Innehållsförteckning för Issue 67 från NZ Hunter

A weather window opened at last so I headed for the hills for five days of alpine hunting. My plan was to head up a main valley and then branch off up a side creek to make the tussock – or ‘heaven’ as I call it. After a day and a half, I got to the tussock and here is the story of what happened on the way… Kaboom! What was that – a rifle shot?! Then I heard tumbling rocks, which confirmed there’d been a slip in the direction I had just come from. I’d just got back to my pack in the creek bed after shooting a chamois on the tussock slope above. I decided I’d better not use that creek as my route out in case more…

I guess that given what I do, it’s only logical that I get approached a lot by beginner hunters wanting some pointers to get them heading in the right direction. I am always more than happy to do this, and it is why I started writing this series 11 years ago. One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do I become a good/better hunter?” That could take three weeks to answer and there are a million different replies. I am a simple guy so my reply is usually quite simple. “Five pairs of boots” I tell them. This is usually met with a quizzical look and a further question along the lines of “What do you mean?” My reply then is that once the money has…

All pictures each issue will go into the draw to win a Buck hunting knife valued at $120 Send your hi-res photos to editor@nzhunter.co.nz…

I always assumed that the silvereye was an introduced species like most of our other common small birds They actually introduced themselves from Australia back in the 1850s and today they are one of New Zealand's most widespread and abundant birds. Pretty, agile, gregarious and with a wide range of melodious notes, trills and whistles, the silvereye can be your friend or your enemy. I quite like silvereyes. It’s a combination of things…their lovely olive green plumage with orangey pink flanks make them very pretty birds but most strikingly, it is the distinctive white rings around their eyes that give them a kind of comical look. I’ve watched these tiny birds many times, both in the field and in the garden, and I can definitely say that for me, their…

Photo Gallery The winning photo receives a Hunting & Fishing voucher to the value of $100. Send all your photos to editor@nzhunter.co.nz Note: Photos must be of a suitable size for printing - a minimum file size of 1MB is preferred.…

Petrus Meindl founded the company in Bavaria in 1683 – that’s 335 years of making boots! That’s also only 41 years after Abel Tasman grounded his keel in New Zealand. As you’d expect from a company with that amount trade time, their name is synonymous with a solid, dependable boot, evidenced by the British and French army using them for their combat boots. They are distributed in New Zealand by Joel at Stager Sports. My first impressions of the Dovres were a superbly comfortably all-rounder, with a generous rubber rand, a long toe box and a delightful weight at only 975grams in my 111/2s. The laces are guided through 3 closed eyelets and one locking hook on the forefoot, then another locking hook on the DiGAfix ankle hook, followed by…

Effects of 1080 pest control operations on Himalayan tahr In previous updates we have informed hunters of the study that the Game Animal Council (GAC) and Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) is undertaking to assess the effects of 1080 pest control on tahr. ZIP made the decision to reprogramme the Perth Valley '1080 to Zero' operation until early 2019. The weather and snow conditions experienced in the valley, and forecast for the months following the second prefeed were such that ZIP could not be confident that the 1080 to Zero method could be fully implemented in a timely fashion, in order to completely remove introduced predators. The GAC had collared 21 tahr and released them into the study area and delaying the aerial 1080 application poses some issues for the study.…

Ever since travelling to New Zealand back in 2012 on a 4-month long hunting trip, a deep urge to hunt big game in the mountains has been growing inside me. Not only did I fall in love with this demanding type of hunting, but also your amazing country and kind people. With no mountains in my flat home country of Denmark to fill my new desire, I have been searching for hunting opportunities abroad ever since. This year, for a change of scenery and game species, I had my eyes set on Colorado´s vast backcountry, home to big Mule deer bucks and bugling Elk. The full moon was shining brightly from a clear night sky, making my ascent up the steep rocky creek possible without the use of a headlamp.…

Over the last couple of months, we have heard a lot of rumours about what is happening with the tahr and in this article I will outline what I know. Things have been changing fast, so bear that in mind. If you don’t know about the Tahr Control Plan, find the document on the DoC website: www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/science-publications/conservation-publications/threats-and-impacts/animal-pests/himalayan-thar-control-plan-1993. This plan was established in the early 1990s at a time when the tahr herd was just recovering from massive commercial onslaught. The population was estimated to have been around 30,000 during its peak in the 1950s-60s and then the combination of government control and WARO all but decimated the herd by the 1980s. We can thank the NZDA for fighting hard during this time to slow down this slaughter. There was a…

TRAIL, \'trāl\ noun. a. a trace or mark left by something that has passed or been drawn along: scent, track. b.(1) a track made by passage especially through a wilderness. (2) a marked or established path or route, especially through a forest or mountainous region. We’d pitched up through the thick stuff looking for a good level to contour into the valley Our packs were heavy, with every successive gut and tangle of windfall just adding to our burdens. An hour or so went by and we felt the heaviness of the valley closing in around us – high bluffs above with steepening slopes and a damp, tight gorge below – the terrain costing us dearly in terms of effort. We crossed a severe cataract, cutting down from a…

Why do we manufacture and wear technical boots? Having used a raft of boots through my hunting and tramping ventures and military career, I have experienced some of the best and worst products various manufacturers have to offer in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Boot selection, much like calibre choice, is a topic full of many opinions, anecdotes and experiences but probably not enough facts. Again, like rifle calibres, some boots are more suited to a particular purpose than others and one particular calibre/boot will never be appropriate for every purpose. This article will clearly break down the considerations you need to think about when selecting a boot for your purpose. The development of the modern technical boot can be tracked back hundreds of years to…

One of the main tributaries of the Mohaka River in the northern Kaimanawa Forest Park. So where did this all start and why? The Kaimanawa Hunter Liaison Group is made up of members from the Central North Island Sika Foundation, NZDA Taupo branch and Hunters and Habitats. We meet on a regular bases with the Department of Conservation Taupo to discuss topics of mutual interest, identifying areas where we can be of assistance to DoC such as track clearing and replacing markers, hut maintenance and cleaning up rubbish from popular camping spots. At the last meeting held on 20 June we raised the prospect of a predator control project. It was agreed that the Whio population on the Kaipo and Oamaru Rivers, which are the source of the Mohaka River,…

As the weather gets warmer, we hunt more and start using the BBQ again This spice rub is great for spring venison on the BBQ as well as wild pork, beef ribs or lamb. Sprinkle it on steaks or dust meat patties with it. It also works well on individual cuts such as a venison rump grilled on the BBQ. Or try it on slow-cooked neck fillets done in the sous vide style. Cook them for 6 hours at 61°C, sprinkle them with the rub and finish on the BBQ. Southern Spice Rub •2 Tb mustard seeds •2 Tb coriander seeds •2 ts celery seeds • 110g flaky sea salt •3 Tb smoked paprika •3 Tb garlic powder •1½ Tb lime powder •3 Tb cracked black pepper •1 Tb ground…

Well, we didn’t quite start at sea level, and come to think of it, we didn’t quite get to the summit. I’m not a liar – it’s just hard to put ‘not quite’ in a title – takes away from the effect a little. Plodding my way up the valley, I got a sore neck from looking up to find the tussock; walking to the tops is a lot easier on the other side of the divide! After a typically wet, knee-jarring West Coast boulder hop followed by a typically brutal climb to the tops, Jake, Emma, Tom and I collapsed in the snowgrass significantly later than we should have got there. We cast around for a low-level campsite on the ridgetop as Emma and Tom had to be in…

With a few places on the hit list after a fair amount of scouting through summer, I knew it was going to be a serious trip with less beer and yarns than most… With an alright weather forecast, I planned a 4/5 day loop, covering huge ground from the truck where I’d parked a long way up a Canterbury riverbed. Before leaving, I put a fouling round through my custom Rem 700 300 Win Mag, which blew a clean hole in the star of a Speights box at a hundred-odd yards. All loaded up, I set off from the truck around noon, making my way up a picturesque valley. It didn’t take long to run into deer sign, which was pleasing as I had scouted out the general area a…

The black dog’s hackles were slightly raised as she kept low to the ground, ready to pounce. Annie couldn’t believe her luck stalking this close to a bird (a taxidermist’s model) that hadn’t bolted like the farmyard chickens did. Then the electric bolt zapped her neck! Six months before this, we had driven up a shingle driveway to be greeted by two barking, tail wagging dogs as we arrived to check out the last of a litter of pups that had been advertised on Facebook. The whole family piled out of the truck in anticipation and we were greeted by the owner before a small lump of a confident pup appeared amongst us. They say dogs pick their owners and once Emma had run her experienced farming eye over both…

There are many more photography 'toys' on the market that while they certainly enable you to be more creative, are geared more towards professional photographers and aren't really that necessary for the type of photography we do. In saying that, here is another handful of accessories that you might like to consider adding to your line-up. When I first got interested in photography there were always certain types of images that really appealed to me and that I thought looked really cool. I loved looking at those images where the subject was in crystal clear, sharp focus and the rest of the image (background and foreground) had that buttery smooth, blurred-out look to it. The subject seemed to literally pop off the page or out of the computer screen at…

Stuck in the bush? Learn how to snatch or winch yourself free First and foremost, don’t lose your cool. Stay calm and think clearly… When you find yourself in a situation that you can’t get out of, remember to stop, assess and then act. Firstly – know when to stop. Don’t try to be a hero; man (or woman) up and immediately stop accelerating once you know you’re stuck. The more you accelerate, the bigger the mess, the deeper the hole and the harder it will be to get up and running again. Secondly – get out and assess the situation. Are you stuck because you lost traction or is it because you don’t have enough ground clearance? Snatch or Winch? Check how you’re stuck and if there are any…

Paul has been tramping, camping and just enjoying the New Zealand’s outdoor wilderness for over 50 years now As part of this he has had a long interest in eating well in the outdoors. He enjoys sharing this information with others and hopes that you will find plenty to inspire you in these recipes. He has had professional training as a chef in both commercial kitchens and the New Zealand Army, giving him a wide range of skills to develop his outdoor cooking talents. From basic 101 emergency food preparation in survival conditions, to base camp cooking for 100 plus people at one time, all is achievable with a little advance planning and knowledge. You can find four books on tramping and outdoor cooking written by Paul. A cup of…

DoC painted it in 2005, reconditioned it in 2009, and did some trackwork in 2009. Craig Benbow of Permolat has since committed to maintaining both hut and track and intends on doing a project later this year. Waikiti hut is a standard NZFS six-bunk design with an open fireplace, built in the 1960’s and is located on a flat midway up the Waikiti River. The Waikiti is a major tributary of the Ahaura River. Prior to the trackwork in 2009 the hut was receiving extremely low numbers of walk-in visitors and had largely become the preserve of fly-in hunters. Recent parties have remarked on the abundance of kaka in the valley, and there is a healthy robin population also. Red deer can be found in reasonable numbers throughout the area…

Their ATS 65 has been the spotter of choice for a lot of serious New Zealand hunters since it was first released more than a decade ago. More recently they produced their modular ATX line that includes the eyepiece and prism in one unit, and the focus and objective lens element in another with a simple bayonet fitting to connect them. Now anyone who has used a spotter to actually glass for animals for any length of time will know it gets very tiring due to the fact that only one eye can see the image you are viewing. Your brain needs to either block out the image from the eye that isn’t looking through the spotter, close that other eye or hold a hand over it so that its…

Rab Carrington started off making best quality down products when he couldn’t get the gear he wanted for his mountaineering needs. He has since gone on to produce a full range of outdoor clothing and other equipment. Down is where he started and it’s their latest extreme performance-for-weight down sleeping bags that we’re reviewing this issue. These are still hand-filled at their Derbyshire factory as they were when he first started in 1981. As we’ve said many times in the past, the fill power of the down is where it all starts when you’re trying to achieve great warmth for weight, and the new Mythic has the highest we’ve encountered – Nikwax treated hydrophobic 900 loft European goose down. They have then created state of the art trapezoidal baffle chambers…