With the holiday period and summer upon us, I’m sure plenty of hunters and anglers will be venturing into the backcountry to recharge the batteries and connect with loved ones. While glassing a few deer or searching for a nice rainbow trout, spend some time reflecting on 2025; a personal audit as a hunter, angler and member of society is a good way to identify what habits/actions you should take into 2026 and those you shouldn’t.

Next year, there’s going to be a beech seed mast, which is why DOC has intensified their pesticide operations. Hence, it’d be a good idea to have a look at DOC’s online pesticide operations map to see what drops are planned and completed before going bush. In the South Island, particularly around Arthur’s Pass East, South Westland and Mt Aspiring National Park, there are vast areas being affected by pesticide operations, which will affect a large portion of the Haast and Wanaka Roar blocks. These blocks will receive significant WARO before each drop and with the price of feral venison sitting around $7 per kg, lots of heavy stags will be shot. Arthur’s Pass East is a perfect example of this – not good!

On a positive note, an amendment has been made to the Herds of Special Interest (HOSI) National Parks Act where it states the following does not apply to HOSI: “Exterminate introduced species as far as possible.” That’s a major win for recreational hunters and was the NZDA’s #1 National Park Act recommendation. Fish & Game have released results from a study that looked at mental health benefits from fishing. No doubt, we all could guess the results, those being, “Active anglers were 52% less likely to report moderate-to-severe psychological distress and thoughts of self-harm, and 46% were less likely to experience moderate-to-severe anxiety.”

If you’re planning a tahr hunt down south, I highly recommend you read DOC’s Tahr Operational Control Plan 25/26. There’s some really useful information in this document to help you plan hunts and to know what to expect. For example, there’s to be no aerial assisted trophy hunting in Ahuriri Conservation Park between September 1, 2025, and May 1, 2026. Identifiable males will not be targeted by DOC in the 45-55 culling hours allowed for in the Landsborough River.

Personally, I’m busy planning numerous 8- to 10-day solo missions in the Southern Alps for 2026. Not to mention, I’m praying that my mate and I finally get a wapiti ballot block after five years of trying. Due to the pure luck, ballot system hopes aren’t particularly high, although you have to be in it to win it. If you’re in the same position as me, I really hope you bag a wapiti block this year!

keep charging!

 – Ben and the team at NZRod&Rifle