Since the 1920s, each decade has brought about cultural shifts within the New Zealand hunting community. Common reasons for change have been altered legislation, commercial interests (venison recovery), recreational interest and bureaucracy. Furthermore, there’s always been a dichotomy attached to our game animals; that being, too many of them brings greater political and commercial influence (e.g., deer wars in the 1960s and 1970s), and too few animals forces greater advocacy from recreational and non-government hunting organisations (e.g., tahr in the early 90s).

Hunting in New Zealand nowadays has never been more popular with so many Kiwis and international visitors. With that comes the added responsibility to make sure our game animals are looked after for all to enjoy. Future-proofing a rich hunting resource will require unity from those who’ve been walking the hills for 50 years to folks just entering the hunting scene.

So, what does unity look like, irrespective of your age and the type of hunting you prefer (meat or trophy)? It’s very simple: we’re conservationists first, hunters second. As I’ve already written two extensive conservation-based articles on pursuing excellence as hunters (Pursuit of Excellence – Parts 1 & 2, NZRod&Rifle, Vol 3, Issues 2 & 4), this article focuses on other areas of conservation that need discussing – as well as highlighting those already covered. Ultimately, it’s food for thought.

Foundation

To get on the same page, I recommend looking at the Game Animal Council’s yearly strategic plan, as this helps with understanding what the mission is and how recreational hunters can help to achieve conservation goals: (https://nzgameanimalcouncil.org.nz/strategic-plan/).

On a side note, I know some hunters, including myself, don’t agree with all goals set by the Game Animal Council (GAC);  however, it’s more about looking at where you can help rather than showing discontent. No matter what your thoughts and beliefs are as a hunter, you’ll likely never find an individual – let alone a statutory entity or government – with whom you 100% agree on everything that’s said and done. Leadership is a tough old game and trying to create unity is an extremely hard mission, especially when folks are set in their ways and aren’t willing to bend in any way, even if it’s for the greater good. Personally, I’ve always believed we should aim to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

Overall, the GAC’s vision for hunting in New Zealand is, “sustainable management of game animals and hunting for recreation, communities, commerce and conservation”. As conservationists, our number one goal is to maintain an optimal balance between game animals and ecological health. The more balance that’s achieved throughout the country, the more ‘money’ we put in the political bank, which can enable a positive top-down effect for recreational hunters.

Like any team and community, culture and direction are largely driven by laws, acts, policies and appointed leaders. To secure favourable laws, acts and policies, you need to build up enough credibility – and accumulate plenty of objective data – to inspire confidence and demonstrate that your goals are achievable. Putting more time into conservation effort goes a long way towards achieving this!

Resources

Like most things in life, there’s a beginning, middle and end. For hunters, we’ve all started somewhere, progressed at different rates and had various mentors who assisted our development as hunters and conservationists.

Fortunately, there are far more resources these days for hunters beginning their journey to help them upskill at a much faster rate. The haphazard approach so many hunters have taken in the past is becoming less and less common. Nowadays, early-stage hunters, generally speaking, have a reasonably sound level of firearms safety, understanding of game animal management and hunter-specific competencies. This, in part, has been due to the great work done by the GAC, NZDA and informative TV shows and social media channels.

I highly recommend any hunter or conservationist starting their journey to visit the GAC’s website and complete their free online hunting course. I certainly wish I’d had something like this when I was learning to hunt: https://nzgameanimalcouncil.org.nz/better-hunting/.

Additionally, joining the NZDA and signing up for their hunts course is another great way to learn how to be an effective and ethical hunter or conservationist while gaining valuable mentorship: https://www.deerstalkers.org.nz/what-we-do/training-courses/hunts-course-content/

Setting the Scene

For the past decade, there’s been plenty of talk around management of game animal numbers on both private and public conservation land. A lack of annual population control and trophy-centric hunting has brought about real conservation problems. The tahr culls were a great example of both poor annual population control by the Department of Conservation and trophy-centric hunters.

When mostly bulls are targeted, you end up with an ungodly number of breeding females roaming the hills. Population densities prior to the tahr culls were out of control. It was unfortunate that these culls coincided with a hunter’s worst nightmare – an appointed conservation minister with a green thumb. Unfortunately for hunters, we had no leg to stand on, let alone any capital built up to put any reasonable case forward to prevent mass culling of tahr.

This example is, and will continue to be, no different to other game animal species if conservation values aren’t achieved. Hence, doing all we can at a grassroots/recreational level significantly helps our leaders and Hunting & Fishing Minister fight fires with more than enough figurative water.

The Missing Season

Balance is needed in all things; hunting is no different. Everyone has slightly different reasons for hunting; some like to purely fill the freezer, whereas others enjoy the challenge of securing a trophy animal.

Then you have the popular hunting seasons, which also dictate why hunters head into the hills – i.e., the Roar, rut, bugle and croak. When I look at hunter numbers in the hills, they’re certainly the highest during the red Roar and tahr rut, especially in the South Island. Conversely, hunter numbers drop off significantly after the Roar, post rut and when stags cast their antlers. From September through to December is what I refer to as the ‘missing season’. The condition of local game animals in September will largely depend on how harsh winter was and how strong the spring growth has been. Once the spring growth peaks, plenty of animals will be out on the flats and low country feeding up a storm.

With that in mind, I’d love to see more conservation-minded hunters looking at securing as many breeding-aged female animals as possible to fill the freezer and manage population densities during this period. It could be called the ‘management season’ and would be a great step forward in building more capital for our leadership and minister.

Last October, through the veteran charity Soldiers, Sailors, Aviators Association of New Zealand, I took five ex- and current-serving veterans into the Lake Sumner Recreational Hunting Area with the primary goal to shoot as many hinds as we could carry out. In the end, we managed to shoot and pack out six hinds from around the Doubtless and Doubtful rivers. In total, we saw around 30 hinds on that trip and discovered some significant browsing damage. Certainly, more hunters need to get in there and shoot as many hinds as ethically possible!

Management Hunts

Linking to above, I know the NZDA organises several management hunts in both the North and South Islands each year. A good option to help the hunting community achieve conservation goals would be to join one of these NZDA hunts – or even better, if you’re in an NZDA leadership position, organise more of them. It’d be great to see the NZDA really leading from the front with these management hunts.

From a social standpoint, getting your friends and family together several times during the months of September to December with the goal of filling the freezer with only female game animals would be a true win-win. For example, four-wheel driving up a braided Canterbury river in tahr country, setting up a comfort campsite and knocking over a few nanny tahr would be a great trip in anyone’s books.

Although it would cost a bit more, flying with a bunch of mates into a highly populated block like the Hope, Doubtful and Nina valleys, shooting 10+ hinds and flying all the meat out would also be a ripper trip.

Most of the recreation hunting areas (RHAs) need more management hunts organised, so if you’re serious about being a conservationist, head into these areas by foot, air or vehicle and target only females.

Small Game Hunting

Arguably, managing small game animal numbers is up there on the conservation priority list. Not only do they cause significant environmental damage, but they also cost farmers plenty of dollars from loss of feed and spreading of diseases. Additionally, game birds like Canada geese have similar negative effects. I’ve seen firsthand what small game animals can do to crops and seedlings – not good at all.

Side note: it’s funny how vegans will act righteous for eating vegetables, but what they don’t know is how many small game animals need to be managed to enable them to eat their kale salads!

Anyway, getting out for regular small game hunts is a great way to enjoy time with friends and family while helping New Zealand reach its conservation goals. One thing I love about small game hunting is the effort-to-reward ratio and the good laughs you have with mates. Some of my best times have come from plugging a few hearty possums – they certainly don’t give up without a fight!

Shooting small game is also great for new and/or young hunters to practise their marksmanship skills with a low-recoiling .22 LR or .17 HMR. The main issue with this type of hunting is gaining access to private farms, as it’s predominantly done at night. Building good relationships with private landowners is the key, offering a real win-win for farmers and conservation.

Active Bird Monitoring

This may seem counterintuitive, but I believe looking at other opposing conservation groups like Forest & Bird for inspiration and goals only produces positive outcomes – well, for the most part. Forest & Bird (F&B) value native flora and fauna above all else, so my strategic thinking goes: if we as hunters can help them achieve their conservation goals, it’ll give them significantly less ammunition to use on our beloved game animal herds.

One of many ways we as conservation-minded hunters can help F&B and DOC is to engage more in bird monitoring and data collection. Gathering longitudinal data helps to show all organisations which tools and approaches are working and which are not. Furthermore, if the data from hunters is going to GAC, DOC or other hunting-oriented NGOs (e.g., NZDA), then it can be more productive than data coming from the F&B who will always paint the picture from their perspective. As is the case with most things, the answer is usually in the middle by balancing opposing sides and subsequent data provided.

How can hunters do this? It’s simple … log any data requested via the app or form provided. The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, Haast Roar Ballot and Tahr Ballot are some examples that ask for bird data to help validate conservation efforts. Completely autonomous, informal tools that can be used are the Kea Conservation Trust apps: Kea Surveys (found on Apple or Android app stores) or keadatabase.nz. Both allow you to log any kea sightings at any time of the year.

Although there are ways in which we as hunters can contribute to the greater conservation good, many don’t see the point and don’t provide any data. The fear I usually hear is, “Well, if I provide data and it’s not good, then green death is just around the corner”. History will show there is truth to this statement; however, how do we expect a different result if we continue with the same approach and mindset?

There are massive positives to buying into active bird monitoring of not just kea but also other iconic native birds like whio, kaka, kakapo and kiwi. Any organisation that looks to protect these birds will be forever thankful to receive ongoing data from hunters, because hunters go into parts of the backcountry most trampers won’t ever set foot in. Data can initiate greater funding streams for at-risk birds via trapping, monitoring and human resources. As already mentioned, there are two main ways you can help monitor kea numbers, those being via https://keadatabase.nz/observations or by downloading the Kea Surveys app.

Lastly, the GAC has a great resource detailing how you should hunt in kea country. https://nzgameanimalcouncil.org.nz/guidance-for-hunting-in-kea-habitat/

Tahr Monitoring

On the hunting front, it’s great to see the Tahr Foundation attempting to utilise the eyes of as many tahr hunters as they can by gathering data of the tahr herd, vegetation health and native bird numbers via an app. The NZ Tahr Foundation states the aggregated data will be used to:

• Keep hunters up to date on management and overall hunter contributions to management.
• Advocate for improved access or more appropriate management objectives.
• Support the revision of the Himalayan Tahr Control Plan (HTCP).
• Achieve Herd of Special Interest (HOSI) status for tahr.
• Assist hunter education.
• Assist stakeholder coordination.

All data provided is anonymous, and private information provided is strictly confidential. I highly recommend all tahr hunters download this app and start logging what they see and shoot. If we want to avoid more mass tahr culls, then we hunters need to provide the clearest picture on what the relationship is between tahr and local ecology. Having sound data compiled over many years helps to future-proof the tahr herd and, more importantly, prevent any politician from destroying a rich Kiwi resource.

For those interested in finding out where tahr numbers are highest and producing negative ecological effects, then have a look at DOC’s tahr-sighting maps: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/hunting/what-to-hunt/tahr/tahr-control-operations/tahr-sightings-maps/

Thermals for Conservation Purposes

By now, it’s pretty well known that hunters are allowed to use handheld thermal devices on public land. From a conservation standpoint, this is a highly effective tool to help hunters manage animal numbers. Not only does it make it fairly easy to locate animals, but it also significantly cuts down your glassing time, which can help in harvesting more animals in a relatively short period of time.

Another conservation bonus is that thermals decrease the difficulty level for hunters beginning their freezer-filling journey.

Lastly, thermals provide a good picture on animal density numbers in the area by allowing you to not only scan during the day but also see how many animals are operating during nighttime hours – all valuable intelligence for optimal game management plans!

Conclusion

Hunting means something slightly different for all hunters in New Zealand, yet I’m sure we can all agree that future-proofing the health of our backcountry should be of high priority. With a growing general population and subsequent hunter base, it’s imperative that conservation is at the forefront of our minds every time we head into the hills. At the heart of conservation is protecting our native flora and fauna while making sure we have healthy game animals that are going to live in harmony with the environment for many generations to come.

No doubt, in the coming decades, hunters will have many battles to fight in various arenas. Putting our best foot forward and having objective evidence of all the conservation work we’ve done as hunters makes it more likely for organisations like Forest & Bird to view us as allies fighting for a common cause – conservation.

I know time is a precious commodity for most Kiwis and one’s capacity to help on the conservation front is directly related to how much time is available. With that in mind, simply look at any area of conservation and see if you can integrate it into your mountain time. It could look like checking traps on your walk in/out, shooting one female per trip, reporting kea and tahr sightings via the app, mentoring a new hunter or offering expertise in the political arena. Something is certainly better than nothing when it comes to preserving our beautiful ecosystems and game animal herds!