Table of contents for Issue 92 in NZ Hunter

That evening was a real highlight after what had been an amazing first half of the ten days - a hot meal of backsteaks on the tent stove and a few cold beers in the warmth of the tent in Stark contrast to the previous few nights. The following morning we decided we'd push out to the head of the Sound and maybe even try to catch a fish. Leaving camp midmorning we just cruised along with our cameras taking our time, roaring in a beautiful young bull near the river not far from the Sound. He was a magnificent young fella and came in nice and close for photos and video before cruising off. A short while later we arrived where the salt water was meeting the fresh. A clear…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To All the effort and time spent is literally put into trusting one piece of equipment. All the energy and power from your bow has now been transferred into this one object now on a collision course with your intended target. Is it delivering the best result for you? Is it going to deal with the multitude of mediums it might encounter? The humble arrow has been around for most of humanity. However, nowdays the material that launches from the string of a compound bow has changed immensly. However, the basic design is still the same - pointy bit up front, fletching down the back and you have yourself an arrow. But what actually makes a good arrow? For me, I have to have confidence in…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To So said Henry Thoreau (18171862). The same is true for hunting. It's more about mates and mountains than it is about meat. We're making memories, and most of us capture them with a camera. Then what? Nothing is easier or cheaper these days than taking photos. The tool most of us use is small and light, and we take it hunting because it is also a watch, map, GPS, compass, torch, ballistics table, and if we're in coverage, it can give us a weather forecast and comms with the rest of the world, Alternatively, perhaps you are a keen photographer with a high-quality compact camera, or a Superzoom, or maybe a DSLR…. all the more reason to take your precious images out of the hard…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To Alongside this increasing interest is a corresponding increased awareness of dog welfare and keeping our best mates safe and comfortable. I have always maintained that you can tell everything you need to know about a person by the way they treat their dog and/or other people and haven't been wrong yet. As hunters, we often travel to a variety of spots with our canine mates as companions.Travelling with dogs can create its own challenges and it is important to consider a number of things when we do so. HEAT If I had to choose one thing that has killed more dogs on the road than any other, it would be heat. It is a killer and can happen so easily and quickly. Unlike us, dogs…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire They have been manufactured in Germany since 1947, when Karl Steiner set up a factory in post war Europe determined to retain his country's reputation for optical excellence, despite the destruction to German industry that followed WW2. They are still manufactured at the original site in Bayreuth, Barvaria to this day. We have reviewed some of their popular binocular models previously but this is the first rifle scope we have testfired. As you probably guessed the 8 stands for 8x zoom. This is a first for Steiner, and follows on from their previous 4x and 6x zoom Ranger and Predator models. This huge range of zoom is ideal for multipurpose hunting scopes, giving you the best of both worlds from low magnification with a wide field…

NZHUNTER MAGAZINE Events & Politics DON'T GET CAUGHT OUT BY RULE CHANGES THIS SUMMER The last three years have seen some of the most comprehensive reforms to firearms laws ever undertaken in New Zealand. Every hunter will have an opinion on these and whether or not some of the changes are justified. The Game Animal Council sits on a number of firearms advisory bodies and has worked both within those groups as well as through our statutory functions to advocate for the concerns of hunters. Increased compliance, costs, and of course, the ongoing backlog of licence applications are all issues we have fought to have recognised and addressed by decision-makers. This column is not intended to debate the changes firearms users have experienced over the last few years. Instead, with…

What's your idea of a big adventure? The type of trip that makes you wonder if what you're feeling is excitement or nerves? A mission that has you asking a few questions that will only be answered once you're out there? At 7pm on Thursday night my fiancée dropped me at Klondyke Corner in Arthur's Pass. Thankfully the rain we'd been driving through seemed to clear the second she turned the engine off. Carrington Hut was the aim for the night, and four to five hours up the Waimakariri riverbed would see me there for the night. Thank goodness for the perks of a good headtorch - my ledlenser has never let me down. I needed to get to Carrington because I had a big day planned for Friday -…

DEMAND PERDECTION I'm very appreciative to Beretta New Zealand for the opportunity, and also to Willie and Ash for generously timing the birth of little Charlie so that I had to go in Willie's stead…. After 32 hours of flying I touched down in just about the furthest part of the planet from little old New Zealand possible, Helsinki. The famous Finnish hospitality began right away as Sako collected me from the airport along with Hannes Grimus, a writer for Wild Deer magazine in Australia. Arriving at the hotel (Helsinki's former high security prison, quite what that said I'm not sure - we needed locking up at night?) the Kiwi contingent was there already (Dave Benfell from R&R and Cam Henderson from HJ), along with the remaining Aussies and most…

We had a very young dog pack but they'd developed well throughout the year, tipping over a few 130's, a 160 and Dad even got a 170lb, with a lot of other pigs in between. Pig numbers are pretty cyclical, especially in native country, but this year they have been on the higher side. All the old timers used to tell me the numbers rose and fell on about a five year cycle but I didn't believe it. I do now. I think in part it's due to the fact that not all of our natives fruit/seed each year, and the in the years when they do the mortality rate for piglets is much much lower. Anyway, this day we had a big crew. My brother Jake, Harry and Max…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To A NEW SERIES FOR 2022 PROFILING A TAHR BALLOT BLOCK EACH ISSUE TAHR BALLOT BLOCKS Draining heavily glaciated peaks from both sides, meaning that the river is always a formidable obstacle. The surrounding peaks and place all share a common theme in that they were named by early explorers Charlie Douglas and Julius Von Haast in 1887, and generally were named after the various people within Lands & Survey, covering almost the entire executive structure at the time as well as people from the Department of Mines and the Westland Land Board. Dechen Creek is the furthest down-river of all the Landsborough landing sites, and like the rest of the Landsborough, can be like living in a refrigerator - especially with 2643 meters of Mount…

GWYN THURLOW & SAM SHEAFF - NZDA Cervus unicolor unicolor The “bread and butter” of North American deer hunting, White-tailed deer (colloquially called “Whitetail deer” or “Whitetails”) exist in only two herds in New Zealand; one near Lake Wakatipu, the other on Rakiura (Stewart Island). Many hunters travel to these areas attempting to secure one of these “grey ghosts” every year, and many return empty-handed. Whitetails have become a bucket-list species for many hufffgfs, and while their unique antlers are relatively small, they provide beautiful skins, as well as venison that has widely been described as the nicest out of all NZ's deer species. New Zealand's two herds are the only herds of Whitetail deer in the southern hemisphere. Initial Liberations The first attempt to introduce Whitetail deer…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Testfire These things with their magnetic stock fitting are the most user friendly bipod system for hunters I've encountered. Rob Gearing, the brains behind Spartan, came from the aircraft industry which is where he discovered the extremely strong Neodymium rare earth magnets. Having experienced the frustration we all have of carrying around a rifle with a bipod attached all the time - unbalancing the rifle, digging into your shoulder, getting caught in the bush etc - and knowing it's only going to be used extremely occasionally, Rob decided there must be a better way. And the Javelin magnetically attached bipods were born. You carry the extremely lightweight carbon fibre/alloy bipod out of the way in your pocket, in a pouch on your belt or in your daypack…

Once I realised he was getting further with every second I dithered around watching him until it was time to open the door and let the hound out to do her job. Despite the fact that Kiera had already completed numerous retrieves in a fast-flowing icy cold river and wasted precious energy dealing to three possums whilst I was putting out the morning decoys, she unceremoniously barged past me and bolted straight to the water's edge. By the time she reached the bank her keen eyes had picked up the struggling drake and with an even bigger splash than that of the duck, who was now a good 50 metres away, set off in hot pursuit. It's always a thrilling sight to watch a good determined dog in action and…

We were successful in my first choice and secured the Wild Natives block for the second period. After a few months spent planning, asking questions and studying maps we were finally in Te Anau ready for our adventure to begin. After briefing we spent the evening chatting over a couple of beers to a folk with varying amounts of experience in Wapiti country, and were eager to get amongst it. The early morning flight from Te Anau Downs was spectacular - flying over such rugged and huge country really is breath taking, and indescribable. We bid farewell to Snow and went about Setting up our base camp, accompanied by the inevitable relentless, sandflies that we had been warned about. The stags were roaring quite well up the valley, so no…

Despite the benefits it has for youths, this build was always meant to be a highly portable bush rifle. And what are the key requirements for that? Short length and light weight. This issue we'll cover length. At this point we also decided to step up optically, fitting a Zeiss Conquest V4 3-1 2×44, also from Outdoor Sports NZ. This scope has much better optical performance and a wider magnification range, making it more versatile and much easier to shoot with in low light. It does come with quite a weight penalty at 630g, but the 150g we removed from the barrel offset this to a degree. There's not a lot you Can do about length at the stock end, the gun still has to fit you. But there's usually…

Hunters and anglers, more than other outdoor recreationists, need good maps and location data. They need to know where they are, (usually a spot that's not on a formed trail), and they need to know how to get there efficiently. That means the shortest route for carrying out their gear and their quarry. It also often means knowing how to cross land without trespassing. Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, is the Crown agency specialising in mapping outdoor access. It has online maps that display public access areas as well as hunting and fishing locations, property information, hydro parcels, tracks and trails. But, until recently, map users could access those maps only via a web browser. There was no offline, portable version. Last year Herenga ā Nuku released…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To The person was a hunter and had limited knowledge about FWF other than we manage deer. Our companions were talking about bull management and asking if I was disappointed with the rise in the trend of young bulls being shot. I replied that I blame myself and the Foundation, as during Covid we disconnected with the hunters. Over the last three years we had on average 60% first-timers hunting the ballot. These guys have had very little education from the Wapiti Foundation. I think people want to do the right thing but I am not even sure that hunters, and especially new Wapiti hunters, know what that right thing is any more. Nor do they understand the effort the FWF put into managing the Wapiti…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE How To It sits above the bushline at the edge of a large, flat peaty area and has beautiful panoramic views of both the alps and coastal plains. It is a serene and tranquil spot with numerous small, deep tarns, and from the edge of the bench, you can gaze almost directly down on Grassy Flat Hut in the head of the Styx. Newton Biv is accessible in a day from the Styx roadend for your fitter types and gets the odd fly in hunting party. Newton Biv is a Standard NZFS B55 two-person design with a corrugated iron roof, a single louvre window, two narrow sleeping benches, one standard DOC mattress (which is way too big), and a low cooking bench. It was built by the…

NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE Food & Fauna Seriously, at this time of the year (well, any time of the year) fried food is great, right? I have been thinking about doing this recipe for a while but there is never a rabbit around when you need one!! So off to the pet shop I went.. No, I didn't - but as luck would have it there were a couple on the edge of the riverbed. When I was an apprentice chef in the hotel as a young trainee I was fortunate enough to spend Some time working in the Japanese restaurant, and what an experience that was! I was learning a whole new cuisine, let alone language - which I never mastered! It was the different flavours, their way of cooking,…