother me too much because I've been coming here for years and know where the deer usually hang out. After a quick scan of the DOC car park, my suspicions were confirmed. The park was full of big shiny 4WD vehicles - spotlights, bullbars, snorkels and winches, just about every imaginable accessory on show! In the far corner however there was an old Landrover. I forget the last time I even saw one - they were the original go-anywhere vehicle and owned by real hunters. Not like these weekend warriors whose idea of a great weekend is…

2024 is also a small milestone for the Permolat - Remote Huts group as well. It was established 20 years ago in an effort try and save some of the remote low-use huts that were dilapidating or under threat of removal by the Department of Conservation around that time. The outdoor community had already witnessed several decades of slow deterioration of these unique facilities. Like the rest I had griped about the situation but thought that if I waited long enough, some higher power would come and fix things like they did in the old days. The realisation that this wasn't going to happen was confirmed with the release of a DOC review in 2003. This left no doubt about the direction things were going as it listed all the…

MZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire Things have changed quickly, and we now have scopes that mount to the rifle with standard rings and bases and essentially feel quite similar to look through. Enter the TH50 V2 tube scope. First impressions when taking this scope out of the box were that it looks and feels very much like a lot of regular dial up optical scopes that a lot of hunters are happily carrying around the hills these days. The key difference here is that this is a digital scope and as such, the sighting in and ‘operating’ process is a bit different. The scope was mounted to my regular night work rifle, a Remington Model 7 308. A set of high see through rings are supplied with the scope as standard,…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire An American company; designed, manufactured and assembled in the USA, they've only recently arrived in NZ. Advanced Archery sent us the S1 to test out. It's an innovative take on the modern day problems of attaching a phone to an optic, namely spotting scopes and binoculars. Conventional systems require a bulky shroud to press fit over the objective of your chosen optic. This is a cumbersome attachment on your phone, which has had millions of dollars spent on the ergonomics before you go adding a big chunk of plastic to the back! It gets in the way while using the phone, gets stuck in pockets, you can't attach the phone to car cradles, everyone filming needs a unique case for their phone - the list goes…