Hunting in New Zealand

Hunting

Deer are regarded as a noxious pest in this country and professional hunters were once employed to exterminate them.

And for good reason. Herds of prolifically breeding deer were stripping the bushland . . . they could have irreparably damaged the balance of nature. They certainly did massive damage.

But then came the boom in venison and they were hunted for meat. They then became so valuable as livestock, that the helicopter-borne hunters wanted them alive for the deer-farms that sprang up everywhere.

But bust follows boom and when the deer farnming bubble collapsed, so did a lot of deer recovery operations.

Sadly, all this pressure has ended forever the days when you could knock over a prize deer only minutes after entering the bush. but for all that, the hunting situation here is still challenging, exciting and rewarding. Compare it to Scotland where one needs to be not only wealthy but well-connected to get the best of the hunt. In the USA deer stocks are tightly managed.

The hunter has a choice of two approaches:

1: To go to a specially managed game safari reserve where the costs are considerable but the results more certain. The trophy animals are of a higher quality than those generally found in the wild. Physical fitness is not such an important predetermining factor because access is usually by four-wheel drive, helicopter or fixed-wing aeroplane. The terrain is less demanding.

2: To get a guide and strike off into the wild. A guide is virtually essential if this is your first visit. The game situation changes constantly and quickly, and only a local expert in regular touch with conditions will save you a frustrating and unsuccesful venture. The NZ hunting country is, however, hard going. You need to be physically fit to hack the pace through dense bush on steep hillsides.

Species

The most widely hunted is deer, but some of the best sport can come from thar, chamois, big-horned sheep or wild pigs.

Deer:

In the rugged central part of the North Island, sika have produced world-class trophy heads. They are a bush-dweller and have thus resisted the pressure from the helicopter gunships.

Red deer, the most widely hunted, can also be found in this area, as well as the Urewera country and in the lowland forests of Westland.

Fallow, sambur and rusa are also found in the North Island, while wapiti are a South Island sport. On Stewart Is. there's a herd of whitetailed deer. Moose are still to be found in Fiordland though they are few in number and hard to find in the jumble of vast bush-lined glaciated valleys and precipitous mountains of this, the most remote part of NZ.

Chamois:

Lifted from their native European habitiat and freed at Mt Cook earlier this century, the chamois has readily adapted to high country life, damaging the delicate sub-alpine environment in so doing and becoming classified as a pest. There are still plenty of them, and trophy heads are taken throughout the alpine backbone of the South Island.

Thar:

Another southern mountain-dweller, found mostly between Wanaka to the south and Arthur's Pass in the north.

To hunt either thar or chamois you'll need more than just a gun and a dead-eye shot. You'll have to be fit and fearless, with a strong streak of alpinist in your blood. They're wily and elusive critters, found mostly where the mountains are at their steepest.

Wild pig:

In many ways this is the nearest thing to real big game hunting that NZ has to offer. The Captain Cooker boar - a descendent of the pigs released by Capt. James Cook in 1773 - can be mean as all hell when cornered. The tusks on a big one can do grevious bodily harm swiftly and efficiently.

They are found throughout the North Is. high country, but the Urewera, Coromandel, and Tarawera ranges are best. They're also to be found in the Nelson Lakes area and Westland.

A mate of mine prides himself of taking them with no more than a knife. His dogs flush the pig, cornering it, and he goes in on his own for the kill. Sews up the rents in his own hide (and that of his dogs) without benefit of an anaesthetic. Hard man.

Birds

Feathered variety. Duck (mostly Mallard), Canadian geese, black swan, pheasant and quail are widely hunted in both islands. In the South Island high country they also have chuckor, the Indian partridge. The waterfowl season begins on the first Saturday in May and ends on the first Sunday in June. For pheasant and quail it starts on the same date, but ends on the first Sunday in July. Licenses are required and there are limit bags.

General Hunting Information

Season: In a couple of areas there is no hunting in Dec/Jan, but otherwise there is no closed season. Best time for trophies is the NZ autumn, March to May, when skins and capes are at their best.

Guns: Any rifle with a larger bore than 6mm (.243 calibre) is suitable, though for the bigger game, 7mm or .270 is favoured. Low powered (rimfire) rifles are not allowed in state forests. If you are bringing your own firearms with you you muist get a permit to import them. This is obtainable on arrival at the customs station.

Permits: A permit must be obtained from the land owner before hunting. That could be the Forest Service, Land and Survey or other government department. In a National Park, the park headquarters will issue permits.

Safari Reserves

There are several specially set-up reserves for hunters seeking the best of game, or for those with limited time.

If that's what you call hunting, why not just buy a good shoot-'em-up video-game - it would be about as much challenge and fun. If it's what you really want, find information on it somewhere else.

More Information

Alan Simmons, a very experienced hunter - a former pro deer culler - has an excellent site at http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz/hunting/biggame.htm.

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