Innehållsförteckning för Issue 81 från NZ Hunter

Starting off with the good news, we have been flat out filming and editing the last few episodes of the new season of the TV Show due to go to air on February the 17th. Despite the Covid restrictions limiting our roar hunts to private land, since then we have managed to complete some amazing expeditions and seen some amazing country and animals. I promise you your Wednesday nights will be busy watching TVNZs Duke channel for some time! The process for compiling the tahr control operational plan for 1 July 2021 to 30th June 2022 is still ongoing. The next TPILG meeting is scheduled for the 16th March and we should have more information on the shape of the control plan following that meeting. There is no more culling…

BLACKWATCH RELOADING 101 Experienced reloader Jared Hearsey, who will be familiar to you from recent articles, has generously gifted us his reloading manual to reproduce in a series of articles. If you want to skip straight to the meat of it you can order the manual at: www.blackwatchreloadingco.nz Now we’ve lost all fear of the imperial system and realise what we’re looking at is just an incremental scale, we can move on to some of the tooling you’ll need to become competent with and confident using. CALLIPERS First, and used above all other tools on your reloading station, is the digital dial or Vernier calliper. These callipers give a direct reading of desired linear distance, measured with high accuracy and precision, to 0.001 (one thou). Callipers can measure internal dimensions…

It’s always at the top of the picks when it comes to a trip away, and the weather is favourable. We had a three day time slot to fill and so chose one of the valleys with huts not too far in so we could base ourselves for a couple of nights. That would let us do a bit of an explore-around to sample the best of the west as well as, hopefully, get in a hunt. There was much excitement on the drive over Arthur’s Pass with a few quick stops for photos and refreshments, along with stories of trips past, before we headed into the valley to park up and set off. From the get-go things were not looking that good as at the carpark there was another…

It would appear that many hunters in New Zealand are thinking about the environment that means so much to them, and also about the future of New Zealand hunting alongside conservation work and where that fits in to the bigger picture. I operate my own business working in conservation specialising in threatened species protection and targeting hard to remove predators. Many of the lessons that set me apart in what I do, I learned though hunting. That is what I am. A predator hunter! I even moved somewhat into the modern age recently in my business and started an Instagram page. The name? nzpredatorhunter. What else? HUNTERS IN CONSERVATION I work around the country and the thing that I see constantly is the fact that when it comes to conservation…

Mugabe lived his last days in Singapore with the best health care and luxuries. All while his ‘people' were still suffering thanks to his own destructive actions. I'd wondered how this day would go down in history and what it would mean for Zimbabwe as a country. The optimistic side of me really hoped it would bring some positive change, but unfortunately it did not. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has taken the presidential reigns since November 2017, has indeed continued Mugabe’s terrible regime of corruption and poverty. From one fascinating African country scarred by controversial history to another - Namibia. However, Namibia's scars were far less severe and you immediately noticed the difference when arriving in the clean friendly airport of Windhoek. Goods and services were reasonably priced and the Namibian…

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.…

As well as their own tools they also distribute items like the Australian made Eze Sharp we reviewed. The principle is the same as most sharpening mechanisms, it is simply a jig to make sure you build an even cutting edge (the bevel) on your blade. The Eze Sharp includes a flip-over component as well though which is a huge boon, as well as degree marks on the two separate angle adjustors. The T bar setup allows for a large range of movement so you can sharpen all shapes of blades, you can even purchase cylindrical stones to sharpen serrated blades like breadknives. All in all the design is well thought out to keep your stone at a constant angle to the blade all through the sharpening process and includes…

The current Deer Policy Statement within which the Department of Conservation works on public conservation land was put in place in 2001 by the then Minister of Conservation, Sandra Lee The opening statement of the Policy reads: "Deer are a serious conservation pest". Very few of us believe that statement, although we all recognise game animals do have an ecological consequence in natural habitats and that they must be carefully managed. . It is very clear 20 years on that the current Deer Policy has been an abject failure. Reliance on fickle international commodity markets and exchange rates to drive a commercial Wild Animal Recovery Operator (WARO) based deer management model that directly competes with other hunting sectors is fundamentally flawed. A lack of investment in research and monitoring hasn't…

Overwhelmingly the response was “I would love too, but I just don’t know where to start”. Our goal is to smash down that barrier. We want to present the required information, skills and techniques for getting in to reloading in an easily understood and informative way. To that end we have written a start-up manual, the manual that we are working through chapter by chapter in this magazine. But this issue, we’ll depart momentarily as I take two ladies from different backgrounds, experience and interests through a workshop based at the BlackWatch Reloading lab, and we will follow their personal journeys as they learn and develop their skills. With the fantastic support of RCBS and with the co-operation and support of Sportways New Zealand they’ve each been kitted out with…

I had been out on many trips with my partner Steve May over the years, but usually only took photos. I always enjoyed the exercise, loved the beauty of the mountains and hills, the bush, and the birdlife, but I really wanted to get a stag myself as a memoir of our hunting adventures. I have a busy and often stressful job as a Clinical Team Coordinator at Christchurch Hospital. Days filled with endless pager traffic, clinical emergencies, deteriorating patients, and other crises! So it is nice to get away from it all, and go hunting with Steve. No pagers, phones, Ipads pinging; in fact no one can contact me at all. Steve was on a mission to help me tick this off my bucket list. We were to head…

The hut is not far from the lake of the same name and sits just above where the outlet creek drops down a precipitous slot into the Morgan River. The Morgan is a tributary of the Crooked River which feeds into Lake Brunner. The surrounding tops are mostly gentle and easy going with the odd rocky outcrop. There are expansive views north and south along the ranges and out to the coast. Lake Morgan Hut gets around 20 visits a year currently, a mix of trampers and hunters, and is also popular with groups and honeymooning couples from the Gloriavale Christian Community which is located to the north at the foot of the range. Lake Morgan Hut is maintained by DOC Greymouth currently and is a standard NZFS S70, 6-bunk…

Based in Georgia USA where they have an assembly and distribution plant, their manufacturing facility is in Spain. We have reviewed several of their rifles previously, including their first bolt action - the B-14 - in issue 63. The B-14 has remained as their standard line, while the Premier is as it suggests is their premium line. THE PREMIER So how does the Premier differ from the B-14? They are both based on a Remington 700 footprint and receiver shape. They both have a cone breech and bolt stop on the left side of the receiver, and a sliding plate extractor in the front of the right hand locking lug. This provides a lower ejection angle and the empty cases are less likely to hit the scope than if you…

We had seen very few ducks around and shot even less. The clarity of the water and the lack of feathers and duck crap along the edges told the tale of no ducks for a number of weeks. Even with only a few ducks bagged it was a good morning to be out and about. I had my son, Jake, with me and my oldest mate in the world, Paul, there too. Paul and I met at primary school and we were the weird hunting kids. Over the school holidays, other kids would be happily parked up on the couch watching TV while we were out scouting ducks, building mai mai’s and even loading shotgun ammo. Whichever father arrived home first had the pleasure of taking us out for a…

Regan and my sister Stacey had recently purchased a lodge in the West Coast of the South Island and after venturing there for a visit on holiday in 2019 I was adamant that I had to move away from the usual South Kaweka missions and get into this epic backcountry paradise in 2020. Quick plans were made and a rough date range was set with Regan doing some quick scouting missions to check animal numbers before the trip. As we got closer, my mate Josh mentioned he was keen to join us, as he had missed the last Kaweka trip because of a shoulder injury. Fast forward to the morning of February 18th and we were frantically repacking and checking over all our gear before starting our journey into the…

After our hunt in the area for the TV Show I had really wanted to bring her back and take up Gary’s offer of using his horses We had a brutal marathon drive down then parked up by Hanmer and slept in the car for a couple hours until it was a reasonable time to show up on Gary’s doorstep at Pukatea Horse Trails. He kindly had some bacon and eggs on so we wolfed that down and set to sorting some horses. Sam got Valhanna, a smaller gelding who I’d actually ridden around the shores of Lake Guyon for a brief time on our last trip with Gary. I had Nesee, a mare who was our packhorse for the very same trip! I struggled to find a saddle that…

David Jacobs is our local taxidermist and mentioned to me that just the other day he had three different people come in on the same day that had all cut their capes too short, and the disappointment they had to deal with. Knowing what to do would have saved the disappointment of learning the cape was too short, especially after carrying out the head and half the neck and no doubt a good amount of meat. Taxidermists these days are just about magicians, but a short cape is a short cape and they simply need to have enough skin to work with. Hence the motivation for this article. Special thanks to David for his input and for the numerous images he has provided. He is a fourth generation taxidermist based…

Oh yeah and Lance pulled out just hours prior to leaving due to getting the week long runs with giardia from drinking out of a river a week beforehand! CRAPSVILLE Al and I, like clockwork, were biting at the bit to get out and amongst the roaring Red stags so we hatched a new plan a little different to usual and decided to pack into an area for a couple of days that none of us knew much about. We did our research and read up a little which got the blood pumping. Our other spot X was on hand for whenever we wanted, so it was nice to know incase this spot turned to custard! It felt like the middle of summer, sweat was pouring out of us. The…

They have an enormous range of products and have been primarily promoting apparel and gun safes. New to the market is the Drover range of packs. THE LOAD SHELF This range is centred around a strong, aluminium framed, 1.85kg ‘hauler frame’. You can then attach either an 80 or 40l pack to it. You can also use the frame independently of the packs for straight load hauling as well with the ‘load shelf’ - simply a sheet of tough nylon for strapping heavy items back against the frame. A great application for retrieving meat, collecting firewood or packing equipment to a basecamp. The harness that stays with the hauler frame is a well-designed system. It’s adequately padded, fully adjustable and I found it very comfortable. The biggest test for it…

Circulating around online hunting groups over the past couple of months has been an excellent video made by the Sika Foundation covering a recent presentation from ecologist Cam Speedy. GAME MANAGEMENT For those that haven’t seen it, Cam explains in some detail how hunters can have a positive impact on improving the quality of our game animal herds by harvesting the right animals to look after the health of the habitat. Cam challenges hunters, and not just Sika hunters, to be caretakers of the habitat rather than simply being consumers of the resource. Of course, this isn’t a new concept. We all know that a healthy ecosystem is critical to having healthy game animals and that it is the habitat that is the foundation of the hunting experience. A healthy…

The rump is a boneless piece of meat from the hindquarter. It is made up of fine muscle groups which have little to moderate work to do for the animal. The result is a mix of textures and levels of tenderness full of flavour and very tender once cooked. Rump is often cut into steaks but can also be cooked as a whole piece and then sliced. This versatile piece of meat can be cooked in a pan or on the BBQ. With this recipe, we are going to use a cooked marinade which will bring a deeper, more balanced flavour to the meat. This marinade can also be turned into a final sauce if you wish. Marinades can flavour the outside of the meat or they can be used…