Innehållsförteckning för Issue 93 från NZ Hunter

The other big breaking news as I write this is the Prime Minister retiring and National announcing a hunting and fishing portfolio. Congratulations to Todd McClay on being the first spokesperson. It's really pleasing to see all the hard work we've all put in to this space including at the recent Sika Show leading to more and more politicians across the political spectrum recognising how hugely beneficial hunting and fishing is to New Zealand – both physically, mentally and economically. As with all these: sorts of initiatives, the devil will be in the detail, but it's another step in the right direction. The hunting sector is working on a bunch of game animal management initiatives that will be hugely beneficial to both hunting and conservation. When these projects are made…

As we are now in the period leading into the rut, hunters will be most interested in stags so this article revolves around them. After all, Sika hinds are not so hard to find and shoot! Early in March, Sika will still be seen feeding out in the open, but by the middle of the month, stags will be heading back to areas where they intend to spend the rut. March is the time that I like to setup my trail cameras overlooking wallows. Stags begin to use them around the middle of March, but I will mention more about this later. Mid to late March is also a good time to shoot a Sika stag free of any antler damage, because as the rut progresses, they become more vigorous…

Now I live in the hunter's paradise of Te Anau, nestled in far flung Fiordland, one of the most stunning places on the planet, where at every turn there is a view that would make the average city dweller jealous. Within these vistas reside big game hunting opportunities for Red and Fallow deer, pigs, chamois and of course Wapiti. I am blessed to be able to enjoy the endless hunting options with a VERY supportive family who are regularly abandoned as I hit the hills. I am sometimes left asking myself what is it that makes me do this? what is it that makes hunting so fulfilling? Especially as you sit wet to the bone, shivering in the half-light getting eaten by Fiordland sandflies. A recent adventure reminded me of…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Despite ongoing education, firearms incidents still occur each year. This article provides a reminder to hunters on the basic rules of firearms and hunter safety. With the roar just around the corner there will be plenty of keen hunters planning to head into the hills, so there is no better time to remind yourself about safe handling of firearms. In December last year the Police released the new Firearms Safety Code, subtitled ‘The Fundamental Guide for the Safe Use of Firearms’. This code is the firearms safety bible for hunters. Section 1 of the revised code contains the seven basic rules of firearms safety. These rules can be desribed as common sense and on many occassions, where incidents have been investigated, the conclusion has been…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To A SERIES PROFILING A TAHR BALLOT BLOCK EACH ISSUE With a large number of side streams draining heavily glaciated peaks from both sides, it rapidly grows to become a big river, meaning that the river is always a formidable obstacle. The surrounding peaks and places all share a common theme in that they were named by early explorers Charlie Douglas and Julius Von Haast in 1887, and generally were named after the various people within Lands & Survey, covering almost the entire executive structure at the time as well as people from the Department of Mines and the Westland Land Board. From Kea Flat all the way just past Arbour Rift, the Landsborough follows an old fault line so is tightly confined to a relatively narrow…

Around this time last year, the GAC released the New Zealand Red Stag Ageing Guide as an easy-to-use handbook on how to judge the maturity of Red stags while out on the hill The guide is intended to help hunters be responsible and selective in their harvesting practices, and ensure the long-term health and sustainability of quality Red deer herds. While the Guide is specific to Red deer, the general premise around being disciplined about what males we harvest applies to New Zealand's ungulate game animals generally – the seven species of deer, tahr and chamois. The critical theme is to do what we can to preserve quality males into maturity. In this way a quality stag, bull or buck can go through several mating cycles, pass on their genes…

But that's not to say this recipe can't be used for whatever size pig you may get. It's a great carry out meal as well, although it won't feed many! The two main ingredients in this recipe are the wild pig and the lemongrass. Lemongrass is a fragrant herb used extensively in Thai and many other Asian cuisines. It has a very citrus fragrance that beautifully seasons the food. This herb has light yellow circular stalks with long green leaves. Lemongrass eaten by itself is quite unpleasant, especially when you haven't sliced it finely. The stalks are very tough and fibrous and almost impossible to chew, but once they are chopped into tiny fine pieces it is easier to digest. Lemongrass is relatively easy to grow but, as it likes…

Another roar boomed from ahead and I caught a glimpse of movement; an antler brushing against a young beech tree. As quickly as I spotted him, I'd lost him again – which tree had I seen move? I signalled to Chris to stop moving as the stag was within 30 metres of us. After a painstaking couple of minutes Chris picked him out from the dense forest in front, trying to put me on without making a noise or moving too much. Why couldn't I see him? I'd just spotted him, how could he possibly disappear again? I risked another step and there he was, staring straight at me. The moment during the roar that all hunters dream of was upon me, a rutted-up stag in close with a loaded…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Sure, I like to catch fish and shoot stuff – I like it lots! But the passion is fed by many factors. For me, the most important is wanting to understand as much as I can about the environment, habits and behaviour of the animals and aquatic life I come across, not just the ones I want to catch or shoot. I lived in ignorant bliss that I was able to fully understand the behaviour and habits of my quarry … that was before I got the honker hunting addiction many years ago and learnt that what you observed during the day was only half the story! Canada geese numbers were on the rise throughout the country and, even while still classified as a gamebird…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To I do feel that with the increase and popularity of hunting we are unfortunately seeing a drop off in the standard of behaviour of hunters in general. This could simply just be lack of education or simply hunters not thinking about their actions and how they will affect the next group of hunters or other backcountry users that enter the area. We need to start being more mindful of others as it only takes one of us to stuff it for everyone else. As always, the lowest common denominator is what the whole outdoor and wider NZ community judges us by. Let's start with basic ethics. Behaving ethically is “doing the right thing even if no one is watching”. Ethics are defined as moral principles…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Holy hell, the dream job? After what seems to have been a lifetime of being a volunteer, fighting the fight for hunters, things should be easy – right? Right. I think I spent the first month in the job having less sleep than I ever did when I was a volunteer, and that is saying a hell of a lot for an overactive mind like mine. Failure for the Foundation spells failure for hunting in New Zealand. We at the Foundation have always had this noose around our necks. For me, as a paid employee rather than a volunteer, this changed overnight. The noose is still there but something new has been chucked into the mix – accountability. But that is not a burden –…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Hoe To There are superb views from the hut out to the coast and up-valley to Galena Ridge, Mt Beaumont, Sawtooth Ridge, and The Tusk. Dickie Spur is a 5–6-hour trek from the Mikonui River roadend and is being used increasingly as a stopover on a popular alpine route to Ivory Lake hut in the Waitaha valley. Dickie Spur is on the Department of Conservation's fully maintain list of remote huts however the most recent major maintenance was carried out by a Back Country Trust team in 2022. The Trust funded the replacement of the windows and roof, the painting of the hut, and some interior maintenance. The lead roof flashings and lead head nails that posed a danger to kea were replaced in the process. Dickie…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire With the need to reduce game animal populations and keep them at a sustainable level with acceptable biodiversity impacts, it's important for all of us to get better at following the best game management principles. And this means taking the right animals, which is hugely to do with age and condition as well as sex. And this means being able to evaluate animals properly to ensure you are shooting the right animals. And this means at anything other than the closest range you need quality, progressively higher powered, optics. Binoculars will do to 200 yards or so, but beyond that you need a quality spotting scope or a SuperZoom camera. Due to the size, weight and cost of the quality spotters of the past, the more…

I remembered it well – thick bush right down to the sandy beach, kiwi, penguins, birdlife, sandflies and seeing only fleeting glimpses of white tails as the deer bounded off through the crown fern. This trip was going to be different as we were heading for the western side of the island. After much research the old hunting gang were heading south away from their usual trips to the Ruahines (chasing Reds) and the annual Kaimanawa Helisika block (Sika – obviously) to check out the deep south – a block bordering Mason Bay on Stewart Island. Shiv, his partner Sue, Big Russ and I all met at Invercargill airport, and with all the gear sorted and checked in at Stewart Island Flights, we were loaded up and off. The 30…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To You have to get the wind perfect and it's crucial to remain unseen as long as possible. Depending upon conditions and terrain, a bowhunter has to be well within an animal's zone. And of course, you have to do a big movement right at the penultimate moment in pulling back your bow. It's probably not advisable to move right at the last moment, but you have to in order to make the shot. So, with the roar closing in quickly, now is the time to get all the little things ironed out. The last thing you need is ol’ mate Murphy knocking on your door because something has been left to chance. Don't be that person with the sob story back at camp because you…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Currently the most exciting thing on my hunting radar is a course I have been doing on Game Animal Management, called NDA Deer Steward, run by the National Deer Association in the USA. Founded in 1993, they have done some incredible work, mainly concerning Whitetail deer, and mostly based on amazing research, and the results show! I thought I knew a thing or two about deer after fifty plus years of hunting all over New Zealand but not so! I was amazed at how the insights gained have had a huge positive impact on hunting there. By comparison, we are only just beginning a similar journey thanks to people like Cam Speedy, Ken Tustin, Geoff Kerr, Graham Caughley and others. It has been so exciting…

GWYN THURLOW & SAM SHEAFF – NZDA Red Deer Cervus elaphus Red deer are widely regarded as New Zealand's most highly valued game animal, and most Kiwi hunters start their deerstalking career chasing after them. The first Red deer were introduced to New Zealand in Nelson in the early 1850s, and several other liberations occurred all over the country until the mid-1920s. Red deer can now be found from the Kaimai Ranges in the northern Bay of Plenty all the way down to Stewart Island in the south, and as a result, Red deer are the most widespread of all our deer species. Hunters highly value these animals for a variety of reasons, including the challenge of the hunt, the chance to put food on the table or…

Note: Photos must be of a suitable size for printing – a minimum file size of 1MB is preferred. Maddie Viljoen with her first deer shot with her 7mm-08 bush pig We've had a bumper crop of images from readers supporting Hunting & Fishing so this time around we have two pages, and two winners!…

The guy that was about to have his first foray into the world of goose hunting on a grand scale. That guy that had his first trip into the epic back country of Molesworth Station chasing the mighty Canadian Geese. That guy that is now wholly and solely hooked on hunting fowl. “Waterfowling is very addictive. There is seriously nothing else that I think about and nothing else I spend my money on!” In October this year I got to share that experience with a young man from Nelson – “that guy”, 14-year-old Ben Martin. He walked away from his first goose hunt and first Molesworth experience with four of the big birds and “the best weekend of my life”. “I was really excited driving into Molesworth. The country was awesome…