Memories of the Roar period are fading, but it was great to see many of you making up for the missed rut last year due to the COVID lockdown. There have been some magnificent trophies taken and some great adventures had. As always, your trips immortalised in NZRod&Rifle tell of mateship, kilometres covered, lessons learned and stunning scenery – all key facets of hunting.

It’s been heartening to see the improvement in communications and initiatives in the organisations tasked with speaking on our behalf and protecting our right to hunt and gather. Several organisations have programs where wild venison is donated to food kitchens and then distributed to those in need. The battle for hunting rights in NZ has many levels, but for any initiative to be successful, we need average Kiwis to see hunting in a positive light and not in the agenda-driven negative light of the antis. NZ needs to understand the vital role we play in our ecosystem and in our communities! Well done to the organisations that have initiated these programs – they’re an integral part of the long-term viability of hunting.

Another part of the fight for hunting rights is to collaborate with the wider community: the firearms license holders of NZ. In this issue, you’ll see an article about my first foray into the world of competition long-range shooting. If we look at the firearms community as one team, we can easily see that if one is succeeding and growing, then we’ll all benefit. Although NZRod&Rifle will always be centrally based around hunting, look out for the occasional article on wider subjects such as firearms competitions.

In the last issue, I wrote about my personal journey through poor mental health, and it’s been fantastic to receive your feedback, support and positive messages. Mental health issues are far more common than many realise, and open and honest conversation is the route to improving our outcomes.