NZDA H&W 198 WEB

Hunting 

NEW ZEALAND 

SPRING ISSUE 198 OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2017 

& Wildlife 

English roe 

deer hunt 

Sika Herd of Special 

Interest proposal 

Reports from 

Conference 2017 

Wakatipu whitetail 

deer endangered 

$7.80 INC GST 

9 418645 001121 

Human factors in 

failure-to-identify 

accidents 

Back Country Trust 

established

Paul Peychers, "Yellow Admiral in the Waiatoto", 3rd, B3

Joshua Keen, Tahr, 3rd, G 

Jamie Fairburn, "Little Orange, 3rd, D 

Brian Witton, "Lady in Waiting", 2nd, B3

Hunting & Wildlife 197 – Winter 2017 

An official publication of the 

New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association (Inc.) 

www.deerstalkers.org.nz 

facebook.com/NZdeerhunting 

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Mike Bradstock, Editor 

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Phone: 04 299 0018 

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contains nothing that infringes any copyright or 

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Regulars 

COVER PHOTO: Pete Henderson with his roe buck – see story page 26 

President’s Column.............................................................................. 4 

HUNTS report..................................................................................... 32 

Kilwell Take a Kid Hunting.................................................................. 33 

Lock, Stock and Barrel....................................................................... 44 

Chaz Forsyth looks at the “grand-daddies”: the 8 x 57mm and .30’06 

Points of Envy..................................................................................... 48 

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ISSN 977 1171 656 006 

Disclaimer: The NZ Deerstalkers’ Association 

(Inc.) and all persons involved in publishing this 

magazine accept no liability whatsoever for any 

consequences arising from its use. Opinions 

expressed are not necessarily those of the NZ 

Deerstalkers’ Association Inc. 

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(Inc.) No part may be copied, stored or transmitted 

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6 

2 

NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017

Contents 

News and features 

Reports from Conference 

Conference rings the changes................................................... 6 

Speech by Hon Peter Dunne...................................................... 9 

Growing the Business: speech by Mike Slater.........................12 

Don Hammond (Game Animal Council) speech.......................14 

32 

Results from National Photo Competition .........................................16 

Results from National Antler, Horn and Tusk Competition................18 

Back Country Trust............................................................................. 20 

33 

Sika posed for Herd of Special Interest status................................. 21 

First HOSI proposal under Game Animal Council Act 

English roe deer hunt......................................................................... 28 

Pete Henderson on a hunt with a difference 

Stolen sambar trophy......................................................................... 30 

Jack and Alfie’s first tahr hunt........................................................... 31 

The 9-year-old twins have an adventure with Dad 

Researching human factors in failure-to-identify accidents............ 34 

Karl Bridges reports 

Wakatipu whitetail deer herd endangered........................................ 37 

Kaylyn Pinney’s research suggests urgent action needed 

A Stewart Island experience.............................................................. 40 

Rod Guest and friends go south 

World Benchrest Championships preparations................................ 43 

A case of scabby mouth in Himalayan tahr....................................... 46 

Not a trophy Jim Peffers would be proud of 

34 

46 

21 

NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017 

3

President’s Report 

President’s Column 

Bill O’Leary – National President, New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association 

Bill O’Leary (right) presents National 

Secretary Chaz Forsyth with his 

commendation as a new NZDA Life Member. 

See Conference reports, page 6-15. 

The theme for the National 

Conference was “Growing the 

business”, and by “growing” we 

mean better, bigger and stronger. 

Our mission statement spells it out 

quite clearly: “To retain, enhance 

and create opportunities for the 

enjoyment of responsible recreational 

hunting and the sport of shooting for 

the members of the Association”. I 

touched on this in my last column, 

pointing out that the bigger we are 

the more influence we can have on 

vital matters like firearm ownership 

and game management. 

Our fundamental aim is to 

ensure that recreational hunting 

is organised and managed by 

sportsmen and sportswomen. 

Accordingly, NZDA seeks the status 

and recognition as the national body 

speaking on behalf of recreational 

hunters generally. For the wider issue 

of managing game animals for the 

benefit of all game animal interests 

(including deer farmers and safari 

operators and other commercial 

interests as well as us private 

hunters), we have the Game Animal 

Council, on which recreational 

hunters are represented and in which 

NZDA plays an active role. 

Every member has some ideas of 

their own as to how NZDA should 

achieve its management aims, and 

this year our National Conference 

provided an opportunity for debate 

and input to the NZDA’s National 

Executive (Natex). 

Natex has an overarching 

responsibility to look wider and to 

plan strategically for the future. This 

means Natex sets out to anticipate 

and identify problems looming on 

the horizon, in addition to the ones 

that are “in your face”. 

One big issue that people 

often take for granted is the right 

to hunt. Unlike in some other 

countries, NZ hunters and firearm 

users do not retain the right to 

enjoy our recreation by virtue of 

a constitutional right. We are a 

minority who retain that right by 

virtue of a social licence granted 

by the majority. Society as a whole 

allows us to hunt and own firearms – 

under strict conditions. 

However, the wider population 

out there is very quick to criticise 

any misuse of firearms, including 

unintentional (“accidental”) 

shootings, and many of them deeply 

object to so-called “blood sport”. 

There are even extremists who would 

like to see all hunting and firearm 

ownership totally banned, ignoring 

the long history of recreational 

hunting as a legitimate sport and 

healthy leisure activity. 

So we need to be very cautious 

about protecting that social license, 

and remember that in a society where 

people are increasingly urbanised and 

removed from everyday contact with 

the natural world, many people are 

unsympathetic with or uninterested 

in our sport. 

You have only to look at the 

statistics on firearm ownership: for 

example, the Tasman police district 

(Marlborough, Nelson, West Coast) 

has one firearm licence holder per 

eight head of population – while 

in Auckland the figure is just one 

licence holder per 80 people. New 

Zealand hunters (all types) probably 

number less than a hundred thousand 

in a national population of over 

four million. We’re a potentially 

vulnerable minority. 

We need the continued approval of 

society to possess a firearm, to carry 

it onto publicly owned land and to 

hunt. 

4 


For the past 10 years Natex has 

pursued a strategy of building 

relationships with key organisations 

like the police, Federated Farmers and 

DOC, and playing the long game to 

protect hunters’ social licence. 

Natex has represented hunters 

(and NZDA in particular) as “good 

citizens” with a legitimate stake in 

the outdoors, and made rational, 

constructive contributions to policy 

development and decisionmaking on 

issues affecting firearm possession, 

access, animal welfare etc. NZDA is 

“in the tent” with all the major game 

animal interests. NZDA members 

have contributed, and continue to 

contribute to, the operation of pest 

controlprogrammes and development 

of huts, tracks and other facilities. 

We maintain a healthy dialogue with 

other stakeholders and even if we 

don’t always agree, it’s a lot better 

than being out in the cold. 

These days, when NZDA takes 

a firm stand on the real issues, we 

find that more often than not, other 

organisations support us too. They 

find there is more mileage to be had 

through collaboration (and making 

the occasional compromise), rather 

than the suspicion and automatic 

opposition of a past era. This was 

clearly evident at Conference, with 

representatives from several of our 

key fellow stakeholders present and 

delivering presentations that were 

well received (see conference report, 

page 6). 

NZDA is doing more business. 

In military terms we are in a phase 

of “forward engagement”. We are 

not sitting in defensive positions. 

With key allies we are retaining 

and enhancing and creating 

opportunities. 

Lastly, we learned just as this issue 

was going to press that the Hon Peter 

Dunne will not be seeking re-election 

this year and is retiring from politics. 

During his many years in parliament 

Mr Dunne (most significantly from 

our viewpoint as Associate Miniser of 

Conservation) has consistently been 

a friend of hunters and a staunch 

supporter of outdoor recreation. In 

particular, he was responsible for 

setting up the lengthy process that 

began in 2004 and culminated in 

2013 with the passing of the Game 

Animal Council Act. We wish him all 

the best in his next endeavours. 

Bill O'Leary - National President 

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5

Conference 2017 

The 69 th NZDA annual conference was generously hosted by the 

North Canterbury NZDA Branch at the sumptuous venue of the 

Canterbury Jockey Club, Riccarton. Although beset by cold weather, 

including snowstorms (which prevented the attendance of some, 

including guests), 24 branches were able to attend and to deliberate 

on the future of the NZDA. 

New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association Inc, formed July 1937 

Co-founders: Dr G B Orbell MBE, Arthur Hamilton 

Patron: Ian Wright 

National President: Bill O'Leary 

Immediate Past President: Tim McCarthy 

National Vice President: James Steans 

National Secretary: Chaz Forsyth 

North Island Members of the National 

Executive: Bob McMillan, David Hudson 

South Island Members of the National 

Executive: Snow Hewetson, Ian Owen 

National Treasurer: Rob Howey 

Honorary Solicitor: Peter Barrett 

Auditor: Signal & Associates 

Consultant: Geoff Feasey 

Life Members: 

R Badland QSM, M St J, J Bamford, M Dunajtschik, 

A S D Evans MNZM, D Hodder, R McNaughton MNZM, 

W O’Leary, G Smith, I D Wright, A Frampton, C Forsyth 

NZDA recognised sponsors 2016/17: 

Halcyon Publishing, Kilwell, Hunting & Fishing NZ, 

NZ Guns & Hunting, Stoney Creek (NZ) Ltd, 

Swazi Apparel 

Affiliated to: 

Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFO), 

NZ Mountain Safety Council (NZMSC), 

Sporting Shooters of Australia Association Inc (SSAA), 

Shooting Sports Pacific Forum (through COLFO), 

International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) 

Branches: 

Ashburton, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Blue Mountains, 

Bush, Central King Country, Direct, Eastern Bay of 

Plenty, Golden Bay, Gore & Districts, Hastings, Hutt 

Valley, Kapiti, Malvern, Manawatu, Marlborough, Napier, 

Nelson, North Auckland, North Canterbury, North 

Otago, North Taranaki, Northland, Otago, Palmerston, 

Porirua, Rakaia, Rotorua, Ruahine, South Auckland, 

South Canterbury, South Otago, South Waikato, 

Southern Lakes, Southland, Taihape, Taranaki, Taupo, 

Te Awamutu, Thames Valley, Tutira, Upper Clutha, 

Waikato, Waimarino, Wairarapa, Wairoa & Districts, 

Wellington, West Coast, Western Southland, Whangarei 

The Code of Ethics of the NZDA shall be, and 

any member expected to: 

• Approach recreational hunting from the highest 

possible level of ethics, having due regard to the 

welfare of the animals hunted, and prevention of 

cruelty to the same. 

• Not hunt or carry a firearm on property without the 

proper approval of the owner, occupier or controlling 

authority and shall strictly observe any conditions 

imposed upon him. 

• Be a responsible firearms owner and abide by 

current firearms laws. 

• Avoid unnecessary or deliberate damage to the 

environment, respect property and other users of the 

outdoors. 

• Advocate sensible conservation practices at all times 

and promote New Zealand’s biodiversity in situ. 

• Practice the Field Guidelines when out hunting. 

• Be exemplary members of NZDA by promoting and 

abiding by its Rules, Field Guidelines and this Code 

of Ethics. 

‘A particular virtue in wildlife ethics is that the 

hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or 

disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they 

are dictated by his conscience.’ 

6 

Aldo Leopold 

This article combines information from various reports presented by 

officeholders and outcomes of the discussions and general business 

that made up the conference agenda. 

Conference rings 

the changes 

The past year 

In the President’s report, Bill 

O’Leary began by noting that last 

year’s conference was a positive 

and forward-focused event: 

“The engagement of delegates in 

workshops led by Hutt Valley, and 

the subsequent report that the 

“Chasing Great” group presented to 

the National Executive (Natex) in 

October 2016 gave a strong steer to 

where improvements could be made 

within the Association.” 

No one could have anticipated 

the earthquake in November, which 

closed access to the National Office 

until mid-February 2017. Office staff 

were given access for 10 minutes to 

grab essential files and then relocated 

to Sue’s kitchen table. 

A frustrating problem was that 

there was no clear indication as to 

when access would be permitted 

again, so the Association could not 

consider committing to other suitable 

accommodation. Also, at about the 

time we gained access to the building 

Sue took a tumble and broke both 

arms – although she continued 

working from home while Kirstie 

staffed the office. 

The earthquake disrupted scheduled 

work. Re-warranting of HUNTS 

instructors and range officers was held 

up. Invoicing for membership renewals 

scheduled for February/March was 

briefly delayed. Liaison with the 

new accountant and auditor and the 

implementation of a new accounting 

package continued, with two sets of 

Not a day at the races, but a line-up of conference 

attendees. Photo: Kirstie Wilson NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017

Kirstie Wilson and Sue van den Bersselaar of 

National Office congratulate Chaz Forsyth on 

his induction as a life member 

annual accounts sent to the auditor. 

Bill acknowledged the dedication 

and resilience shown by Sue and 

Kirstie: “Without their efforts we 

would have been in a very different 

situation today. And I need to thank 

the branches, which almost without 

exception showed understanding of the 

situation the National Office was in.” 

Advocacy 

In the past year, principal areas 

of advocacy have been in firearmrelated 

issues, hunting access, 1080 

operations and animal welfare. In all 

these areas NZDA has worked directly 

with organisations such as COLFO, 

Firearm Safety Council Aotearoa NZ, 

Game Animal Council and Federated 

Mountain Clubs (FMC). 

NZDA has had direct and personal 

contact with Minister Dunne, the 

Director General of DOC, Lou 

Sanson, and Deputy Director General 

Mike Slater. 

NZDA has prepared and presented 

submittions on CMSs, unlawful 

hunting, Codes of Conduct, animal 

welfare and the GAC levy on 

exported trophies. We have also 

ensured that consultation on 1080 

operations is genuine consultation. 

At the national level, NZDA 

has engaged with FMC to 

pursue mandatory involvement 

of recreational groups in the 

consultative phase when tenure 

review or land sales impact on access. 

We have reason to believe this will be 

supported by DOC. 

NZDA has continued to contribute 

a bi-monthly column in the national 

hunting magazine, Guns & Hunting. 

Ray Webb, David Keen and Marcus Pinney measuring a fallow trophy. Photo: Kirstie Wilson 

John de Lury scoring a red deer head at conference. Photo: Kirstie Wilson 

“Chasing Great” report 

The report provided in October 

firmed up a number of the 

recommendations that came through 

at the July conference workshops: 

»» 

The National Office database 

is under review. Dan Friedman 

and Gordon George have visited 

the office, Craig Benbow has 

contributed ideas and an outside 

specialist is assisting. 

»» 

Hunting & Wildlife in a digital 

form has been progressed (see 

below). 

»» 

The Facebook page was relaunched 

at the beginning of June but uptake 

is slow. The website is a work in 

progress and while improvements 

and updating have occurred, we 

need to bring the administration 

of the website closer to home – 

preferably inside National Office. 

Financial issues 

Two issues hopefully have been 

settled. First, the shooting account 

issues have been resolved through 

the good work of Sandi Curreen and 

Graeme Steans. Second, it has been 

determined that the Endowment 

Member Scheme is unsustainable 

in an era of low interest returns, 

and the scheme has been closed. 

However, existing memberships 

will be honoured and all host 

branches have been paid up to date. 

Funding provision has been made to 

ensure this will continue so long as 

endowment members remain alive. 

Future challenges 

The President’s report outlined a 

number of issues as follows: 

»» 

Communication with branches 

and members is generally 

ineffective. Branches are focused 


7

on their individual problems and 

some might have little connection 

to the national body. We need to 

get them on board. 

»» 

Currently we communicate 

through electronic or print material 

from National Office (H&W 

editorials, Monthly National Office 

newsletters and special notices). 

Are these being distributed and 

discussed within branches? 

»» 

Conferences in my personal 

opinion are not effective: the 

numbers attending are falling and 

I question whether reports are 

getting back from delegates. 

»» 

Nominations for Natex (and for 

branch executive positions) are in 

short supply. 

Meeting the challenge 

On the Sunday some of these 

issues, and others, were discussed as 

follows: 

»» 

Moving to a one-day AGM in 

a central venue, and holding 

regional one-day meetings for local 

committee members with National 

President and the regional Natex 

member present. AHT measuring, 

trophy judging and training of 

administrators is to be conducted 

at the same venue. This was 

accepted by the conference. 

»» 

National conferences to be held 

every five years. 

»» 

Employment of an Executive 

Officer to manage operations. 

»» 

Change the role of Natex to that 

of a board with responsibility for 

governance. 

New appointments 

The way ahead was further 

clarified by the appointment of a 

new National Executive, with a newly 

appointed National Vice President 

(James Steans), National Treasurer 

(Rob Howey), and new North Island 

Executive members (Bob McMillan 

and David Hudson). The South 

Island Executive members are now 

Snow Hewetson (re-elected) and 

Ian Owen. National President Bill 

O’Leary remained in the chair, giving 

notice that this would be his final 

year in that position. 

Five newly qualified HUNTS 

instructors were announced, and in a 

brief and moving ceremony, longserving 

NZDA officeholder and thrice 

National Secretary Chaz Forsyth was 

made a National Life Member. 

Hunting & Wildlife magazine 

The recommendation from last 

year’s conference, reinforced by the 

“Chasing Great” report, has been 

taken on board, and options for 

production and delivery have been 

considered. Two issues have been 

published in both print and digital 

form and with the latest issue the 

switch to digital only has been made. 

Recruitment of new members 

Recruitment operates at the 

branch level, not the national level, 

and some branches are naturally 

stronger than others owing to 

factors like population (urban 

drift has affected many rural-based 

branches) and local availability of 

good hunting. Retention of new 

members is recognised as just as 

important as recruiting them in 

the first place. With HUNTS for 

example, it has been noted that 

many people don’t stay involved for 

long after completing the course. 

However, it was noted that there 

has been a membership increase in 

the past year and the general trend 

has been gradually upwards for the 

past 10 years, although the trend is 

not as fast as the growth in firearm 

licenceholding. 

Better stakeholder relations 

Broadening contacts and alliances 

has been a strong recent development 

between NZDA and organisations 

such as Federated Farmers and FMC. 

These groups have areas of strong 

mutual interest, such as huts, tracks 

and access. There has been steadily 

improved relationships with DOC 

and the public, resulting largely 

from hunter-led projects to destroy 

pests like rats and mustelids, and 

the benefits of NZDA/FMC projects 

to other outdoors users. Valuable 

developments have included the 

development of the Backcountry 

Trust (see article, p. 20) and better 

consultation on tenure reviews. 

Jeremy Severinsen, DOC 

Partnerships Manager, addressed the 

process of tenure review and noted 

progress by the Canterbury Regional 

Access Group in improving access for 

hunters. 

Progress on herd 

management 

Research into the ecology and 

management of whitetail deer, and 

the looming crisis in the Wakatipu 

herd (see article, p. 37), was reported 

on by Kaylyn Pinney; and Roy Sloan 

of the Wapiti Foundation gave a 

presentation on wapiti research. The 

proposal before the GAC to set up a 

sika Herd of Special Interest in the a 

central North Island was also noted 

(see article, p. 21). 

See also: 

»» 

President’s Column, p. 4 

»» 

Announcement of Backcountry 

Trust formation, p. 20 

»» 

Speech by Minister Dunne, p. 9 

»» 

Speech by Mike Slater, DOC, p. 12 

»» 

Speech by Don Hammond, GAC 

Chair, p. 15 

»» 

Antler, Horn & Trophy Contest 

results: p. 18 

»» 

Photos from National Photo 

Competition: p. 16 and various 

pages throughout this issue 

Laurie Cain, "Prince of the Glaisnock 

Valley", 1st, A 

8 


Speech by Hon Peter Dunne, 

MP for Öhäriu, Leader of 

UnitedFuture and Associate 

Minister of Conservation 

[Delayed by weather, Mr Dunne delivered this “opening” speech when the conference 

was half over and it has been edited accordingly – Editor] 

The theme for the conference this 

year is “growing your business” – a 

real focus on how this association 

can grow its membership and 

therefore grow its influence on the 

decisions that are being made that 

will affect you. I want to give you 

my full endorsement and support 

to that ambition. I think that it 

is highly desirable, I think that it 

is highly appropriate and I think 

this organisation is currently very 

well placed to make the change in 

focus that you are advocating, Bill 

[O’Leary], and I wish you every 

success with it. 

“Hunting in every 

sense is big 

business…” 

But I actually want to take it a little 

further and say that, in addition to 

growing the business, I think you also 

need to know your business, and that 

will help you grow. I was looking at 

some figures recently prepared by the 

Mountain Safety Council as part of 

its Hunter’s Tale work and they tell a 

very interesting story. They may be 

a bit conservative in some respects, 

but I think nonetheless, they indicate 

a very strong base for deer hunters 

throughout this country. They 

estimate there are more than 166,000 

active hunters in New Zealand, 

mainly male and, curiously, mainly 

aged between about 35 and 64. They 

estimate around 10 percent of New 

Zealand males hunt at some stage, 

and around 70 percent of those are 

hunting at least once a month. So it 

is a very regular and ongoing activity. 

When you add in the estimate of 

30,000 hunting visitors from overseas 

each year (again mainly male but 

curiously a little younger and most 


of them Australian), we come to the 

conclusion that hunting in every 

sense is big business, and most of 

those hunters would be deerstalkers. 

So I think that sets the scene for 

your significance in the overall sphere 

of hunting in New Zealand, and your 

significance in terms of the steps that 

you take and the leadership that you 

provide, that helps grow the business 

of hunting and hunting-related 

activity in this country. 

When we established the Game 

Animal Council in 2013 we gave the 

overarching sector of recreational 

hunting a clear voice in policy for 

probably the first time. That has been 

an extremely successful move, and I 

am delighted to see the progress that 

it has been able to make in its first 

three years. But that progress has 

also created a fresh opportunity for 

the Deerstalkers’ Association, as the 

advocate for, and the representative 

of, deerstalkers up and down the 

country and those heading out to 

hunt every weekend. Prior to the 

establishment of the Game Animal 

Council I think NZDA was trying 

to be both the representative of 

deerstalkers and an advocate for 

hunting interests. Now that can 

become a much more concentrated 

role on behalf of deerstalkers and the 

role they play in that wider hunting 

community. 

I put it as simply as this: you 

represent the concerns of the average 

ordinary hunter in New Zealand, 

and your function and your role, 

quite appropriately, is to bring those 

concerns to the attention to the 

Game Animal Council and through 

that, to the government as a whole. 

And that is a pretty challenging role 

and I think that if you look at what 

has been happening over the last 

couple of years, there have been many 

opportunities where your influence 

has had the capacity to be critical in 

terms of the outcome. 

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9

Now, what has also happened 

alongside all of this is a remarkable 

change in the landscape. As someone 

who has observed hunting politics 

at a distance for some time, it seems 

that there has been a lot of tension 

historically between many of the 

organisations that have been involved. 

That tension may still be there, but it 

is far less obvious and far less pointed 

than it was, in my view. It is really 

good to see the sector starting to work 

together much more closely. I was 

just observing before coming to the 

stage earlier this evening, it is not that 

many years ago, that when you would 

have had a presentation from the 

Department, you would also have had 

presentations against the Department, 

and it is really good to see the change 

that is occurring. It is good to see 

the relationship with Fish and Game, 

Federated Mountain Clubs (and I want 

to acknowledge the establishment of 

the Outdoor Recreastion Trust earlier 

this evening), the Council of Licenced 

Firearm Owners, the Mountain 

Safety Council and the Game Animal 

Council. 

“Where is the next 

tier of leadership 

coming from?” 

Now, the cynic might say there are 

far too many players in this space, 

but I say, actually, each one of them 

has a clearly defined role. Each one 

of them has a responsibility and 

each one of them can work with the 

Keith Matthews, "Spot Me If You Can", 1st, B3 

“… we are getting levels of trust and 

co-operation that overtake those old 

suspicions…” 

others to make progress overall. So I 

think in that context, the challenge 

that Bill has put out to you, to 

grow your business, is extremely 

relevant; it is timely and I believe it 

is one you should pick up and run 

with, because a strong Deerstalkers’ 

Association, a vibrant Deerstalkers’ 

Association, one that meets some 

of those challenges that every 

organisation today struggles with, 

which is the next generation – where 

is the next tier of leadership coming 

from, where are the people who will 

take the organisation forward – is 

very necessary. You are starting to 

focus on those things, and that is 

very important, because it ensures 

not only your future, but also the 

contribution that you are capable of 

making, and have made to date, being 

carried on as well. 

In short, I think we are getting 

levels of trust and co-operation that 

overtake those old suspicions and I 

welcome that and I think it is good 

for the sector as a whole. 

Now, there are some issues the Game 

Animal Council has on its agenda that 

you will have a special interest in and 

your role needs to be clear and precise 

and relevant in their resolution. I refer 

to the designation of Herds of Special 

Interest. There is a lot of work being 

done around the fringes and behind 

the scenes on that at the moment and 

we are getting to the point where we 

are going to make some progress. As I 

came in, you were getting a briefing on 

the Wild Animal Recovery Operation 

Review that has been taking place over 

a little longer period than initially 

envisaged, because of some court 

action. Again, I think there is a real 

role for deerstalkers to play as part of 

that. And that may well, in time, lead 

to (although it is not on the agenda 

just yet) a review of the Wild Animal 

Control Act. I think the issue of illegal 

hunting that we have been focusing on 

for the last couple of years is important 

as well, and we still have struggles 

between various sets of organisations 

and officials, to get a clear sense on 

defining that problem and how it can 

be resolved. But I believe the collection 

of a lot of the data and the renewed 

interest of police and others will give 

us the opportunity to make progress in 

that respect. 

So there is plenty going on. It is a 

very important time to have a strong 

unified and progressive Deerstalkers’ 

Association to help take us through 

some of the challenges that lie ahead. 

Now I want to just pay a special 

tribute to Bill and to Graeme 

[Steans], whom I see on a reasonable 

frequent basis, who keep me informed 

of the activities of your organisation. 

It has been a very good relationship, 

there have been a lot of issues over 

the last year or so that we needed 

to deal with, such as licencing and 

hunters’ programmes and all of those 

sorts of things which you will be very 

familiar with. 

But also I have appreciated the 

fact that you have been able to stand 

back and give an overview of what 

is happening across this sector. This 

is a very dynamic sector and the 

old images that people might have 

from a distance no longer apply. It is 

highly sophisticated, highly organised 

and it has got huge potential for 

New Zealand, both from a tourism 

perspective and for domestic 

recreation. And it is very interesting 

too, that we are now starting to get 

some very good data about what 

actually happens. The Hunter’s 

10 


Tale material produced a number of 

fascinating pieces of information, 

but one in particular that intrigued 

me was the breakdown of huntingrelated 

accidents. The layperson 

would stand aside and say, “Look at 

all these hunters out there, they really 

don’t know what they are doing, they 

shoot at anything, they are taking 

pot shots of who knows what, and 

look at all the deaths and destruction 

that is occurring as a result.” But that 

claim is not borne out in any way by 

the data. What the data shows very 

clearly is a particular cohort of people 

who are most prone, and the numbers 

are not great. Most of them have hair 

my colour, or slightly less pure than 

that, and most of them were born 

in the period that we might gently 

describe as the baby boom. The point 

is, that cohort is moving through the 

system, and some of the attitudes 

that go with that are also moving 

through the system. So the claim that 

irresponsibility and hunting go handin-hand, 

that young macho gung-ho 

males do not really take too seriously 

some of their wider responsibilities 

and know what they are doing, just is 

not borne out at all. 

“The claim that 

irresponsibility and 

hunting go hand-inhand 

… just is not 

borne out at all.” 

And yet I suspect, for a lot of 

people, that is still a bit of a popular 

prejudice. So this data that is now 

being amassed enables us to paint 

a much clearer and better picture 

of what is actually going on, where 

the issues are, how they need to 

be addressed and who we should 

be focusing on. And there is a real 

role for organisations like NZDA in 

picking up that material now and 

saying, here is how we need to target 

our programmes internally, and our 

approach and our messages to people. 

And in time that will help break 

down a lot of those public prejudices. 

It has always struck me that there 

is a sort of a fundamental conflict 

between New Zealanders who like 

to say on the one hand that we are 

a great outdoors nation: we love the 

bush, we love the mountains and the 

rivers and lakes and we like to go out 

and recreate in the wild blue yonder, 

etc., etc., … and then the same people 

sneer at people who go and hunt. 

Because they do exactly the thing 

they all say they would like to do 

themselves. So I think the challenge 

remains to make sure by knowing your 

business and growing your business, 

that you can be responsible, that 

you can be safe, that you can ensure 

people can enjoy what they do, and 

do it well, and that there is going to 

be plenty more for those who come 

along. So sustainability and all of 

those issues come into it as well. And 

for the Deerstalkers’ Association, 

focusing on growing and knowing 

your business, I think, places you 

extremely well for the future. 

I note this is the 67 th consecutive 

Annual General Meeting. Your 

association was formed in 1937; I was 

not there, but it is a pretty solid record 

of achievement over a long period of 

time and you have a pretty important 

place in the history of outdoor activity 

and hunting in New Zealand. You 

are well placed therefore to lead the 

challenge for the future. You are well 

placed to bring the next generation 

through and to ensure hunting retains 

its place; that hunting is carried out 

in a responsible and safe manner and 

that it continues to be enjoyed by 

those who undertake it. 

One further comment. New 

Zealand is a country of volunteers. 

I always reckon if you get two New 

Paul Peychers, "Pigeon Plum Tree", 

1st, B1 

“Focusing on 

growing and 

knowing your 

business places 

NZDA extremely 

well for the future.” 

Zealanders together, they will form 

a committee to do something. That’s 

the New Zealand way. We like to 

be involved, and we like to commit 

our own time and our own resources 

to solutions. I think that an 

organisation like yours with a very 

solid recreational base and mandate 

and an organisation that relies on 

the commitment and the support of 

its members, is right at the forefront 

of that great New Zealand tradition 

of volunteering. So the challenge 

is always to inspire the next 

generation, the people who come 

in to feel there is a role and a place 

for them to carry on from those 

who have gone before. And I think 

that is, again, part of knowing and 

growing your business. I am sure 

you are up to it, I acknowledge those 

who are standing aside from the 

Executive of this round of elections, 

welcome those who are coming 

aboard and wish every single one of 

you a very successful conference and 

year ahead. 


11

Growing the Business: speech by Mike Slater, 

Deputy Director General, DOC 

(This speech was delivered by Andy Roberts, Director Operations, Eastern South Island, Mike Slater being unable to attend owing 

to flight cancellations caused by weather – Editor) 

DOC’s relationship with the 

NZDA has matured in recent years 

and there is a level of comfort in each 

other’s company. DOC and NZDA 

share similar goals and values in 

the outdoors. Although we may not 

always share the same point of view, 

we can sit down and talk about those 

points of difference. 

Based on the theme of “Growing 

the Business”, I want to look at 

what it takes to maintain a working 

relationship between DOC and 

NZDA, and talk about the things that 

keep our organisations talking. 

DOC is a government department, 

which is bound by statute to behave 

within certain parameters. As such, 

there some things we can do relatively 

easily and others require a bit of work 

or lateral thinking. DOC must be as 

open and as honest as possible and 

show integrity in its dealings, and to 

do this there must be a relationship 

based on trust. It’s about mutual 

respect of each other’s position. So, 

bear in mind this strategic oversight 

when I talk about specific issues. 

Biodiversity and Predatorfree 

NZ 

DOC has appointed a new Deputy 

Director General of Biodiversity. 

Martin Kessick will be known 

to some of you. He comes to the 

12 

1st E 

position with a wealth of knowledge 

and experience within DOC and 

his legal mind works in a practical, 

logical manner yet he has the 

flexibility to get things done in a 

timely manner. 

The role takes on the work of 

understanding New Zealand’s natural 

heritage and assessing the threats 

to that heritage. This is particularly 

important given the announcement 

last year of the government goal of 

eliminating possums, stoats and rats 

from the North and South Islands by 

the year 2050. That’s 33 short years 

away. 

We don’t know exactly how we 

will get there but we can draw on 

lessons from a pioneering history of 

eradicating pests from islands. Think 

about it this way: the Americans 

could not get a man into orbit around 

the earth when they committed to 

putting a man on the moon. We 

don’t know yet how we might achieve 

predator-free status, but the research 

has started and we are determined to 

be successful. 

The history of island eradications 

defines conservation in New Zealand. 

Without the means and know-how 

to manage invasive animal pests, our 

predecessors resorted to marooning 

the last remnants of native plants and 

animals on islands, simply to save 

them from extinction. The pressures 

on our biodiversity have been so 

intense that we needed more and more 

island arks. This in turn drove our 

advances in eradication know-how. 

Our ambitions to remove animal 

pests from New Zealand’s main 

islands will require radical innovation 

in hardware, methods, toxins and 

novel forms of biological control. 

Removing rodents from islands of 

just a few hectares seemed impossible 

50 years ago; now Campbell Island 

in the deep subantarctic (11,000 

hectares) is rodent-free. From 

downtown Auckland, New Zealand’s 

largest city, you can see and visit 

numerous pest-free islands. Annually, 

tens of thousands of visitors can 

obtain a glimpse of how New Zealand 

looked in the absence of introduced 

predators. 

We rely on isolation in our 

oceans to protect most of our island 

sanctuaries. On the mainland, islands 

of a different kind act as sanctuaries 

too. These are islands of biodiversity 

in a sea of farmland or urban 

development, protected by high finemesh 

fences. Most have been created 

and nurtured by community groups 

who have cleared their interiors of 

pests and replenished, replanted 

and restocked them with threatened 

native plants and animals. This has 

been the seed for urban pest control 

and that idea is catching on. To do 

this, it’s going to be about social 

licence from the New Zealand public. 

It will be less about the technology 

which has yet to be developed. We 

must all embrace the concept if 

Predator Free is to become a reality 

for all New Zealanders, and DOC 

will be helping to facilitate that. At 

a practical level, the Battle for our 

Birds (BFOB) is protecting remnant 

native species on the mainland until 

broad-scale eradications can be done. 

That is DOC’s job. 

Battle for our Birds 

I know DOC and NZDA have 

collaborated regarding the 2017 Battle 

for our Birds series of operations, and 

this year the operations are getting 


Keith Milne, "Purple Flower", 1st, D 

Bill Wallace, "Oasis", 1st, C 

underway sometime soon. With the 

ability to accurately forecast where 

the most likely seeding will take 

place, combined with the sites where 

native species are at greatest risk, we 

are able to schedule pest control in 

priority areas. 

Our target is to deliver more than 

600,000 ha of predator control, in 

addition to the roughly 225,000 ha 

already planned as business as usual. 

BFOB 2017 includes both ground and 

aerial work. The choice of methods 

is based on what is most efficient and 

effective for each site. 

Seed monitoring has shown a 

distinct change in the need for pest 

control, from the beech forests of 

the South Island to a greater level 

of threat in the North Island. This 

year we have 31 aerial and 12 ground 

operations planned. At this point 35 

control operations are confirmed. The 

proposed programme will continue 

to change through consultation and 

is dependent on predators reaching 

trigger levels. 

Deer repellent 

DOC has worked closely with the 

Game Animal Council and NZDA 

regarding deer repellent and DOC 

appreciated the pragmatic approach 

to pest control on such a large scale 

taken by NZDA where DOC needs to 

carry out these priority operations. 

There are several sites where DOC 

has agreed to deer repellent use: 

»» 

in the South Island, in the 

Dart Valley at the head of Lake 

Wakatipu, to protect the whitetail 

herd; 

»» 

in the North Island, at 

Umukarikari and Whirinaki Forest 

Parks and Tongariro Forest after 

consultation with local hunters; 

and 

»» 

in the Kaimanawas, to protect the 

sika herd. 

That’s a total of 40,000 hectares 

of deer repellent. Again, it’s the 

pragmatic approach to pest control by 

NZDA that has given DOC the space 

to carry out operations that have 

benefited species over large areas. 

Wild animal recovery 

operations (WARO) 

This brings me to the vexed issue 

of the review of the wild animal 

recovery operators’ permits. I 

promised last time I stood in front of 

you that I would undertake a review 

of WARO on public conservation 

land, to inform the next round 

of WARO permits in 2018. The 

intention was good but the reality has 

been a bit different. 

Essentially the work was paused 

while we waited for the outcome of 

the judicial review of the 2015 WARO 

process in the lower North Island. The 

hearing for the judicial review was 

delayed at the judge’s request and we 

only learned the outcome in late June. 

As you are aware, the Lower 

North Island Red Deer Foundation 

took DOC to court to challenge the 

Department’s WARO concession 

process around the classification of 

some lands in the lower North Island. 

The judge considered the issues raised 

regarding a lack of consultation. He 

said that there was no legitimate 

expectation of consultation, nor a 

need to publicly notify the permit 

applications at a national level. 

However, at a local level, the land 

classification changes were significant 

and DOC needed to consider the 

impact of the changes on the role of 

recreational hunters by consulting 

them, and that was deemed unfair. 

On the issue of what he was going 

to do about it, the judge declined 

to quash the WARO concessions, 

which covered the whole of the 

North Island. Also, the concessions 

had only one year left to run and to 

quash them at this late stage would be 

disproportionate. 

So, what does this mean? While 

the judge’s decision applies to the 

facts of the case, it does have some 

broader implications for consultation, 

such as assessing when proposed 

changes in national process are 

significant enough to warrant 

consultation at a local level, and 

assessing when statements in statutory 

planning documents may trigger 

consultation. 

Now that the judge’s decision has 

been received we can look to the 

future and the previous commitment 

to undertake the wider review. As I 

said to you last year, the purpose of 

the proposed review is to consider 

the long-term sustainable future 

for management of wild animals in 

New Zealand on public conservation 

land, ensuring a sustainable WARO 

industry can assist in managing 

wild animals so that recreational, 

commercial and conservation 

objectives can all be met. My 

intention is that this consideration 

will be complete and the findings of 

it shared by the end of 2017. 

Volunteering 

On a more positive note, I want 

to acknowledge again this year the 

work that NZDA does as part of the 

Outdoor Recreation Consortium 

and more widely as an integral part 

of the volunteer community. DOC 

does not take for granted the effort 

that members put in to retaining our 

backcountry heritage and also helping 


13

with pest control in many places 

throughout the country. 

DOC works in partnership with 

about 900 voluntary community 

groups and NZDA is a significant 

part of conservation success stories. A 

few years ago, DOC turned outwards 

more than ever to seek partnerships 

in conservation. When the need arose 

to prioritise where the effort should 

go, NZDA actively stood up and 

filled the gap. 

I want to say thank you. NZDA 

has taken ownership of changes 

they want for themselves and their 

community. 

Recreation and access 

Access to the hills is changing. 

New Zealand’s next Great Walk is 

on the West Coast, with access from 

Greymouth. When it eventually 

opens, the Great Walk in the Paparoa 

Range will take you across alpine 

tops, limestone karst landscapes and 

rainforests, and provide breathtaking 

views. But the difference is that there 

are elements of easier access to the 

outdoors: a purpose-built, shared-use 

walking and mountain biking track in 

the Paparoa National Park. 

It reminds me that the people we 

relate to need to reflect a broader 

spectrum of New Zealand society. We 

need to make sure that conservation 

is in everyone’s set of values. 

Last year I was fortunate enough to 

get away to the northern hemisphere 

for a break and spent time around 

the Baltic. Up in the taiga forests of 

northern Europe they have a similar 

suite of wildlife to North America. I 

did not get off the beaten track but 

I did notice that, with the whole of 

Europe on their doorstep, the people 

pressure on the environment is 

enormous. Because of this, hunting 

opportunities in the Baltic states are 

managed tightly. 

It was not easy to step outside 

for a hunt. From what I could see, 

there was not much opportunity 

for free hunting and the cost of a 

trophy fallow deer in Lithuania was 

determined by the size of the antlers. 

For antlers that weighed 2.5 kg the 

cost was about NZ$4,000 and you 

paid $6 for every 10 grams over! 

In Latvia the cost per season for a 

hunting permit was more than $180 

and there were many other costs on 

top of that. Although one-third of the 

woods of Latvia are under protection, 

the designated hunting area in total 

was about 40,000 ha – one-tenth of 

the size of Kahurangi National Park. 

What New Zealand urban societies, 

take for granted as access to the 

outdoors, is distant dream for most 

people of Europe. 

From here in Christchurch, you 

can look out the window and decide 

that you want to go into the hills. 

You can be there in not more than 

a couple of hours. There are no 

hidden costs. The accommodation 

is generally cheap – I know, I set 

the fees for DOC huts! The only 

unnatural noise will be the banter 

with your friends and the fall of your 

feet. There’s the smell of bush and 

now, at this time of year, the rain on 

your head. 

And we take it for granted. In the 

words of Fred Dagg, alias John Clark, 

‘We don’t know how lucky we are’ … 

As I said earlier, relationships are 

based on trust and shared values. 

We look forward to an increasingly 

healthy relationship. Regardless of 

your vote in September, DOC will 

still be here to help manage your 

outdoor interests and to grow your 

business. Thank you. 

Hammond: How can recreational hunters do their 

bit for game management and enhancement? 

This article is based on Game Animal Council (GAC) Chair Don Hammond’s speech to Conference 2017 

The importance of developing 

unity among game animal interests 

was a key theme identified by GAC 

chair Don Hammond in his speech to 

the Conference. 

“We as hunters are an important 

part of protecting what we all value 

in our natural places and should not 

be seen fighting among ourselves 

when there are much bigger issues to 

address,” he said. 

“What we must also keep in mind 

is ensuring that we retain our societal 

licence to operate and that is the 

most important piece of work that 

GAC is responsible for. To do this, 

the hunting sector, recreational and 

commercial, must work alongside 

our ‘landlord’ – the Department of 

Conservation – to resolve issues and 

seek solutions out of the public glare.” 

“The GAC Act defines game animals as a 

resource to be managed, not as pests to 

be removed.” 

Key messages for NZDA 

He listed five key messages for 

NZDA members: 

»» 

For the first time in 80 years, 

hunters have a statutory body to 

represent hunter interests, both 

commercial and recreational; 

»» 

The GAC has made considerable 

progress over the past 2 years; 

»» 

The GAC has a very strong and 

sound relationship with NZDA 

as an integral part of the wider 

hunting community; 

»» 

NZDA President Bill O’Leary has 

been a very strong and successful 

advocate for NZDA and for 

recreational interests; and 

»» 

The world is changing and we 

must change too. In particular, 

there is now a need for recreational 

hunters to financially support 

advocacy and management of their 

recreation. 

14 


Mandatory consultation 

As a statutory body, the GAC 

had some special powers, he said. 

“Other government agencies must 

consult with us – whether they wish 

to or not. This is a very powerful 

and fundamental change we have 

to protect at all costs, and we 

must leverage the opportunities it 

generates. The GAC Act defines game 

animals as a resource to be managed, 

not as pests to be removed.” 

He said that the GAC was not 

well resourced and so had tried not 

to create expectations that couldn’t 

be met. “We have over the past 

couple of years developed a strategy, 

worked on creating Herds of Special 

Interest, built understanding among 

politicians and officials, and worked 

with other agencies on matters like 

1080 operations and a review of wild 

animal recovery operations (WARO). 

We have built relationships and trust 

and are making good progress with a 

levy on exported trophies. 

Levy on exported trophies 

However, that levy was only the 

first step towards a well financed 

GAC, he said. “The next question 

is: how do recreational hunters 

contribute their fair share of the cost? 

“How do 

recreational 

hunters contribute 

their fair share of 

the cost?” 

“The commercial sector feel 

they are being asked to fund the 

entire GAC and all the work it does. 

Initially that will be the case through 

the Export Levy, but we must quickly 

move to a situation where recreational 

hunters are paying their share. If they 

don’t, I am sure you can appreciate 

that the commercial sector will begin 

calling for changes so they don’t have 

to pay.” 

He said that some hunters would 

not expect to have to pay for the 

opportunity to hunt. “However, we 

said that about paying to stay in back 

country huts 30 years ago; we said 

that about paying to use the phone or 

for drinking water and so many other 

aspects of our lives that we now take 

for granted.” 

Just how we will pay would require 

a lot of thought, he said. Options 

included a license, as in many 

countries; a levy on ammunition, and 

other mechanisms. “I don’t have the 

answers, but I am challenging you 

all to consider how this can happen 

so we all retain the right to hunt, 

especially on public land. I anticipate 

that the situation will be very 

different this time next year as the 

Council begins to have resources to 

progress many other matters of vital 

importance to hunters.” 

NZDA “key stakeholder” 

He said the work and achievements 

would not have been possible 

without the strong ongoing 

stakeholder support. “Key among 

these stakeholders is the NZDA, 

representing as you do thousands of 

recreational hunters and encouraging 

and supporting the next generation 

of hunters out into the hills. A key 

focus on safety, as evidenced by the 

HUNTS programme, is vital to the 

development of new hunters.” 

He mentioned specifically the work 

of NZDA President Bill O’Leary, 

who “has put a huge effort into all 

aspects of representing recreational 

hunters and NZDA at all levels. 

I believe you should all be very 

appreciative of his work, patience 

and wisdom … We now have some 

new members of Council appointed 

by the Minister recently. At that 

time Bill (and others) took the 

opportunity to step down from the 

Council and I would like to publicly 

acknowledge his contribution to 

getting the Council up and running 

and on a sound footing.” Hammond 

also acknowledge the support of 

other Councillors, the Minister, Peter 

Dunne, and the senior management 

team in DOC. 

“The world is changing and one 

thing we all must accept is that for 

us to ensure there will be hunting 

opportunities in the future for our 

kids and grandkids, we will need 

to contribute to the work required. 

There is a special need to build 

relationships with government and 

the urban population. 

He concluded: “I urge you to look 

beyond today and tomorrow and 

think about what we need to have 

in place in 5, 10, 20 years’ time for 

ourselves as hunters, our children and 

their children. 

“What is the legacy we will leave 

them?” 

Paul Peychers, 

"Female Sea Lion", 1st, B2 

Joshua Keen, "Lake Summer", 1st, G 


15

Results from National 

Photographic Competition 

2017 

Section Place Name Title Branch 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds 1st Paul Peychers Pigeon Plum Tree Nelson 

B2 - Other Wildlife - Mammals 1st Paul Peychers Female Sea Lion Nelson 

A - Game Animals 1st Laurie Cain 

B3 - Other Wildlife - Insects, 

Reptiles and Amphibians 

Prince of the 

Glaisnock Valley 

Rakaia 

1st Keith Matthews Spot Me If You Can Waikato 

C - Scenic 1st Bill Wallace Oasis Bush 

D - Flora 1st Keith Milne Purple Flower Auckland 

E - Human Interest 1st Martin Moeller Time Out North Taranaki 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds 2nd Brian Witton Moving On Auckland 



A - Game Animals 2nd Bill Wallace 

2nd Brian Witton Lady in Waiting Auckland 

Up Close and 

Personal 

B2 - Other Wildlife - Mammals 2nd Keith Milne Rabbit Profile Auckland 

E - Human Interest 2nd Bradley Ramsay 

Walks with Great 

Grandad 

Bush 

Taupo 

C - Scenic 2nd Richard Morton That Wanaka Tree Manawatu 

D - Flora 2nd Tim McCarthy 

Late Summer 

Schrooms 

South Canterbury 

C - Scenic 3rd John Sanders Good Bush North Otago 



3rd 

Paul Peychers 

Yellow Admiral in the 

Waiatoto 

Nelson 

B2 - Other Wildlife - Mammals 3rd John Sanders Friendly Possum South Canterbury 

E - Human Interest 3rd David Hudson 

Good Day at the 

Office 

Waikato 

A - Game Animals 3rd Mark Cowan The Invisible Man Waikato 

D - Flora 3rd Jamie Fairbairn Little Orange Bay of Plenty 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds 3rd Robert Ramsay Hedge Sparrow Taupo 

Keith Milne, "Rabbit Profile" 

2nd, B2 

Tim McCarthy, "Late 

Summer Schrooms" 2nd, D 

16 


Joshua Keen, "Frosty Morning", 2nd, G 

Brad Ramsay, "Walks with Great Grandad", 2nd, E 

D - Flora Highly Commended Jamie Fairbairn Launch Pad Bay of Plenty 

C - Scenic Highly Commended Joshua Keen Frosty Morning South Canterbury 



Highly Commended Chris Munro Weta Bay of Plenty 

A - Game Animals Highly Commended Gwyn Thurlow Monarch of Invermark Wellington 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds Highly Commended Bradley Ramsay Posing Tom Tit Taupo 

B2 - Other Wildlife - Mammals Highly Commended Peter Henderson Tinned Mouse Southern Lakes 

E - Human Interest Highly Commended Brent Purvis Into the Abyss South Canterbury 

C - Scenic Highly Commended Zeff Veronese Karangarua Tops North Canterbury 

B2 Highly Commended John Sanders 

Wild Cat Greenstone 

Valley 

South Canterbury 

E - Human Interest Highly Commended Jamie Fairbairn Always Searching Bay of Plenty 

A - Game Animals Highly Commended Grant Botting 

Playful Wairakei 

Forest Pigs 

Taupo 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds Highly Commended Richard Morton Nesting Time Manawatu 



Highly Commended Robert Ramsay Spider on Moss Taupo 

D - Flora Highly Commended Robert Ramsay Black Fungi Taupo 

B2 - Other Wildlife - Mammals Highly Commended John Sanders The Twins North Otago 



A - Game Animals Highly Commended Gwyn Thurlow 

Highly Commended Paul Peychers Locust Up Close Nelson 

Red Stag Alone at the 

Rut 

Wellington 

B1 - Other Wildlife - Birds Highly Commended Richard Morton Alert Falcon Manawatu 

C - Scenic Highly Commended Robert Ramsay Shepherds Delight Taupo 

E - Human Interest Highly Commended Robert Ramsay The Little Lost One Taupo 

D - Flora Highly Commended Robert Ramsay 2½ Fungi Taupo 

G - Best Junior 1st Joshua Keen Lake Summer South Canterbury 

G - Best Junior 2nd Joshua Keen Frosty Morning South Canterbury 

G - Best Junior 3rd Joshua Keen Two Tahr South Canterbury 

G - Best Junior Highly Commended Joshua Keen One Tahr South Canterbury 

G - Best Junior Highly Commended Joshua Keen Upper Rangitata South Canterbury 

G - Best Junior Highly Commended Joshua Keen Lots of Tahr South Canterbury 

F - Best of All Sections 1st Bill Wallace Oasis Bush 


17

National Antler, Horn and 

Tusk Competitions 

2017 

McGOWAN SHIELD – Fallow deer - 13 entries 

Name Branch Place taken DS 

1st Gary McFarlane Otago Central Otago 244¼ 

2nd Bill Pearce South Canterbury Hunter Hills 233⅝ 

3rd Tony Pidgeon South Canterbury North Otago 232½ 

MEL LARRITT TROPHY – Red deer - 4 entries 


1st Greg King Upper Clutha Longwoods 321¾ 

2nd Hayden Breakwell Ashburton Hakatere CP 315 

3rd Butch Wilson Rakaia Rakaia 299⅝ 

SEDDON SHIELD – Rusa deer - 1 entry 


1st Murray Rowe Te Awamutu Galatea 134½ 

HENDERSON TROPHY – Sambar deer - No entries 

CLIFF MARSHALL MEMORIAL TROPHY – Sika deer - 2 entries 


1st Allan Foot Waikato Ahimanawa Ranges 172⅛ 

2nd Richard Berger Auckland Kaimanawa Ranges 170¾ 

MANAWATU BRANCH TROPHY – Whitetail deer - 1 entry 


1st Garth Johnson Auckland Stewart Island 101¼ 

KEITH SEVERINSON TROPHY – Wapiti/Fiordland deer - No entries 

McCONACHIE SHIELD – Chamois - 4 entries 


1st Andrew Watson Rakaia Rakaia 29 

2nd Dallas Nelley Taranaki Olivine Range 28 

3rd Beccy Cochrane Nth Canterbury Avoca 24 

MOUNT COOK TROPHY – Tahr - 14 entries 


1st David Keen South Canterbury Landsborough 45½ 

2nd Martin Parsons Nth Otago Jollie 45¼ 

3rd Tim Sandford Gore & Districts Westland 45 

COLIN PORTER TROPHY – Goat - No entries 

DILLON SHIELD – Drawn pig tusks - 4 entries 


1st Bernie Reveley Rakaia West Coast 26½ 

2nd Murray Rowe Te Awamutu Rangitoto Range 26 

3rd Glenn Ralston Ashburton Rakaia 25¾ 

PUTARURU BRANCH TROPHY – Undrawn pig tusks - 4 entries 


1st Shane Clapp Thames Valley Coromandel 22¾ 

2nd Audris Kuzma Otago Palmerston 22¼ 

3rd Peter Spriggs Taupo Mokau River 21⅞ 

18 


TREVOR CHAPPELL TROPHY – Wild sheep - 1 entry 


1st Geoff Booth North Otago Wainakarua 67¼ 

POVERTY BAY BRANCH TROPHY – Best game animal taken by a junior (under 19) - 4 entries 


1st Jack McLennan South Canterbury Mackenzie Country 322.60 

2nd Joshua Keen South Canterbury Two Thumb Range 315.75 

3rd Max Watson Rakaia Rakaia 311.95 

LEITHEN AWARD – Best non-typical - No entries 

Z. VERONESE CUP – Best antlered species taken by a junior - 1 entry 

Name Branch Species Place taken DS DS Equiv. 

1st Jack McLennan South Canterbury Fallow Mackenzie country 212 322.60 

E. VERONESE CUP – Best horned species taken by a junior - 2 entries 


1st Joshua Keen South Canterbury Tahr Two Thumb 41½ 315.75 

2nd Max Watson Rakaia Tahr Rakaia 41 311.95 

KAIMANAWA BRANCH TROPHY – Best game trophy taken by a lady - 6 entries 


1st Katie Dugan Nth Canterbury Fallow Central Otago 210¼ 319.93 

2nd Rose Cochrane Nth Canterbury Tahr Ben Ohau 40 304.34 

3rd Jane Cochrane Nth Canterbury Tahr Ben Ohau 39¾ 302.44 

NORMAN DOUGLAS TROPHY – Best branch entry, consisting of one set of antlers, horns and 

tusks Total entries: 3 branches 

Branch 

Points 

1st Otago 945.33 

2nd Ashburton 942.60 

3rd Rakaia 922.38 

ORBELL TROPHY – Best head of all deer species 


1st Gary McFarlane Otago Fallow Central Otago 244¼ 371.67 

2nd Greg King Upper Clutha Red Longwoods 321¾ 321.75 

EGMONT TROPHY – Best head of all horned species 


1st Andrew Watson Rakaia Chamois Rakaia 29 349.97 

2nd David Keen South Canterbury Tahr Landsborough 45½ 346.19 

BOW HUNTING JUNIOR – No entries 

BOW HUNTING LADIES – No entries 

BOW HUNTING SENIOR – No entries 

WAIKATO BRANCH TROPHY – Over 65 - 7 entries 

Name Branch Species Place taken DS Equiv. 

1st Malcolm Mitchell Upper Clutha Fallow Longwoods 349.99 

2nd Warren Morris Otago Tahr Dobson 321.46 

3rd= Adris Kuzma Otago Undrawn tusks Palmerston 315 

3rd= Peter Spriggs Taupo Undrawn tusks Mokau River 315 

D. BRUCE BANWELL TROPHY – Red deer of exceptional quality for the area taken - 1 entry 

Name Branch Species Place taken DS Equiv. 

1st Greg King Upper Clutha Red deer Longwoods 321¾ 


19

Backcountry Trust 

Back Country Trust 

“far-sighted and important move” 

By the Editor 

After the great success of the Outdoor 

Recreation Consortium (ORC) over the 

past 3 years, the announcement at the 

NZDA Conference of a new Backcountry 

Trust (BCT) to continue this work has 

been greeted with enthusiasm among 

outdoor recreation groups. 

The BCT is a successor to the ORC 

that has funded many hut, track and 

facility improvement projects, and has 

been guaranteed funding until 2019. 

Many ORC projects carried out by NZDA 

volunteers have been written up in H&W 

during the past 3 years, most recently in 

issue 194 (spring 2016) with the Malvern 

Branch’s work on upgrading eight huts 

in the Arthur’s Pass area and South 

Canterbury branch’s restoration of Eade 

Memorial Hut in the Godley. 

Like the ORC it will be run by a board 

of six trustees: Bill O’Leary and Craig 

Benbow (NZDA), Nessa Lynch and Guy 

Wyn-Williams (Trailfund), and Peter 

Wilson and Geoff Spearpoint (FMC). 

The main difference is that as well as 

public funding, the BCT will set out to 

obtain further funding from other sources 

such as donations and grants. 

NZDA President Bill O’Leary 

welcomed the move, saying it was a farsighted 

and important move by DOC 

to continue a valuable community 

outreach project. “The Trust will employ 

a dedicated administration person to take 

charge of BCT paperwork and liaison in 

the future – an excellent decision that 

will ensure our volunteers are freed up to 

spend more time doing what they do best.” 

He said the ORC had successfully 

demonstrated that three groups with 

somewhat differing aims, interests and 

agendas could successfully identify 

important projects that needed doing in 

the bush, and work together and share 

resources co-operatively. “The ORC 

was totally successful in getting NZDA 

membership engagement and the tasks 

that we did were identified as important 

Support 

Sika Deer 

Management 

to our membership before they were 

embarked upon. It is very commendable 

that, once a few early wrinkles were 

ironed out, DOC basically left to 

decide the priorities for ourselves and 

let us get on with it, providing money 

and administrative support to help the 

process. 

He said that in almost all cases, the 

results were “bloody brilliant” with some 

major projects completed thanks to the 

commitment of all parties. Paperwork 

created some problems and a lot of work, 

such as ensuring compliance with local 

body requirements and this had been a 

trial for the volunteers, but the issues were 

being worked through, he said. “With 

funding and administrative support 

assured, the Backcountry Trust should 

have a bright future and deliver more 

great results,” he said. 

Further information: https://fmc. 

org.nz/2017/07/17/backcountry-trustlaunched/ 

THE CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND SIKA FOUNDATION 

IS SEEKING MEMBERSHIP FROM THE HUNTING 

COMMUNITY TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE AND TO 

SUPPORT THEIR OBJECTIVES. 

The purpose of the Sika Foundation is to advocate for the 

designation of a Herd of Special Interest under the Game Animal 

Council Act (2013) for Sika deer, as to manage the resource on public 

conservation land for the improvement of recreational hunting. 

Membership for NZDA members is $30 (save $20). 

Sika Foundation members also receive free entry to the Sika Show 

(worth $30) held on September 31 and October 1, 2017 in Taupo, as 

well as subsidised fly-in hunts, so it makes sense to organise your 

membership now. 

Do it online on sikafoundation.co.nz/membership or email: 

info@sikafoundation.co.nz 

For news and updates, join the CNISF on Facebook: 

facebook.com/sikafoundation/ 

20 


Game management 

Sika poised for Herd of 

Special Interest status 

by the Editor 

Sika deer in the central North Island could be set to become New Zealand’s first Herd of Special Interest 

(HOSI) under the Game Animal Act 2013 – what does the proposal say and what would it mean for the future 

of hunting sika? 

“A healthy sika resource, thriving 

in resilient natural habitats and 

valued by stakeholders.” That’s the 

vision behind a proposal to make sika 

deer in the central North Island our 

first Herd of Special Interest. 

A draft management plan and 

proposal was submitted in June 

by the Central North Island Sika 

Foundation and drawn up by wildlife 

ecologist Cam Speedy, of Turangi, 

who has spent most of the past 

20 years studying NZ sika in their 

natural habitat. The plan is now 

before the GAC for consideration. 

If accepted (and there may be 

modifications to the draft that will 

add to the process) it will be sent 

to the Minister of Conservation for 

ratification. 

“An informed, coordinated, outcomefocused 

sika hunting force of thousands 

will unleash and channel an enormous 

amount of energy towards the 

Kaimanawa and Kaweka Forest Parks.” 

This all began in March 2015 

when the Central North Island 

Sika Foundation was set up by 

stakeholders to work together 

on developing a sika HOSI, and 

subsequently to manage it. If given 

the force of law, the plan will be 

implemented by the Foundation 

in collaboration with a wide 

range of stakeholders: the Game 

Animal Council, Department of 

Conservation, relevant Conservation 

Boards, the Kaimanawa and Kaweka 

Hunter Liaison Groups, sika hunters 

A mature sika stag with a good spread 

of antlers and eight points – the trophy 

every sika hunter wants 

NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017 21

and sika-related businesses. The 

proposal has a very broad support 

base among hunting stakeholders 

including local NZDA branches, 

Hunters & Habitats, the Sika Show 

and Safari Club International. 

Vision” “a healthy sika 

resource” 

A key objective of the plan is to 

manage the environmental effects 

of sika (and hunters) to within 

acceptable levels and keep sika at “low 

to moderate densities appropriate to 

specific habitat types”. This means 

tailoring the plan to suit different 

habitats within the HOSI area, and 

as a result four separate management 

units are proposed (see map). 

The question of effects of sika 

upon beech forest is addressed too, 

and successful canopy replacement 

within 40 years is another objective 

of the plan. 

The plan describes sika as “an 

iconic NZ hunting resource targeted 

by up to a third of NZ’s estimated 

63,000 deer hunters annually” and 

generating an impressive $18 million 

per year in economic activity. 

Place-based harvest 

management 

Owing to the strongly seasonal 

nature of both sika and hunter 

behaviour, the sika herd tends to 

suffer from an over-harvest of males 

and a under-harvest of females. 

This results in sex ratios that favour 

females, with young age structure 

in male populations. In the harderto-hunt, 

heavy forest and scrubland 

habitats, this increases the adverse 

effects on habitat and reduces 

hunting success in many places. 

Management would mainly be by 

recreational hunters but some extra 

culling of hinds might be necessary as 

a simple means of managing numbers 

and sex ratio: “Even with increased 

recreational harvest of females, it 

is clear that some habitats within 

the sika HOSI area will remain 

challenging and difficult to access 

for recreational hunters. In such 

areas, female-based culling, using a 

combination of experienced hunters 

and aerial search & destroy from 

helicopters will be required.” This 

will result in stronger competition 

among stags for fewer and betterconditioned 

hinds, leading to quality 

stag hunting experiences during the 

rut. This is known as “place-based 

harvest management.” Science to 

underpin management decisions like 

this will be based on pellet counts, 

surveys of beech regeneration, herd 

data and stakeholder surveys, and 

results used to assess performance 

against set targets. Budgets and 

planning for management actions 

would be set in place each year. 

Cam Speedy told Hunting and 

Wildlife, “This is all about using 

flexible, science-based adaptive 

management to improve the 

hunting experience and ensure an 

environmentally sustainable future 

for sika hunting in New Zealand. 

Successful management of sika and 

environmental restoration has already 

been established and demonstrated 

within the Kaweka Mountain Beech 

Project Area; now it’s a matter of 

extending and modifying that model 

and applying it more widely. The 

benefits and outcomes we envisage 

could be significantly better than 

the status quo in many parts of the 

proposed sika HOSI area. 

“We anticipate a wide range of 

benefits including more successful 

sika hunters, quality sika meat 

and trophies,” he said. “Quality, 

healthy outdoor based recreational 

experiences will flow from the 

ongoing success of sika hunters – 

success breeds success. This will aid 

hunter recruitment and succession 

within an ageing national human 

population. 

“Environmental benefits 

will include sustainable canopy 

replacement, creating resilient 

beech forests and improvements 

in manuka, tussock and alpine 

habitats. There will also be wider 

conservation benefits from protected 

species management information and 

protection in which sika hunters will 

willingly participate. 

“An informed, coordinated, 

outcome-focused sika hunting 

force of thousands will unleash 

and channel an enormous amount 

of energy, knowledge, skill and 

motivation towards the Kaimanawa 

and Kaweka Forest Parks. Having 

a single point of contact (the Sika 

Foundation) will assist DOC 

considerably by way of operating 

in community partnership. The 

relationship between hunters and 

other user groups will be enhanced, 

with greater hunter support of 

recreational facilities.” 

Habitat impacts of sika 

In the late 1990s, a study in 

Kaweka Forest Park found browsing 

by sika was having a widespread 

detrimental influence on the 

regeneration and species composition 

of mountain beech forest (found at 

higher altitudes). Pure silver beech 

and mixed mountain/silver beech 

A poor-conditioned hind in the Rangitikei 

River catchment, Kaimanawa Forest Park, 

2015. Deer like this have no meat value for 

sika hunters, but reducing their density will 

both improve their condition and help the 

proposed management plan’s objective of 

achieving canopy closure within 40 years. 

Photo: Murray Cleaver 

22 


forests at higher altitude within 

the sika range also appear to be 

vulnerable. 

Mountain beech is not particularly 

palatable, but at higher densities the 

intense activity of sika at canopy 

gap sites results in the hedging and 

eventual death of most mountain 

beech seedlings, changing the habitat 

to a more browse-resistant vegetation 

community. Where mountain 

beech forest once existed, a heavily 

grazed Coprosma scrub “deer lawn” 

environment develops – unless deer 

impact is managed. This process is 

taking place in many parts of the 

Kaweka, Ahimanawa and Kaimanawa 

ranges. 

Studies since the early 1980s have 

also shown that while red/silver beech 

forests are regenerating throughout 

the lower-altitude areas of sika 

habitat, selective browsing by these 

deer has increased the density of lesspalatable 

pepperwood in beech forest 

understoreys below 1000 m elevation. 

The challenge with a HOSI for sika is 

to manage these environmental issues 

by minimising adverse effects of sika, 

and to maximise their hunting value. 

Why a HOSI? 

The draft proposal describes 

a sika HOSI as “a means of 

enhancing existing relationships 

and realising increased benefits for 

both conservation and hunting 

… [that] will provide benefits to a 

wide range of stakeholders, given 

the iconic nature of sika and the 

value hunters place on the species; 

the impact the species has on 

important natural habitats; but 

also, the potential to better manage 

many aspects of the sika herd to 

achieve improved outcomes for both 

hunting and conservation, as already 

well demonstrated in the Kaweka 

Mountain Beech Project. This 

proposal will extend those benefits 

to a much wider range of sites, where 

there is currently no management 

occurring.” 

The GAC Act and HOSIs 

Section 2.1 of the Act provides 

for the Minister of Conservation to 

declare a Herd of Special Interest 

for a species of game animal on 

public conservation land (private 

land cannot normally be included), 

subject to a number of conditions. 

The animals need to be of special 

interest to hunters and capable of 

being managed for hunting purposes, 

and a herd management plan must be 

prepared. 

Once a HOSI is established it can 

be managed by a number of measures 

such as issuing permits and holding 

hunting ballots, and setting other 

conditions under which the animals 

may be hunted in the HOSI area. 

Generally, however, the sika HOSI 

proposal is more about making better 

use of existing hunting effort rather 

than imposing restrictions. 

As the draft management plan 

shows, sika fits these criteria very 

well. The herd largely exists on 

public conservation land (parts of 

which have already been designated 

Recreational Hunting Areas) and 

can be defined by species and place. 

It is of special interest for numerous 

reasons, including trophy and meat 

value and the value of the hunting 

experience. In many places the herd 

is one of the most accessible hunting 

resources in New Zealand, thanks 

to the network of state highways 

Mountain beech canopy collapse in Kaweka Forest, c. 1997, showing sika deer impact. The Kaweka Mountain Beech Project has demonstrated 

that beech regeneration is successful if the animal numbers are managed, and that the effectiveness of that management can be measured by 

faecal pellet counts. This means it can be relatively straightforward to manage sika for environmental as well as hunting benefits. 

Photo: Cam Speedy 

NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017 23

Stags in velvet are often attracted to the rich feeding opportunities offered by farm and forest 

landscapes adjoining public land. Successful collaboration with such neighbours could make a 

huge difference to the quality of sika trophies available on public hunting areas. 

Photo: Murray Cleaver 

Sika HOSI map 

Opposite is a map of the 

proposed HOSLI area (outlined 

in black) in the Kaimanawas and 

Kawekas. 

Management units are: 

yellow: Enhanced Harvest 

Management Unit 

dark green: Kaimanawa Enhanced 

Trophy Management Unit 

light green: Kaweka Enhanced 

Trophy Management Unit 

orange: Kaweka Mountain Beech 

Management Unit 

blue: Other Mountain or Mountain/ 

Silver Beech Management Unit 

NZ sika stats and facts at a glance 

1905 

Introduced at 

Poronui Station 

Estimated feral range of 

sika deer: more than 

800,000 ha 

Estimated annual number of 

sika killed: 

7,000–9,000 

228¾ 

NZ record 

Douglas score 

170 

Minimum Douglas score for 

eligibility in NZDA record book 

Area of proposed HOSI: 

133,600 ha 

DOC hunting permits 

issued in 2015: 

15,221 

for Kaimanawa and Kaweka 

Forest Parks 

33% 

of all permits issued in NZ 

Estimated annual 

number of sika hunters: 

20,000+ 

Carcass weight: 

hind 20–45 kg, 

stag 30–60 kg. 

Animals at the lower 

end of this range tend 

to come from manuka 

scrublands and alpine 

beech forest 

$18m 

Estimated dollar value of 

sika to NZ economy 

Sika hunting is the 

single 

highest use 

of Kaimanawa and 

Kaweka Forest Parks 

24 


Four management units 

A mixture of sika subspecies were introduced to the 

central North Island from Britain in 1905, and now live 

throughout the Kaimanawa Forest Park Conservation Area 

(74,600 ha) and Kaweka Forest Park Conservation Area 

(59,000 ha) – total area 133,600 ha. The proposed Sika 

HOSI Management Area is broken into four management 

units under slightly different management to meet various 

conservation and hunting aims that are specific to identified 

habitat and place: 

»» 

Kaweka Mountain Beech Management Unit – 18,700 

ha: based on the current Kaweka Mountain Beech 

Project area, west of the main Kaweka Range, which 

has been intensively managed since 1998. The objective 

is to maintain the current gains that have been made, 

which have increased beech regeneration, improved 

meat quality and the hunting experience. There is a well 

established network of huts, tracks and helipads, and 

significant research data has been collected on both 

habitat and the deer. 

»» 

Other Mountain or Mountain/Silver Beech 

Management Unit – 18,300 ha: areas of mountain and 

silver beech habitat similar to the Kaweka Mountain Beech 

Management Unit. They include the Rangitikei Remote 

Experience Zone and the headwaters of the Oamaru River 

within the Kaimanawa Forest Park, both of which generally 

lack canopy regeneration after natural canopy collapse. 

There has been no effective deer impact management 

here for decades, there is limited historical data and 

hunting access is more difficult. Resident deer (hind) 

condition and performance and habitat quality continue to 

decline. The objective is to replicate the Kaweka Mountain 

Beech Management Unit outcomes at these sites. 

»» 

Enhanced Trophy Management Unit – 65,600 ha: 

these sites are identified as a 6-km buffer around the 

northern and eastern boundaries of Kaimanawa Forest 

Park, and the eastern and southern boundaries of Kaweka 

Forest Park, in an attempt to enhance the availability of 

high-quality sika trophies. Productive habitat on private 

lands adjoining these areas is where most trophy sika 

stags “grow out” during spring and summer. Stags then 

move during the rut into this strip of public conservation 

land and can be hunted by the public. These areas 

provide most of the high-quality sika trophies available 

on public land and are hunted the most, thanks to their 

accessibility. Mostly these areas are a mixture of red and 

silver beech forests or manuka shrublands. At current deer 

densities, retaining beech forest canopies, where they 

exist, appears achievable, as there has been widespread 

canopy recovery after historic damage. The objective is 

to maintain beech canopies and enhance both trophy 

and meat quality, and to enhance rut hunting experiences 

through higher contact rates with rutting stags. 

»» 

Enhanced Harvest Management Unit – 31,000 ha: the 

remaining public sika hunting land in the Kaimanawas 

and Kawekas has been combined into this management 

unit. These areas do not produce the best trophies, but 

nevertheless offer valuable hunting opportunities. The 

objective is to maintain beech canopies, enhance meat 

quality by having healthier animals, and improve rut 

hunting experiences. 

The four management units proposed for the sika Herd of Special Interest. The surrounding land is privately owned, including farms and 

Maori land. Owing to the wandering habits of sika stags, many of the trophy animals taken on public land have spent much of their time 

growing up on private lands outside the proposed HOSI boundaries, and this underpins the concept of an Enhanced Trophy Management 

Unit. It is possible that other management units may be identified in future on other areas of public land or adjoining private land, with 

specific conditions and management options to be considered at the time. 


25

and side roads providing access 

to the proposed HOSI area, and 

facilities like huts and tracks are well 

developed. Some of the land involved 

is of lower conservation value, being 

front country that has been farmed 

or logged in the past. The varied 

terrain and good access also provides 

training opportunities for young 

hunters, and economic benefits of 

sika hunting are significant, especially 

around Taupo, Taihape and inland 

Hawke’s Bay. These enhanced 

hunting experiences are another 

cornerstone of the plan. 

A HOSI must also have no 

unmitigated adverse effects on 

neighbouring areas. The proposed 

HOSI area is surrounded by private 

land, most of whose owners value sika 

as an economic resource and manage 

them on their land accordingly. 

Cross-boundary issues are also critical 

because of the seasonal movements 

of trophy stags, many of which 

migrate on to mostly public land 

during the rut. “The maintenance of 

a low to moderate number of quality 

animals via careful management of 

herd density and structure in parts 

of Kaweka and Kaimanawa Forest 

Parks is likely to create positive 

outcomes on neighbouring habitat/ 

land areas. As the benefits of such a 

management approach become more 

widely understood and supported, 

management could expand to a 

wider landscape scale over multiple 

land tenure, including neighbouring 

private land, if those landowners so 

wish.” 

Costs and funding 

The draft plan lists a number 

of funding streams, including the 

annual Sika Show and the Sika 

Foundation. Voluntary contributions 

from sika hunters are also anticipated 

(the Sika Foundation already receives 

significant funding this way) and 

there are possibilities for sponsorship 

from among the many businesses 

that benefit from the estimated $18 

million spent per year in association 

with sika hunting. 

While hunter participation 

and compliance would be largely 

voluntary, the opportunity does 

exist under the Act to set regulations 

and provide some enforcement if 

necessary. New and additional hunter 

services on a paying basis may also be 

provided in the future. 

Meeting the criteria for a 

HOSI 

Notably, the New Zealand 

(Central North Island) sika herd is 

the only legal wild herd of huntable 

sika in the southern hemisphere. 

“However, there is an ongoing risk 

of further illegal liberations within 

New Zealand. A well managed sika 

HOSI will help reduce this risk. 

Illegal liberations will be actively 

discouraged to ensure the Central 

North Island remains the only sika 

focus for New Zealand sika hunters.” 

Threats to conservation values 

are another issue to be considered 

before establishing a HOSI. The draft 

management plan notes that many 

highly deer-palatable tree species 

have now been largely removed from 

the browse tier within the Central 

North Island Sika range (by both red 

and sika deer), but are still present as 

epiphytes (perching plants) on trees 

and on steep stream banks or bluff 

systems, and no plant extinctions 

have been attributed to sika deer. 

However, when sika densities exceed 

measured thresholds their browsing 

has a detrimental influence on 

regeneration and species composition 

in mountain beech forests. Silver 

beech and mountain/silver beech 

forests also appear to be vulnerable, 

while impacts on red/silver beech are 

variable, with some impact recorded 

after canopy collapse in places where 

sika densities are higher as a result of 

restricted hunting access. 

The plan proposes to improve this 

situation by managing deer densities, 

based on the achievable measure of 

retaining beech canopies. “Other 

benefits could include development 

and participation in predator trapping 

programmes to benefit species such 

as kiwi, blue duck, kaka, kakariki and 

more participation in facilities (track 

and hut) maintenance.” 

Some specific objectives 

Some of the objectives are very 

specific in detail, such as: 

»» 

Low to moderate sika densities (5– 

10 animals per sq km, depending 

on the habitat); 

»» 

Successful canopy replacement 

within 40 years of natural canopy 

collapse, in all broad vegetation 

types; 

»» 

Well-conditioned sika with 

moderate to high fat content on 

most animals, most of the time; 

»» 

Access to quality habitat to 

produce significant numbers of 

mature sika stags (older than 4 

years); 

»» 

A herd structure managed for sex 

ratios (1 male : 1 female), leading 

to high reproductive rates from 

well-conditioned hinds and quality 

hunting experiences during the rut 

(stags vocal with intense “single” 

calling). 

What happens next? 

GAC Chair Don Hammond 

said that the GAC is excited by the 

prospect of HOSIs, but wants to 

ensure they are done properly right 

from the start, and sounded a note 

of caution against high expectations. 

He told Hunting & Wildlife that the 

GAC was still severely hamstrung 

by inadequate funding and “at this 

point our main work regarding Herds 

of Special Interest is about managing 

expectations, and nothing is likely to 

happen very quickly.” 

He said that the HOSI process 

was a first for New Zealand, and that 

DOC and the GAC were working on 

developing a basic template for HOSI 

proposals. “We need to have DOC 

involved in the process right from the 

start,” he said, “because whenever the 

GAC puts up a HOSI proposal to the 

Minister, the first thing he or she will 

do is to refer it to DOC for scrutiny 

and comment. Thus it seems logical 

for a proposal to be supported by 

both DOC and GAC before going to 

the Minister, rather than after.” 

He said there was a lot to be 

worked through as the Game 

Animal Act had created a new 

legislative environment, right down 

to completely new terminology like 

“over-riding considerations” whose 

strict legal meaning is not immediately 

established but will evolve over time. 

“We have to get agreement between 

DOC and GAC on these crucial 

details and how HOSIs are to be set 

up and managed, and that will be an 

evolving process.” 

26 


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Hunting 

An English roe deer hunt 

By Pete Henderson, Southern Lakes NZDA branch 

The family and I were heading to 

the UK to visit my wife’s family and 

some friends. On my last trip I had 

seen a lot of roe deer and thought it 

would be good if one of our friends 

could arrange a hunt for me. So my 

wife facebooked her friends Rebecca 

and Ed, asking Ed, who has a lot 

of farmer-type friends, if he knew 

anyone who could take me for a hunt. 

He put out the message that if anyone 

would be interested, then in return if 

they came to the deep south I’d take 

them out. Seemed fair. 

Before long, one of Ed’s friends 

was facebooking back, saying that it 

seemed like a good deal. And so just 

like that, I had a new hunting buddy, 

Ben. That was easy; now all I had to 

do was get to the UK and get to Ed 

and his family’s home, which is in the 

middle of England. What could go 

wrong? 

The trip over with two young 

children was relatively good and 

without incident. We made it to the 

in-laws and spent the next three or 

four weeks basking in lovely hot 

weather, just wearing shorts, jandals 

and T shirts. I’m not making this up 

– in fact we had 4 days of rain and 

2 days of drizzle total in 6 weeks, 

so compared to the crap weather 

NZ was getting we had it good. The 

3–4-hour road trip to our friends 

went pretty well, eventually arriving 

at Chew Stoke, about 20 km south 

of Bristol and only getting slightly 

lost once. So far so good, now I just 

had to ensure we were still on for our 

hunt; a text later and yep, she was a 

green light. 

At 4.30 am when Ben’s Range 

Rover pulled into the drive (I would 

have expected nothing less) I was 

ready and waiting. So after the usual 

intros and questions, Ben drove me 

along the narrow country roads, 

seeming to know exactly where he 

was going though he could have been 

going around the block and I’d have 

been none the wiser. I was lost really, 

I hate to think how I’d have got home 

if he’d thrown me out. Seriously, the 

sun comes up on the wrong side of 

the planet and I just couldn’t get any 

bearings, it played havoc with my 

mind. 

Ben worked in this area and had 

permission to hunt most of the 

surrounding properties; and full 

credit to him, he knew the area well 

and where the animals were hanging 

Pete Henderson with his roe deer 

buck, shot in a cornfield at first light 

28 


A closer look at Pete’s trophy. The 

roe buck is a small deer but highly 

esteemed as a trophy in Europe. 

out. We were driving down these tiny 

little roads where you would not want 

to meet another vehicle. On either 

side of the roads are high hedges, 

usually about 2–2.5 m high so you 

can’t see over or through them and 

it was pitch dark anyway. Every so 

often Ben would suddenly pull into a 

gateway between a couple of hedges 

and pull out a thermal monocular to 

scan the fields, searching for deer by 

using their body heat to give them 

away ... I liked this a lot! 

“It was a unusual 

feeling going 

hunting with just 

the gear you stood 

up in.” 

Eventually we got to a particular 

area where we were going to walk 

around and check things out as it 

was just starting to get light. When 

we hopped out of the truck it was a 

unusual feeling going hunting with 

just the gear you stood up in. Apart 

from a camo jacket, all I had on me 

was my Swiss Army knife – no rifle, 

no pack, no binoculars, no huntingtype 

clothing, no “real” knife – it was 

just not right. I felt naked, as though 

I was just along for the ride. Ben had 

the rifle, it was his job to find me a 

deer and hopefully I would get a shot 

at it. So off we went. 

We spotted a few animals and 

walked around all over the place 

though I still had no idea where I was. 

Eventually we came through a hole 

in some bush and about 80 m away 

in the middle of a paddock was a 

hind grazing. I wasn’t there to shoot a 

hind, but I took a couple of pics; then 

about 10 minutes later we got on to 

a spiker. It was an easy shot, no more 

than 60 m, but when I looked at Ben 

he said, ‘’I reckon we can do better 

than that, at least something with 

some antlers!’’ so we left the spiker to 

grow bigger and we continued on. 

Ben’s mate had tipped him off 

about a pretty good stag in another 

area so we went there for a look and 

headed off down the side of some 

trees and another hedgerow. When 

we were halfway down, opposite us 

a stag popped through the hedge 

and proceeded to walk across the 

field we were in. Ben looked at him, 

apparently he was a cracker, so we 

squeezed through the hedge and 

into the bush, trying to close the 

distance, but when we got to the area 

to take the shot the deer had gone. 

Ben reckoned it would be a bronze 

or silver medal stag, not that I know 

what that means but I’m guessing it’s 

good. He told me we’d come back 

later that evening for another look. 

We then proceed to another area, 

but by now it was about 7.30–8 am 

and Ben said time was just about up. 

We pulled into a huge paddock with 

some kind of grain crop like wheat or 

barley and began walking around the 

edges. He told me the deer lie up in it 

once they’ve eaten their fill, “so you 

never know: something might jump 

up and there’s plenty of sign to show 

they have been walking about in 

it.” He gave me the rifle, yeah that’s 

better; we walked around and passed 

a bit of bush on our right, on the 

other side of which there was another 

large grain paddock. 

“…about 120 m 

away was the head 

and neck of a roe 

deer stag looking 

at us.” 

Then suddenly I turned to the 

right and there about 120 m away 

in the middle of this grain stuff was 

the head and neck of a roe deer stag 

looking at us. “Ben,” I said, “what 

about that one?” and he said, “Yeah – 

shoot it!” 


29

Now Ben had been lugging around 

these things called “shooting sticks” 

all morning and I wasn’t sure how 

to use them, but he quickly spread 

them apart so they formed a base that 

split off to form an X in front and 

an X behind. I placed the stock and 

forearm over the front X and the butt 

of the stock over the back X, which 

made a very stable platform, though 

it took about 20 seconds to set it up. 

(I’m guessing once you’ve had a bit of 

practice you’d do it in a few seconds.) 

Anyway, I found the stag, and he was 

just standing there waiting for me to 

stop mucking around, line up on the 

neck and squeeze the trigger … the 

suppressed Ruger .270 hit the mark 

and the stag disappeared into the 

field of wheat or whatever it was. 

Well that’s sweet – I’d just shot my 

first roe deer and was pretty stoked; 

now to find it. We wandered round 

into the paddock, where I figured it 

was going to be a matter of walking 

backwards and forwards doing a 

grid search, but Ben pulled out his 

thermal vision monocular, scanned 

about and said,”It’s right there,” 

pointing to a spot about 30 m away. 

We walked over and yep: there it was. 

Thermal vision: mmmmm, I see the 

benefits. 

“Thermal vision: 

mmmmm, I see the 

benefits.” 

So we dragged the stag to the edge 

of the field, not that we really needed 

to drag it because roe deer are very 

small and this one was barely the 

size of a large golden retriever. I was 

pretty happy: it was a nice little stag, 

with good though unusual antler 

configuration. We took a few photos 

and then Ben got out his knife out 

The roe deer hind, a beautiful sight 

grazing among wild flowers in a 

classic English meadow 

“We later cooked a whole back leg as a 

roast. It was very good …” 

and cleaned it all up for me. This was 

my kind of hunting! 

Back at Ed’s place I hung the deer 

in his garage, then searched the house 

firstly for a knife, then for a sharp 

one, then a steel, but I couldn’t find 

anything to butcher the animal – all I 

had was my Swiss Army knife and so 

that’s what I ended up using. Just goes 

to show, make sure your knife’s sharp 

and like the Boy Scout motto, “be 

prepared”. I took out the eye fillets 

and cooked them up that evening as 

a little (very little) starter; they were 

excellent, similar in taste to perhaps 

a young fallow deer. (A couple of 

days later, back at the in-laws’ place, 

we had the backsteaks, then we later 

cooked a whole back leg as a roast. It 

was very good eating.) 

Later that evening Ben picked me 

up and we headed back up to have 

another look for the big stag, but 

although we saw him he didn’t give 

us an opportunity for a shot. We saw 

several other deer but decided not to 

shoot any of them. 

As much as I would have liked to 

get the head mounted, financially I 

could not afford it so Ben took it to 

clean up and give it to a contact of 

his who will process it and hopefully 

I’ll be able to get it sent to me here 

in NZ. Overall I had a great hunt 

and Ben had been an excellent guide, 

with his knowledge of the area and 

the animals and making his time 

available – so I look forward to 

being able to take him out and repay 

him when he comes over here. You 

never know, I might just have a new 

thermal monocular in my pocket 

when I take him out. As Homer 

Simpson might say, “Mmmmmm … 

Thermal!” 

Stolen sambar trophy 

Have you seen this distinctive sambar trophy, which has been stolen 

from Plimmerton, near Wellington? Easily identified by the distinctive 

throwback tine, it is believed that this trophy may now be in the 

possession of someone who does not know that it has been stolen. 

Anyone with any information, please contact 

John Riley: jofre@paradise.net.nz, or the National Office of NZDA, 

PO Box 12015, Thorndon, Wellington 6144. 

30 


Jack and Alfie’s first tahr hunt 

by Alfie Buttle (9), North Canterbury branch 

Hunting 

Jack and Alfie with the tahr Dad shot 

Dad woke us up early in the 

morning. at around 6 am. We ate 

breakfast slowly because we were still 

half asleep, while Dad loaded up the 

truck with all our gear. 

After my twin brother Jack and I said 

goodbye to Mum we hopped into the 

truck. Before we knew it we were off 

on a four-hour journey to Mt Cook for 

our first tahr hunt with Dad. We drove 

up the track to find a place to park that 

would be our campsite for the night. 

We hopped out the truck, laced 

up our boots and put on our gaiters. 

As Dad was adjusting all of our pack 

straps Jack and I were trying to catch 

grasshoppers. We saw brown and green 

ones. Then Dad called us over to start 

walking up the track. Soon we came 

to a wide river running down from the 

mountain. It was fun for Jack and me 

because Dad gave us a piggyback across 

the river so that we wouldn’t get wet 

feet. 

As we got further up the valley 

we stopped for a moment to get our 

binoculars out and have a look on the 

mountain slopes and patches of scree. 

While we were looking Dad could see 

some other people walking towards us. 

When they reached us we said hello 

and had a little chat, they said they 

hadn’t seen anything but after they had 

gone Dad said we would still go and 

have a look. 

We walked up the valley a little 

more. The climbing was starting to 

get very steep. When I was climbing I 

saw a red and orange grasshopper. We 

climbed through tussock and a patch 

of rocks, then up the side of a gut, 

pulling ourselves up with some tussock 

and holding onto rocks. Every now and 

then Dad looked up with his binoculars 

at some bluffs above to see if there were 

any animals lurking. 

About halfway up Dad said to sit 

below a bush in the shade. Jack put his 

hand on a funny-looking plant. Ouch, 

it was so prickly! Dad told Jack it was 

speargrass. Jack will probably never do 

that again. After having a good drink 

we set off again. It was starting to get 

very, very steep. Every now and then we 

looked down to see how high we had 

climbed. Then it started to get really 

rocky. After we got past all the nearlynever-ending 

boulders we came to some 

tussock. After 2 minutes I asked Dad, 

“Where is our next aim to get to?” Dad 

answered, “I think we’ll aim to get to 

that big brown bush,” so we made our 

way towards it. Jack was leading us, 

sidling along roughly in a straight line. 

As we passed the big brown bush 

we could feel more wind because we 

were closer to the ridgeline. As we got 

to the ridgeline we found some tahr 

poo. Slowly we crept over the ridgeline 

to have a look down the other side, 

being careful not to scare any animals. 

We sat down to have a drink and some 

crackers. Dad said he had seen some 

tahr so we moved over behind a bush 

where the tahr couldn’t see us. While 

Jack and I were having a good little 

snack stop Dad tried to find the tahr 

in his binoculars. He helped Jack and 

me watch four tahr feeding high above 

us. We were so excited to see our first 

tahr. Finally Dad said he would have a 

crack at one and fired a shot. BANG!!! 

The tahr took off and ran (by Dad’s 

guess) 10 metres, then dropped and 

tumbled down a long way, smashing 

its way through the hebes, tussock and 

speargrass. Dad turned around and said 

with a massive smile on his face, “I’ve 

shot one!” Jack and I jumped for joy. 

Then we began our climb to where the 

tahr fell. 

When we reached the tahr Dad said 

we needed to move it onto a flatter 

ledge. He pushed the tahr over from 

the small ledge it was balanced on and 

it fell flat with a bit of a bounce. Jack 

and I had a close look at the tahr before 

Dad took the backsteaks and the back 

legs off. We persuaded him to take the 

head too, because it was our first tahr 

hunt together. Jack and I carried one 

backsteak each and Dad carried the legs 

and head. 

Slowly we zig-zagged our way back 

down through the steep tussock, 

heading back to camp. On the way 

we had to slide down the scree, which 

Jack and I thought was incredibly fun. 

It took us over an hour to get back to 

camp. When we were coming down 

Jack and I found some pink and red 

stones, and collected a couple to take 

home. 

When we got back to camp it 

was starting to get dark. Dad got the 

cooker going and we sat down to have 

some Uncle Ben’s rice with some tasty 

sausages. It was getting really dark while 

we finished our lovely meal and we all 

were looking at the stars and trying to 

spot planets. Soon after we got into our 

sleeping bags as we were feeling really 

tired. 

Early in the morning Jack woke me 

up to have a chat. “You do realise it is 5 

am in the morning,” came a surprising 

voice. It was Dad. “Please don’t talk so 

loud.” So we tried to go back to sleep. 

We got up soon after and packed up 

the tent and all of our gear. Before we 

knew it our amazing hunting trip had 

come to an end and we began our long 

journey home. 


31

HUNTS 

HUNTS: 

more courses underway 

by Jim Peffers, HUNTS National Co-ordinator 

By the time this goes to print, the 

post-winter HUNTS courses will be 

underway, with Bay of Plenty Branch 

having started in July and Kapiti in 

August, among others. 

I attended National Conference in 

Christchurch in July, and it was great 

to catch up with some of the HUNTS 

instructors from the branches that 

did attend. I was heartened to see 

and hear their enthusiasm for the 

role and their willingness to help the 

next generation of hunters to get a 

good grounding in the basics. These 

volunteers are the lifeblood of the 

programme and I thank them all 

(including the ones who didn’t attend) 

for their continued commitment. 

For those that didn’t attend 

Conference, here are some of the 

points I made in my annual HUNTS 

report: 

The focus for the last 12 months 

has been to promote inter-branch 

cooperation and recruitment of more 

provisional instructors. These two 

aspects are critical to the future of the 

programme (part of our “Growing the 

business” theme), as well as spreading 

the load within branches to handle 

the demand for hunter training. Keith 

Theobald of the BoP branch may be 

able to finally retire now he has 3 

protégés! 

Recruitment of more instructors 

has been achieved, with BoP 

branch recently signing up three, 

Te Awamutu four, and Manawatu, 

Thames and Otago one each. Interbranch 

co-operation was achieved 

again between Wellington and 

Porirua branches, and would be 

ideal for Te Awamutu and Waikato 

branches. 

One area that has not been 

addressed is increasing the number 

of HUNTS assessors. The current 

Jim with a splendid 14 5 ⁄8” bull tahr taken in South Canterbury in 2014. The animal 

was stalked in from 650 m to place one shot to the neck at 119 m. The trophy was 

officially measured at DS 45¼ and awarded a silver medal in the Antler, Horn & 

Trophy Competition. 

four we have are not enough to 

cover the increase in the instructor 

pool, and this causes delays in 

assessing instructors. This creates 

the risk of turning off provisional 

instructors owing to a lack of progress 

getting them assessed and qualified. 

Solutions to this problem will be 

looked at in due course. 

The national website HUNTS 

tab needs to be developed further. 

Because our target audience is 

becoming more connected and 

tend to be multi-platform users, the 

site is clunky and lagging behind 

in functionality, and therefore 

risks becoming irrelevant and 

unattractive. There are now more 

private entities offering virtual, online 

and residential “hunter training”, 

which have much more attractive, 

functional and informative websites. 

As with the NZDA’s magazine going 

to digital editions, we also need 

to catch up and keep up with our 

website. This means more money and 

expert input is required.” 

Keep your powder dry. 

Jim 

32 


KIDS' PAGE 

Stephanie Waghorn (14) shot her first deer, 

a young fallow, with her dad’s .308 

while out on her first deer hunt. 

Elliott Humphrey (9) of Thames 

Valley branch with his first deer, 

shot back in October last year. 

Tara Old (8) of Te 

Awamutu was out hunting 

with her dad early one 

Sunday morning at 

Taumaranui when they 

intercepted this big boy 

heading back into the bush. 

WINNER 

Of a Buck knife 

Sophie Mentor (10) went for a hunt with her 

big brother Stuart and shot this goat with a 

Remington Model 7 .308 DPT – and she helped 

skin it too. Goat curry – mmm! 

Jonathan Morriss (12) with his first fallow deer, 

shot with a Tikka .243 in South Canterbury, 

August 2016. 

For the best photo in each issue we give 

away a Buck Bantam 285CMS9 knife in blaze 

camo. With its 3 1 /8 inch (78 mm) drop-point 

blade, it's the perfect knife for a new hunter. 

Please email photos to the Editor, m.c.bradstock@gmail.com 

or post prints to the Editor, NZDA, PO Box 6514, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 

with a caption or short article (up to 200 words) 

Photo files need to be at least 100Kb and preferably 1Mb or larger 

Photos MUST show safe hunting practices including open or removed bolt and bright clothing in photos taken in the field.

Research 

Researching human 

factors in failure-toidentify 

accidents 

by Karl Bridges 

Has anyone noticed that there 

were no incidents caused by a hunter 

failing to properly identify their 

target this year? I did. I call these 

“failure-to-identify” incidents, FTIs 

for short and I would like to share 

with you some research I am doing 

on the matter. 

Last year there was one fatal 

FTI, in the Ruahines, but it was the 

shooting of Samuel Long in 2015 

that motivated me to commit to at 

least a 3-year PhD researching the 

causes of FTIs. One of my colleagues 

and I did research on the human 

factors in FTIs back in 2015 (available 

via my website, www.theroar.org. 

nz). However, understanding the 

impacts these incidents have on the 

victim, the perpetrator, the families 

and even the industry, I wanted to 

take this much further and started 

conducting detailed research on it 

outside of my business. Since then, I 

have become a hunter, I now frequent 

my local NZDA branch meetings in 

Northland, and have completed the 

HUNTS course. 

Everyone seems to have some 

opinion as to what causes FTIs, but 

they seem to focus on observable 

behaviour – for example, behaviour 

driven by a sense of urgency (leading 

to snap shooting), behaviour driven 

by fatigue (inaccurate assessment of 

the situation or target) or behaviour 

that makes you wonder what the 

hunter was thinking (often criticised 

by others as “just being plain stupid”). 

The latest buzzword is “complacency”, 

and the message is driving towards 

telling people not to be so complacent. 

If only it were that easy! 

Complacency is defined in the 

Oxford Dictionary as “feeling so 

satisfied with your own abilities 

or situation that you feel you do 

not need to try any harder”. Thus, 

hunters who out of complacency 

commit FTIs are not trying hard 

enough to identify their target, 

which is a fair assumption to make. 

However, at what point do we know 

our efforts to identify our target 

are sufficient before pulling the 

trigger: when do we cease to become 

Come and 

see us at the 

Sika Show 

– help take 

part in our 

research 

complacent? Hunters who have been 

involved in FTIs have been convinced 

that what they saw was a deer – so 

from their point of view they have 

fully identified their target, with no 

sense of complacency. 

While complacency has the 

potential to cause FTIs, it is essentially 

a catch-all term with little explanation 

of how a hunter could or should 

be less complacent. This has led 

hunters to focus on simple, more 

obvious behaviours such as positively 

identifying all or most parts of the 

animal, but with limited knowledge 

about how their judgment may be 

affected in other, less conscious ways 

such as minor fatigue, physiological 

arousal and emotional state. I am keen 

to understand the less obvious and less 

conscious phenomena and see if we 

can do anything about them. 

I have completed three separate 

pieces of research and am currently 

planning the fourth. You probably 

already know most of what I have 

uncovered but this is the nature of 

social science: rigorous and robust 

investigation. 

My first piece of research focused 

on trying to understand the process 

of hunting – the actions, the choices 

hunters make moment by moment, 

When I sent this picture to the H&W editor, 

he quickly replied querying the point of it, 

then suddenly he spotted the spiker. Could 

he not see the woods for the trees? Can 

you? Sometimes it is hard to see what is 

there and even harder to “un-see” what 

we think is there. In this same location, I 

thought I spotted a deer from 250 metres 

away, only to realise when I got closer that 

it was simply a fallen log. In fact, I was less 

than 50 metres away before I realised my 

mistake. 

34 


the things that don’t go as well as 

you hoped and the causes of negative 

outcomes. Hunters representing 

safety organisations, commercial 

enterprises and non-profit 

organisations collaborated with me in 

a workshop to develop a framework 

showing how complex the activity 

of hunting really is. It emerged that 

hunting falls into three stages, which 

I call sensing (getting those initial cues 

that a deer is nearby), comprehending 

(using skills and experience to decide 

what to do), and committing (the lastmoment 

checks before firing). This 

may be a bit of an oversimplification 

but it helps explain how initial 

misapprehensions can cascade into 

disastrous outcomes. For example, the 

simple act of splitting up the hunting 

party can lead to you getting yourself 

or your mate in the crosshairs of a 

telescopic sight. There are many ways 

to get from one stage to another and 

there are many opportunities for 

things to go wrong. 

The next piece of research involved 

getting hunters to personally report 

the times that they had come 

close to pulling the trigger, only to 

realise they almost had an FTI. We 

had nearly 80 cases reported, but 

unfortunately more than half had 

to be excluded because hunters did 

not follow the instructions correctly. 

Some did not provide any description 

of their near-miss; some told a story 

of how they were on 

the receiving end of an 

FTI, and some simply 

expressed an opinion. 

This was disappointing 

because it meant we 

had much less useful 

data from which to 

infer conclusions. 

However, I was still 

able to use the data 

to help improve the 

framework from the 

previous research, to 

produce some basic 

statistics and to help 

plan further work. 

Probably the most 

notable bits of data 

I collected support 

the Mountain Safety 

Council’s recent report 

“The Hunter’s Tail”. 

Available from the MSC website, 

this report draws together data from 

a variety of sources to describe the 

prevalence and types of incidents 

that have occurred in New Zealand 

hunting as far back as 1979. It has 

generated considerable discussion, 

and while much of the information 

was already widely known, the way 

the results were presented and MSC’s 

use of social media (Facebook, 

Twitter, LinkedIn) have made the 

findings much more accessible. 

One section of the report 

The author on a guided hunt – seconds away from shooting 

his first deer under the guidance of Mike Spray, at Makapua 

Station. Mike had a video camera with him and there was also 

one mounted on the scope of the rifle, pointing backwards. 

identified the time of day that most 

FTIs occur, and the near-miss reports 

I received appear to support the same 

conclusion. That is: most occur in 

the mornings. This may not be all 

that that surprising, because most 

hunting probably does take place in 

the morning. 

However, an assertion at the end 

of the report implies that FTIs are 

a generational issue – that the older 

hunters are the problem. This is 

a risky claim because it could lull 

younger hunters into a false sense of 

confidence – that they are immune 

How many animals do you see in the picture below? If you see just one deer, you are wrong. The answer is available at www.theroar.org.nz. 


35

from an FTI. This is something I 

plan to investigate in the future and 

I have put a request out to MSC 

for the data to conduct an in-depth 

statistical analysis. Statistics can be 

a good source of factual data but 

they can also be manipulated to 

communicate a variety of messages. 

While I would generally praise the 

presentation of the data in “The 

Hunter’s Tale”, some conclusions or 

assertions communicated via social 

media by MSC should be interpreted 

cautiously. It is impossible to police 

the way that people respond to 

messages in social media, and often 

messages that are tentative or just 

implied eventually become accepted 

as fact. (I recommend a visit to 

www.snopes.com/whats-new to help 

you understand the problem of 

inaccuracies on the internet). 

My third piece of research included 

a small number of field trials with 

hunters to observe and measure 

their physiology. It was also a good 

opportunity to get some baseline data 

on the physiological changes a hunter 

goes through during a real-life hunt. 

This provided some very interesting 

results and showed measurable 

changes, some of which were quite 

unexpected. First, the equipment we 

used showed an increase in arousal 

after a successful shot, which was 

not surprising at all and indicated 

that the equipment was working 

as expected. We also noticed that 

arousal levels increased slowly as the 

hunter started to stalk a deer they had 

spotted. However, one hunter showed 

a gradual reduction in arousal as the 

hunt progressed, and he was also the 

least experienced of all the hunters 

tested. Although this is a very small 

sample, it could be the beginning of 

a challenge to the widespread belief 

that it is the younger, less experienced 

hunters who are more excitable. 

Another hunter showed erratic 

arousal levels and missed the shot at 

25 metres. Given the small numbers 

we have tested so far – only five – 

it is impossible to draw any firm 

conclusions from this and so we need 

to get more data. 

This has led to the next piece of 

work I am planning: a large trial at 

the Sika Show on the weekend of 

30 September and 1 October. I have 

teamed up with Shooting Cinema and 

plan to test as many hunters as I can. 

For those that don’t know about it, 

Shooting Cinema provides a range of 

firearm and bow-hunting simulations 

for safety training and entertainment. 

Shooting Cinema was first showcased 

at last year’s Sika Show, where it 

proved very popular and I am keen 

to use it to investigate the process of 

target acquisition and shooting. I can’t 

give away much detail until after I 

have completed the trials, but I invite 

you to come along and take part. Of 

course, no simulation is quite like the 

real thing, but we will try to make 

it as close as we can. Real hunting 

situations provide deeper insight into 

the behaviour of hunters, but they 

take a lot of time and do little to help 

understand any unconscious causes 

of FTIs. That is not to say I won’t be 

going out again, but let’s see what 

emerges from the Sika Show trial first. 

The approach I am taking goes 

beyond descriptive statistics, 

anecdotes and incident reports. I 

am hoping that we find many more 

causes for target misidentification and 

which have the most influence on 

FTIs. It may seem hard to believe, but 

this kind of research has never been 

done before anywhere in the world. I 

hope you will join me on this journey 

and pop by at the Sika Show. 

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www.deerstalkers.org.nz 

36 


Game animal management 

Wakatipu whitetail 

deer herd endangered 

Overseas hunters decimate unique deer herd 

by Kaylyn Pinney 

The unique Wakatipu whitetail 

deer herd is in crisis. Recent research 

shows the number of animals 

remaining on public conservation 

land has plummeted to only around 

200 individuals. We were aware that 

in recent years the herd size had 

rapidly declined (starting in 2014 with 

a major 1080 drop), but since then 

the population has further suffered 

from intensive hunting, compounded 

by an exponential increase in 

numbers of overseas hunters. This 

uncontrolled overharvest if allowed 

to continue could prove to be the last 

straw for this unique trophy herd. Just 

200 animals left in the only wild herd 

of whitetail deer on mainland New 

Zealand – if this was a bird species, it 

would be classified as endangered and 

would be fully protected. 

Something must be done 

As well as the much-reduced herd 

of about 200 on public conservation 

land, there is likely a similar 

population on the adjacent private 

land, but these are largely protected 

by the landowners, with little or no 

hunting opportunity for the public. 

Protection by landowners followed 

a verbal agreement by DOC in 1987 

to cease issuing permits to hunt 

on conservation land in the area 

(excluding Mt Aspiring National 

Park). However, this agreement 

has been left out of the new Otago 

Conservation Management Strategy 

(circulated in draft in 2014; still not 

finally approved). There are still no 

permits being issued on this area of 

conservation land. 

The Wakatipu whitetail herd is 

almost certainly our smallest historic 

deer herd, introduced in 1905 by the 

New Zealand Tourism Department. 

Historically, it has significant value, 

having produced a number of the 

largest whitetail trophies in the south 

Pacific. Nearly all of the New Zealand 

whitetail trophies that appear in the 

“… if this was a bird 

species, it would 

be classified as 

endangered.” 

A 2-year-old whitetail buck 

in summer coat and in velvet 

Kaylyn Pinney (neé 

McBrearty) has been 

researching the Wakatipu 

Whitetail deer herd in the 

Dart Valley for the past 4 

years, towards a PhD at 

Lincoln University. This 

research is yielding an early 

dividend by showing that the 

herd is in crisis and urgent 

measures need to be taken 

to arrest its decline. In the 

longer term, Kaylyn’s work 

will enable a scientifically 

sound management strategy 

to support an application 

for a Herd of Special 

Interest designation. But 

in the meantime, as a first 

step, she recommends 

implementing some 

immediate short-term 

management measures 

to ensure a future for this 

valuable and historic herd. 

Kaylyn’s research has 

been supported in part by 

the NZDA, and she has 

presented a number of 

reports, public talks and 

articles. Most recently, in 

H&W 191 (summmer 2016) 

she outlined concerns about 

whitetail by-kill from 1080 

operations during 2014. 

This article is based on a 

presentation to Conference 

2017. 


37

Safari Club International record 

book and were taken by international 

hunters, are from the Wakatipu herd. 

For such a small herd, such a number 

of quality trophies taken over the 

years shows what a valuable resource 

we have. Currently the herd can 

produce around 20–30 record-book 

trophy bucks a year. By comparison 

the Fiordland wapiti herd, currently 

estimated to be around 4,000 

animals, yields barely a single recordbook 

trophy annually. 

Demand for trophies from 

the Wakatipu herd has increased 

exponentially in the past 5 years, 

owing to increased exposure on social 

media, and this shows no signs of 

abating. The herd can sustainably 

cope with some hunting pressure, 

but the present level, if allowed to 

continue, will result in the loss of this 

valuable resource. In areas with the 

highest levels of hunting pressure, 

bucks are now almost totally absent, 

and this is resulting in very few fawns 

being observed. 

The number of trophy bucks 

available is also decreasing. This has 

resulted in hunters taking bucks at an 

earlier age. A whitetail buck doesn’t 

reach his prime until 5–7 years old, 

and in recent years it has become 

common to see 2-year-olds taken 

by overseas hunters being displayed 

on social media. They are even 

being shot in velvet, meaning that a 

significant number never become a 

trophy, or even have the opportunity 

to breed. These hunting practices in a 

trophy herd are considered unethical 

by most New Zealand hunters and are 

causing anger within local hunting 

communities, as they threaten and 

devalue our whitetail resource. 

Queenstown is a popular 

destination for overseas travellers, 

now with an international airport. 

This means that for a few hundred 

dollars, overseas hunters (in 

particular Australians) can come and 

hunt one of our premier game species 

while contributing very little to our 

economy, conservation efforts or this 

herd. In other countries, overseas 

hunters have to buy licences/tags 

costing up to $5,000 per animal, and 

typically a portion of the fee goes 

back into conservation efforts and 

herd management. 

In addition to the hunting 

pressure on public conservation land, 

landowners in the area have been 

“… repellent greatly reduced the by-kill of 

whitetail deer.” 

reporting an unprecedented level 

of illegal hunting over the past few 

years. As well as presenting a negative 

image of hunters to the public, illegal 

hunting is particularly dangerous in 

this area owing to the high level of 

tourist activity on both public and 

private land. Currently there is no 

active monitoring of illegal hunting 

on conservation land, and monitoring 

on private land is up to individual 

landowners. People who conduct hunt 

illegaly are not being prosecuted and 

have become more brazen, openly 

publicising their successes. 

By-kill from poisoning 

The Wakatipu whitetail herd was 

adversely affected by the 2014 aerial 

1080 operation, with the population 

size being significantly reduced. 

While we did not have a good 

estimate of the population at that 

time, a survey estimated that around 

200 deer were killed. Fortunately, 

during the 2016 “Battle for our Birds” 

operation DOC used deer repellent 

on its poison baits. Monitoring 

throughout the drop and afterwards 

showed that this greatly reduced the 

by-kill of whitetail deer. It seems 

therefore that as long as deer repellent 

continues to be used in all poisoning 

operations, the herd can recover. 

DOC must be commended for 

recognising the value of this historic 

herd and for using deer repellent 

where it is most needed. Significantly, 

the monitoring work was funded 

by donations from hunting groups 

throughout New Zealand, totalling 

$60,000. That such a large amount of 

money could be raised by donations 

in just 3 months indicates the 

importance of this herd to the New 

Zealand public. 

The Wakatipu whitetail herd 

has never been considered a threat 

to conservation values, and it is 

reasonable to expect that with 

better management it will remain in 

harmony with the biodiversity of the 

area. Whitetail deer are considered 

to be one of the most beautiful 

species of deer, and sightings of 

these animals in the wild are greatly 

appreciated by all types of visitors to 

the area. 

“Wakatipu whitetail have never been 

considered a threat to conservation 

values.” 

A 2-year-old whitetail buck stripping 

velvet in winter coat 

38 


Action plan 

What actions could be implemented 

in the short term to protect the 

future of this herd? Here are some 

suggestions based on recent research, 

social issues and simple population 

dynamics: 

»» 

Implement a hunting season in 

the Wakatipu whitetail range by 

not issuing permits outside of a 

specified season (e.g., April to 

August). 

»» 

Restrict permit holders to one 

whitetail deer each per season. 

»» 

Limit the number of permits 

which could be issued to overseas 

hunters. 

The benefits of these short term 

management actions are numerous: 

»» 

Reduces conflicts with other 

recreational user groups (by April 

there are fewer trampers on the 

popular walking tracks). 

»» 

Allows whitetail deer to grow their 

antlers undisturbed and become 

trophies (velvet becomes hard 

antler by the end of March). 

»» 

Increases the chance for trophy 

bucks to breed (they mate in May). 

»» 

Improves accurate identification 

of target animals (hunters will 

become more selective about the 

animal they take if they can only 

take one). 

»» 

Helps to eliminate illegal hunting 

on private land (whitetail deer 

have a different-coloured coat in 

summer, so animals taken out of 

season would be obvious). 

»» 

A season starting in April enables 

hunters to retain the opportunity 

to hunt red deer and chamois, 

which are also found within the 

whitetail deer range. 

»» 

Increases the value of the historic 

Wakatipu whitetail herd. 

»» 

Creates goodwill between DOC 

and New Zealand hunters. 

»» 

Allows a grace period to develop 

a more permanent management 

strategy and recognise this herd as 

a Herd of Special Interest under 

the GAC Act 2013. 

Precedents for the non-issuing of 

hunting permits within a national 

park already exist. For example, in 

Westland National Park, a number 

of areas are closed to hunting from 

20 December to 1 February and over 

Easter weekend because of increased 

visitor numbers at those times. In 

Fiordland National Park, the wapiti 

area is closed to hunting in the weeks 

prior to the wapiti ballots. 

The issues presented here have 

been discussed with a number 

of hunting groups and there is a 

consensus that some simple shortterm 

measures must be implemented 

to ensure a future for this historic 

herd until it can be managed as a 

HOSI. Exactly what these measures 

will be is yet to be determined, but 

I’d like to hear from anyone who 

supports, opposes or has different 

ideas from the few discussed in this 

article, with a detailed explanation 

of their idea or position and why 

they believe it would or would 

not work. Contact me by email: 

wakatipuwhitetail@gmail.com. 

While not all ideas will be able to 

be taken up, the overall consensus 

may be, along with a bit of common 

sense. 

We pay up to $300 

in vouchers for 

top stories. 


39

Hunting 

A Stewart Island experience 

by Rod Guest 

Last March I was lucky to be 

invited to be among a nine-person 

party going to a block called Fred’s 

Camp in Paterson Inlet on Stewart 

Island. It was for seven days and 

we were all there to hunt, fish and 

generally chill out. I only knew 

one of the party but at the briefing 

before the trip I sensed that it was a 

happy crew that would all get along, 

and this proved to be right. 

After leaving Whangarei at 7 am 

it took three flights, one shuttle van 

and a two-and-a-half-hour boat trip 

to get us onto the block at about 

4 pm on the same day. Mike, the 

organiser, had been to Stewart Island 

a dozen or so times before, so he was 

well qualified to run the show and 

did a great job. 

We had a 10 bunk hut with a 

pot-belly stove, but I decided to use 

my tent and camp out on the block 

to hopefully increase my chances 

of getting a deer. There was a jetty 

by the hut and we unloaded our 

gear, then Richard kindly offered to 

take me to look for camping spots 

in the 12 foot dinghy. We went up 

the block and found a spot but then 

decided to look at the opposite end, 

to see the lie of the land. This done, 

we went back to the hut so I could 

pitch my tent before dark. 

There was no flat ground around 

the hut so I camped on the jetty, 

which was flat but hard. After dinner 

the fishing lines, beers and rum 

came out, all of which were used to 

good effect. 

Some spotties and some school 

sharks about 90 cm long were caught 

so breakfast was assured. Dale 

had brought his compound bow 

and some target arrows along 

and I enjoyed using it so much 

that I bought myself one when I 

returned to Whangarei. 

The next day Richard again 

took me and my gear south in 

the boat and I set up camp then 

went for a walk down the track 

for an hour. It was interesting as 

I saw some sign but no deer. The 

next day was wet so I decided to 

walk back to the hut to get more 

food and check in with the others. 

I wear glasses and find it hard 

hunting in the wet, especially 

when it’s windy and raining. I 

was envious of the others in a 

warm, dry hut but although they 

suggested I should stay, I decided 

to continue with Plan A and went 

back to my camp. 

“It was tough 

going, with tight 

bush and a lot of 

crown fern…” 

Next day was fine so I went 

bush hunting, trying to find a 

clearing I had seen from the boat 

on the way down. It was tough 

going, with tight bush and a 

lot of crown fern, which makes 

hunting difficult. it hides things 

that can trip you up and allows 

A rookie’s guide to 

hunting Stewart Island 

Here are some tips based on my 

experience as a newcomer: 

»» 

Your trip will be better and easier 

if you are reasonably fit. Fitness 

takes the strain and a lot of the 

effort out of the physical side 

of things, and make the trip 

more enjoyable. It’s well worth 

exercising before the trip even if 

you have to force yourself to do 

it. You will be glad you did some 

pre-training when you have to 

tackle some steep terrain or carry 

a heavy load. 

»» 

You will have invested time and 

money in your trip, so do it justice 

by being prepared in other ways 

too. Whitetail are different from 

other deer so read up about them 

and get a plan organised. Talk to 

other hunters, gather information, 

read articles and books and figure 

out how you will approach the 

hunt. 

»» 

Hope for the best but plan for the 

worst. If you don’t get a deer or 

the weather is bad – don’t moan. 

Just get on and make the best of 

the situation. 

»» 

A hut is way too small a place for 

a sad sack. A good companion, 

when things get difficult, will earn 

themselves some respect and be 

invited on future trips, whereas 

a sad sack will not. Which would 

you rather be? 

»» 

Remember that although hunting 

is the primary purpose of the trip, 

you also need to take time to relax 

and wind down so you can enjoy 

the other things too – especially 

the fishing, the people you are 

with and the unique things about 

Stewart Island. Don’t let the 

weather stop you fron getting 

out and exploring the place, and 

make the most of the fishing and 

perhaps also the diving. 

»» 

We are blessed to live in a 

beautiful little country with 

special places like Stewart Island 

just waiting for us to enjoy, so get 

out and go there. It won’t come 

to you! 

Paua and blue cod: more of the treats Stewart Island has to offer 

40 


“A change of 

tactics was called 

for …” 

deer to hide when they know you 

are coming. I didn’t find the clearing 

but also I didn’t get lost and made 

it back to camp using my compass. 

A GPS might have got me there by 

using the map coordinates but I am 

“old school” and still don’t feel that 

I need one. 

I realised I was probably not going 

to get a deer by bush stalking so a 

change of tactics was called for – but 

what to do? 

There are two methods of hunting 

whitetail deer. First there is bush 

stalking, which I’d already tried 

without success. You move through 

the bush as quietly as possible 

looking out for deer. They usually 

see you or hear you first, but they 

may get curious and stick around 

for a look. They sink down into the 

ubiquitous crown fern, out of sight, 

then when you have gone past they 

jump up and run off, giving you 

the “Stewart Island wave” – flashing 

their long white tails. But sometimes 

they stop to look back, thus offering 

a shot. 

The other method is still hunting. 

You find a place where there is recent 

sign, then collect a pile of fresh 

broadleaf for the deer to feed on 

and find a tree to sit in and wait … 

and wait, and if necessary wait some 

more for a deer to show up. I decided 

to try this. 

However, next day was another 

check-in day so it started with a 

two-hour armed tramp back to the 

hut (a trip that took only 5 minutes 

in the boat). On the way I found a 

fresh set of tracks left by a mediumsized 

deer, so I decided to shift camp 

back to the hut and then stake out 

the open area where I had seen them. 

The others were happy for me to 

camp on the jetty and so I moved 

camp that afternoon, with the boat 

for transport. 

The others had seen some deer 

but no one had fired any shots. The 

boat had been used to catch some 

trumpeter and blue cod, and to 

gather some paua, so we ate well. 

The next day I staked out my patch 

Dale with his 

8 pointer, 

shot just a 

short time 

after setting 

up in a tree 

A close up 

of Dale’s 

whitetail 

trophy 

showing the 

nice even 

shape 

“Whitetail deer give you the 

‘Stewart Island wave’ – flashing their 

long white tails.” 

in the morning, then went back to 

the hut for lunch and to wash some 

clothes. Light rain was a fine excuse 

to stay in the hut and talk with some 

of the others. They were changing 

tactics too and had tree stands 

organised, so off they went. 

I didn’t hear any shots and was 

about to go fishing when Dale 

turned up, dropped his pack, said 

“Water please!” and promptly fell 

face down on his pack. I thought 

he was fooling and wondered what 

was going on. Then after a minute 

he sat up and announced he had 

just shot an 8 point whitetail buck. 

Yahoo! His first trip to Stewart 

Island and his first whitetail – a 

very nice mature trophy buck. He 

had found a place with fresh sign, 

selected a tree stand, then baited the 

place with broadleaf. Within half 

an hour of getting into his stand the 

buck turned up and by being quiet 

and careful he got a clear shot at it 

for a clean kill. It was a lovely, even, 

symmetrical head that any hunter 

would be proud to have on his wall. 

It was hard antler with no sign of 

any velvet and with some very nice 


41

Sunset behind the jetty 

pearling to give it a mature look. Not the biggest 

head I’ve seen, but it is a damn fine one regardless. I 

was green with envy. 

I was also impressed when Dale said that while 

he was carrying the buck back he saw a hind on the 

track and could have shot it too, but instead decided 

to let it go. That’s a fine sportsmanlike attitude that I 

really admire. 

We all tried hard to get a deer after Dale’s success, 

but it was not to be. I heard that the previous group 

on that block hadn’t see any deer at all, which shows 

how elusive they can be. On the other hand, some 

bowhunters on the opposite block had got six on 

their trip – all by using tree stands and baiting with 

broadleaf. Nevertheless I enjoyed my time on the 

island. This I rationalised, reminding myself that 

I don’t always catch fish when I go fishing either. 

I believe that’s why it’s called a sport – while it is 

challenging and interesting, there is no guarantee of 

success. The test was when I asked myself if I wanted 

to go back next year – and the answer ? – Hell, yes! 

I found the hunting conditions were similar to 

Northland. The main difference for me was all the 

crown fern that impedes hunting. I enjoyed being 

able to go hunting or fishing – or to do both on the 

same day. The hut was wonderful and the people 

were great company and a pleasure to know. 

Dale’s 8 pointer 

back at camp 

42 


World Benchrest 

Championships preparations 

well advanced 

by Ian Owen 

Target shooting 

Final entries are now being 

received for the 14 th World Benchrest 

Shooting Championships, to be held 

in Nelson from 2 to 12 November, 

and shooters from 14 countries have 

registered. Competitors from all the 

major players in benchrest shooting 

are coming including the US, 

Australia, Canada and the UK. 

The NZDA Nelson Branch’s 

organising committee has been 

busy over the last 3 years putting in 

place all the necessary arrangements 

and according to organiser Graeme 

Smith, “The plan is falling into place 

nicely.” All infrastructure has been 

completed at the Packers Creek rifle 

range and most of the operational 

needs (targets, medals, etc.) are in 

place. “We are looking forward to a 

great time – all we need now is some 

decent weather,” Graeme told Hunting 

& Wildife. 

The championship consists of 

a mixture of teams and individual 

competition events, with each 

country able to enter up to three 

4-member teams. New Zealand, the 

US and Australia have registered the 

maximum three teams, with some 

others down to as few as just one 

shooter. The teams competition will 

be contested by 17 teams, with the 

US again considered the dominant 

country. “However, I am sure our 

New Zealand teams will make a 

showing, particularly as they will be 

on a range they are familiar with,” 

Graeme said. 

The renowned Australian scorer 

Max Coady (who will have some 2 

500 targets to mark) will be assisting, 

and Peter Haxell from Auckland will 

be helping Max and operating the 

computer program. 

Further details are available at 

http://www.nzdanelson.co.nz/ 

wbr2017.html 

Packers Creek rifle range, all spick and span ready for 

the World Champs 

The NZ teams are: 

A Team: 

Ian Owen (Dunedin), Helen Owen (Dunedin), Tony Titheridge 

(Christchurch), Judith Peacock (Murchison) 

B Team: 

Dougall Cameron (Auckland), Frank Frost (Nelson), Greg Couper 

(Nelson), Steve Williams (Nelson) 

C Team: 

Mark Layland (Rotorua), Malcolm Perry (Putaruru), Peter Frame 

(Hawke’s Bay), Peter Wall (Hawke’s Bay) 


43

Lock, Stock & Barrel 

The “grand-daddy” cartridges 

by Chaz Forsyth, Otago branch 

The smooth-bored Brown Bess muskets and their 

equivalents dominated European land-force armaments 

for nearly three centuries. In power, these resembled the 

12-gauge shotgun. Although the smooth-bored musket had 

been replaced in most nations by the early 19th century, 

rifled muzzle-loading rifles were initially viewed with 

suspicion because they were difficult to load in the field. 

The Minie bullet greatly simplified this because it fitted 

loosely down the barrel, and distortion of its base when 

fired provided the gas seal required for efficient longer-range 

shooting (more than 100 m) (Swenson, 1971). 

Within 20 years, the advent of reliable metallic 

ammunition with smokeless propellant first replaced 

percussion-ignition muzzle-loading military rifled arms, then 

saw an end to cartridge black powder rifles (at least among the 

major Western powers). An arms race took place as magazinefed 

repeating rifles replaced single-shot designs, and range 

greatly increased as power and downrange retained velocities 

increased (HMSO, 1929). 

This article explores the pathways which led to the “granddaddy” 

cartridges, the 8 x 57 mm and the .30’06. These 

soon became widely used in hunting circles and spawned a 

myriad of descendants before less-powerful military cartridges 

became the norm, long after World War 2. This led to the 

recent popularity of cartridges that have less power but 

are still entirely adequate for medium-size game animals 

(O’Connor, 1970). 

Precursor ammunition development 

By the 1890s, the major Western powers had developed 

bottlenecked black powder cartridges. These included the 

British .577/450 Martini-Henry (adopted in 1871), French 

11 x 59 mm R Gras (1874), 11.15 x 58 mm R Spanish (.43 

Spanish) (about 1867), German 11.15 x 60 mm R Mauser 

(1871), Russian 10.75 x 58 mm R Berdan (.43 Russian Berdan) 

(1868), and 9.5 x 50 mm R Turkish Mauser (the last black 

powder military cartridge to be adopted) in 1887 (Barnes, 

2003). 

Replacement chamberings in smokeless options began 

appearing in the 1880s and from the outset offered greater 

power (Barnes, 2003). Each new cartridge could be smaller 

and lighter, enabling the soldier to carry more ammunition. 

Smokeless propellants practically eliminated bore-fouling, 

thus enabling many more rapid follow-up shots (Swenson, 

1971). In military use, this was obviously important because 

volume of fire had become a key battlefield practice, making 

machine guns a workable reality (Ellis, 1975). For riflemen, 

the ability to quickly reload from a magazine by a simple 

manipulation of the action, and to refill the magazine by 

using stripper clips (chargers), enabled aimed rapid fire, and 

with less training than before (Swenson, 1971). Between 1889 

and 1903, more than 20 nations equipped themselves with 

designs based on the Mauser, in calibers ranging from 6.5 to 

7.9 mm (HMSO, 1929). 

The first smokeless powder cartridge was the French 8 mm 

Lebel (1886), soon followed by the .303 British (1888, first in 

black powder; smokeless after 1892); 7.65 x 54 mm Belgian, 

44 

From left: 577/.450 Martini-Henry (foil case, pre-dating drawn brass 

cartridge cases); .303 British Mk VI; 8 x 57 mm Mauser; 7.62 x 54 

mm R Russian; 6.5 x 50 mm Japanese Arisaka; .30 ’06 Springfield; 

.303 British Mk VII. 

Argentine and Turkish Mauser (1889); Spanish 7 x 57 mm 

(1892); Swedish-Norwegian 6.5 x 55 mm (1894); Russian 

7.62 x 54 mm Mosin Nagant (1891); US .30-40 Krag (1892); 

and the .30 models of 1903 and 1906 (Barnes, 2003). Just 

two chamberings, the US .30’06 and the German 8 x 57 mm 

Mauser, became the “grand-daddy” cartridges, being used 

themselves as powerful sporting rounds and also as the basis 

for many civilian sporting cartridges. 

The Swedes adopted the 8 x 63 mm as a machine-gun 

cartridge in the late 1930s. This necessitated equipping 

their units with rifles to use the same ammunition. This 

has been argued to be the world’s most powerful military 

round, but was not of general issue. It was also converted to 

the military 8 x 57 mm, paving the way for the “poor man’s 

magnum” – the wildcat 8 mm’06 sporting cartridge (Barnes 

2003; Jones 2003; Waters 1984; Zutz 1972). The 8 x 57 mm 

and the .30’06, were necked up and down to produce many 

chamberings, nearly all of which were commercialised. 

Military cartridge developments after World 

War 1 

In World War 1, engagement ranges for riflemen and 

infantrymen rarely exceeded 400 metres, and there was less 

need for a cartridge capable of lethally wounding a soldier at 

greater ranges because of the widespread availability of area 

weapons – mainly machine guns, artillery and mortars (Ellis 

1970; Swenson 1971). 

Descendants 

Descendants from the 8 x 57 mm cartridge include the 

.244 Remington, 6 mm Remington, .257 Roberts, 6.5 x 57 

mm, 7 x 57 mm, 9 x 57 mm, 9.3 x 57 mm, 9.5 x 57 mm and 

the 10.75 x 57 mm. (The .257 Roberts was developed from 

the 7 x 57 mm, but as it appeared after the 8 x 57 mm, it 

is regarded as a descendant of the latter – Barnes, 2003). 

Many of these are hardly known in New Zealand, and nearly 

obsolete in Europe and the US. 

The .30’06 Springfield’s many descendents include the 6 

mm ’06, .25’06 Remington, 6.5’06, 7 mm’06, 8 mm ’06, the 

.35 and .400 Whelen, 7 mm ’06 (a close relative of the older 

7 x 64 mm Brenneke) and the much younger .280 Remington 

cartridges. The .270 Winchester, although appearing to be a 

derivative of the .30’06, more probably originated from the 

6.8 x 57, a military cartridge developed about 1912 by Mauser 


for the Chinese. It could be argued that the .308 Winchester 

is a descendant of the .30’06, although it may have been 

inspired by the .300 Savage (Barnes 2003). 

The .276 Enfield (intended to replace the .303 British in 

1909) was the ballistic equivalent of the 7 mm Remington 

magnum, but World War 1 intervened during trials for the 

Enfield Pattern 1913 rifle for which the new cartridge had 

been developed. In contrast, another .276 cartridge, better 

known as the 7 x 57 mm, had been adopted by Spain and 

several South American countries, and its descendants include 

the .244 Remington and the .257 Roberts (Barnes 2003). 

Another cartridge much used for hunting (and not only in 

New Zealand) was the .303 British. This spawned around a 

dozen proprietary versions including the .303-.22 Sprinter, the 

.303-.22 Falcon (full length), .303-.243, .303-.25, .303-.270 and 

the 7.7 x 54 mm, developed to circumvent a New South Wales 

law that for some years forbade the use of rifles using military 

ammunition. There are some sporting descendants of the 7.62 

x 54 mm Mosin Nagant , including a 9 mm version popular 

in Finland. 

Nearly all of the “descendant” cartridges developed less 

downrange power than their parent rounds, because they used 

small-calibre bullets that developed less kinetic energy despite 

higher muzzle velocities. A reduction in power, although 

seemingly counter-productive, meant that the recoil or “kick” 

was less than for the original “grand-daddy” cartridges, so 

the shooter could fire more shots without fatigue and pain. 

It also meant a shorter time between shots because less time 

was needed to recover from the kick (Grant and Grant 1982; 

Hatcher 1962). This led to a new class of what O’Connor 

(1970) calls “mild” cartridges. 

O’Connor’s post-war mild cartridges 

Noted author Jack O’Connor championed the mild 

cartridges (alternatives to the .30’06, .270W and larger 

chamberings) as being easier on the shooter because they had 

adequate downrange ballistics but wouldn’t kick the shooter 

out of their time zone. Although he argued that good shots 

flinched consistently, he appreciated that no one enjoys being 

kicked by a hard-recoiling rifle, so he urged the use of mild 

cartridges such as the .243W, the .308W and even the .284W. 

He also recommended the .30-30 Winchester as another 

example of an effective cartridge whose availability in handy, 

lightweight carbines with minimal kick has long endeared it 

to hunters. 

The .308W cartridge, although very popular among New 

Zealand recreational hunters, may have been eclipsed by its 

own descendant, the 7mm ’08 Remington. Other .308W 

descendants include the .243W, .260 Remington, .338 Federal, 

.358W and the wildcat .25 Souper. All of these work through 

short actions because they use cartridges whose overall length 

References 

Barnes FC (2003). Cartridges of the World. 10 th Edition, revised and expanded, 

(Stan Skinner, Ed.) Wisconsin: Krause Publications. 

Ellis J (1975). The Social History of the Machine Gun. London: Croom Helm. 

Grant M, Grant BA (1982). The Sharp Shooter. Wellington: AH & AW Reed. 

Hatcher JS (1962). Hatcher’s Notebook (3rd Edition). Pennsylvania: The 

Stackpole Company. 

His Majesty’s Stationary Office (HMSO) (1929). The Textbook of Small Arms 

1929. 

Jones D (2003). Crown Jewels – The Mauser in Sweden – A Century of 

Accuracy and Precision. (R Blake Stevens, Ed.) Ontario: Collector Grade 

Publications Incorporated. 

does not exceed 73 mm (whereas the grand-daddy cartridges 

are up to 86 mm long, requiring rifles with longer action that 

increases the weight by 500 grams.) Thus these mild cartridges 

make for lighter, more portable rifles. 

Overview 

Military shoulder-arms ammunition, after some 200 

years, underwent major changes in convenience, accuracy 

and power upon the development of rifled arms, fixed 

(metallic) cartridges, smokeless propellant, magazines and 

jacketed bullets. As metallic ammunition developed, effective 

engagement ranges extended to beyond a kilometre, until 

it was realised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries 

that combat range was usually less than 500 metres. 

Mechanisation and economies of scale also greatly reduced 

the cost of infantry small arms and support weapons such as 

mortars, machine guns and artillery that could be used over 

longer ranges. 

Eventually the major powers realised that they no longer 

needed large cartridges for infantry rifles, and this, along with 

international standardisation, alternately promoted and stifled 

development of more appropriate ammunition. Inevitably, 

surplus military rifles using the cartridges of yesteryear 

became popular for civilian hunting and target shooting. 

The compromise forced upon the military eventually saw less 

powerful sporting cartridges developed from 1925 onward, 

although magnums appeared from the late 1940s. 

The grand-daddy cartridges, although popular for sport, 

have diminished in size – both in calibre (for retaining good 

downrange ballistic performance while minimising kick) and 

in case capacity (for prolonging accuracy life). Late in the 

1990s, magnum sporting rifle cartridges were developed from 

shortened .404 Jeffrey cartridge cases. Known as the supershort 

magnums, they were initially popular, with performance 

similar to the short-belted magnums of the 1950s–1960s. 

However, the smaller standard cartridges remain popular 

among hunters because they have a relatively mild kick while 

still matching the ballistic advantages of the extra power of 

the larger chamberings. 

The acceptance of so-called target cartridges as hunting 

cartridges, such as the 6.5 Creedmore, has cemented a trend 

towards relatively mild chamberings as milder loadings 

continue to enjoy widespread support among their hunting 

users. 

Size does matter. Milder cartridges enable rifles to be made 

about 500 g lighter so the wise shooter can either save weight, 

put the saved weight into better optical sights, and/or put the 

weight into a longer barrel for slightly improved ballistics. The 

result is also less muzzle blast and kick than with the granddaddy 

chamberings. 

It’s all part of the choices facing rifle users! 

Labbett P, Brown FA (1989). The Development of the German 7.9 mm x 33 Kurz 

cartridge 1939-45. Special Edition Technical Ammunition Guide Series 3 

Pamphlet 3. London: The authors. 

O’Connor J (1970). The Hunting Rifle. New Jersey, USA: Stoeger Publishing 

Co. 

Swenson GWP (1971). Pictorial History of the Rifle. London: Ian Allan. 

Waters K (1984). The 8 mm-06, Wildcat Cartridges. Handloader 169, 16–17. 

Wikipedia (2017). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

Spanish%E2%80%93American_War, downloaded 03/08/2017. 

Zutz D (1972). 8mm-06 - A Worthwhile Wildcat. The RIFLE Magazine 20, 

23–25, 51, 52. 


45

Animal health 

A case of scabby mouth in 

Himalayan tahr 

by Jim Peffers, HUNTS Co-ordinator 

Over Easter weekend, I ventured 

south to the Jollie River area with 

my sons Jimmy and Sam, and a good 

mate Ray and his son Vince. We 

had been told this valley offered a 

smorgasbord of animals – tahr, red 

and fallow deer – so we decided to 

check it out for ourselves. 

The weather was fine and clear 

with light winds and just crisp 

enough to make you feel alive, yet 

want to keep moving. So we got to 

the river and sat down to glass all 

likely faces. We saw no tahr despite 

five sets of eyes looking, so we 

pressed on upriver, stopping to glass 

periodically as we went. There was 

a red stag roaring in the pines just 

within the park boundary, but he 

wasn’t showing himself, the cunning 

brute. Some absolutely outstanding 

roars from us couldn’t bring him out. 

Then, out of the corner of my eye, 

I saw something small moving along 

among the pines across the river. 

Chamois? Certainly small enough, 

but the wrong colour. Up came the 

Swarovski 10x30s: aha! A tahr. And 

it was limping; in fact it could hardly 

walk. I asked my son to confirm what 

it was, just in case I was seeing things. 

He had a look and also confirmed it 

was a small tahr, limping quite badly. 

This deserved a closer inspection, 

so we made our way down to the 

riverbed. 

One slight problem though: the 

recent rains had swollen the rivers 

and the Jollie was still running quite 

high. We tried to find a suitable firing 

point from our side, but unless one 

was standing, the river bed rose too 

sharply along the sight-line to enable 

a clean shot. Ray bravely volunteered 

to cross, being one of the tallest – I 

would have got wet up to my waist! 

I gave Ray my nibby (hill-stick) so 

he could practice the solo crossing 

method I taught him on his HUNTS 

course. Once safely across, he stalked 

to within 30 m of the animal and 

delivered a well-placed shot with his 

.270. He decided it was safer to drag it 

back across the river than for us to all 

cross over to his side. Legend. 

Now this is when the story takes 

an interesting turn. The animal was 

evidently not well. It stank to high 

heaven, and I don’t 

mean the usual 

rutting smell (this 

was April – a little 

too early for the 

rut anyway.) It had 

some kind of skin 

disease and the 

first case of “horn 

rot” I had seen on a 

tahr – the worst case 

I’d ever seen. The 

horns were more 

goat-like than tahrlike: 

narrow and 

sweeping outwards, 

not back, and there 

were bits missing. 

There was a spongy fungal growth 

around the horn bases, lips and on all 

four hooves. The general condition 

was stunted, underweight and 

unhealthy. I think we had done the 

right thing by putting the poor fella 

out of his misery. We also decided 

not to take any meat, just to be safe, 

but we did take photos. 

When we returned to Tekapo, 

I showed the photos to my mate 

Sam, who lives there and is a very 

experienced alpine hunter. He 

reckoned the lesions looked very 

similar to sheep scabies, which he 

had seen as a musterer. He called the 

Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) 

pest and disease hotline (0800 80 

99 66) and discussed it with them. 

MPI asked us to go back and get 

Having deformed horns with spongy, thickened skin lesions 

at the base and around the mouth, this animal was never going 

to make a trophy 

46 

Close up of a diseased hoof showing open lesions 

– no wonder he was walking with difficulty 


The pathologist at work: Jim used ear plugs in his nose and a surgical mask to help 

make the stench more bearable 

two biopsy samples each of nose, 

lung, hoof, kidney and liver tissue. 

This was getting more like CSI than 

NZDA! 

So the next day we went early, 

armed with rubber gloves, surgical 

masks, scalpel and labelled sample 

bottles (all provided by Sam), hoping 

the cold, still conditions would 

keep the smell down. I took the 

external samples first, which was 

fairly straightforward, but the next 

step wasn’t for the faint-hearted. 

Remember, the animal was diseased 

and had been lying dead in the open 

for two days. A pair of ear-plugs 

served as nose-plugs, and a surgical 

mask helped too. 

I gutted the animal and took the 

internal organ samples. The liver and 

kidney appeared healthy but the lungs 

had been destroyed by Ray’s bullet. 

The lower intestine and bowel was 

dry, transparent and definitely not 

right. Back at Tekapo we repackaged 

the samples – some “as-is” (i.e., dry) 

and others in formalin – then packed 

all of them into ice and sent them off 

to MPI (initially to Dunedin, then 

to the Wallaceville Animal Health 

Laboratory, Upper Hutt). Their initial 

testing confirmed orf virus (the 

sheep strain of parapoxvirus), which 

causes “scabby mouth” or contagious 

ecthyma (see sidebar). 

After I got home to the Hutt 

Valley, I dropped in to the 

Wallaceville lab to catch up on the 

case over a coffee with Tom Rawdon. 

He is part of a team who investigate 

suspected exotic, new or emerging 

animal diseases and pests in stock 

and wildlife. He said this was a case 

of interest as mouth lesions can also 

be a sign of certain exotic diseases 

such as foot-and-mouth. 

Also, it appeared to be the 

first case of scabby mouth in 

tahr officially reported since 

the 1960s. 

The Animal Surveillance 

and Investigation team 

can be contacted via their 

freephone number (0800 

80 99 66) and if you see 

anything suspicious they 

would rather hear from you 

than not, to discuss any 

concerns and work up a plan 

of action. People dealing 

with animals during their 

daily work (farmers, vets, 

pest controllers) or recreation 

(hunters, anglers, trampers) 

are the eyes and ears of 

animal disease surveillance. 

This is extremely important 

to ensure animal health 

issues can be detected and 

acted on promptly. It also 

underpins NZ’s trade in 

animal commodities, by 

the transparent and timely 

reporting of our animal 

health status. 

The MPI team is always 

interested in hearing about 

any new or unusual animal 

health issues, especially if 

more than one animal is 

involved. 

So the roar of 2017 

turned out to be one of the most 

interesting in years. It highlighted 

the fact that killing an animal is 

only one component of hunting. 

Keen observation skills and 

knowledge of animal health and 

habits are also important. Hunters 

are conservationists at heart, and it 

Extract from the MPI report: 

… Thickened skin lesions were present on 

the face, affecting especially the mouth 

and base of horns, and multiple sites in 

the lower limbs. The horn base had similar 

proliferative changes, while the horns 

were in very poor condition with pieces 

broken off or generally eroded, dull and 

flaking. Photographs were reviewed by 

the Incursion Investigator and it was 

determined that the presentation was not 

consistent with that of foot-and-mouth 

disease, but aligned with either a parapox 

or papillomatous condition. 

… Fresh and fixed skin and visceral tissue 

samples showed no significant lesions in 

the liver, kidney or lung. The face and lower 

limb lesions consisted of an excessively 

folded and attenuated epidermal layer 

which exhibited marked hyperkeratosis. 

In areas the dermis contained many 

lymphocytes and plasma cells, and 

in places there were large pustules 

composed of degenerate neutrophils. No 

viral inclusion bodies were seen. Findings 

were consistent with contagious pustular 

dermatitis (Orf, contagious ecthyma) 

caused by parapoxvirus. 

Molecular testing excluded the presence 

of exotic poxviruses (orthopox, capriprox 

and leporipox), and confirmed the 

presence of ovine parapox (orf virus). 

The tahr had been shot in an area next to 

farmland with sheep, indicating a potential 

pathway for an environmental source of 

parapox. No further cases were identified. 

Although outbreaks of parapoxvirus in 

young tahr have been documented in 

the Southern Alps, this was an isolated 

incident in an adult exhibiting stunted 

growth (given its estimated age from the 

horn length). In previous outbreaks adults 

were not affected, indicating a degree 

of age-acquired immunity. Possibly 

the individual reported here was more 

susceptible to severe or chronic infection, 

given its stunted growth. 

… The samples have proved very useful for 

further work, given the rarity of the case. 

The MPI laboratory team will carry out full 

genome sequencing of the parapoxvirus 

detected here. The work will also enable 

detailed comparisons of the virus with 

deer, sheep and chamois parapox viruses. 

is in our own best interests to assist 

government departments like DOC 

and MPI in order to manage the 

health of our game animals. We all 

commented that helping with this 

unusual case made us feel good, and 

it would not stop us tahr hunting 

again. Neither should it discourage 

you! 


47

Points of Envy 

Winning Heads 

National Antler, Horn and Tusk Competitions 2017 

MEL LARRITT TROPHY & D. BRUCE 

BANWELL TROPHY (red deer) 

DS: 321¾ 

Greg King, Upper Clutha Branch 

Taken 7 May 2017, Longwoods, Southland 

McGOWAN SHIELD (fallow deer) & ORBELL 

TROPHY (best head of all deer species) 

DS: 2442/8 

Gary McFarlane 

Taken April 2017, 

Central Otago 

MT COOK TROPHY 

(tahr) 

DS: 45½ 

David Keen, 

South Canterbury Branch 

Taken 18 March 2017, 

Landsborough Valley 

48 


McCONACHIE TROPHY (chamois) & 

EGMONT TROPHY (best head of all 

horned species) 

DS: 29 

Andrew Watson, 

Rakaia Branch 

Taken 9 April 2017, 

Rakaia 

SEDDON SHIELD (rusa deer) 

DS: 134⅞ 

Murray Rowe, Te Awamutu Branch 

Taken 11 September 2016, Galatea 

CLIFF 

MARSHALL 

MEMORIAL 

TROPHY (sika 

deer) 

DS: 172⅛ 

Alan Foot, Waikato Branch 

Taken 17 March 2017, 

Ahimanawa Ranges 


49

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