Tabla de contenidos para Issue 76 en NZ Hunter

We are in interesting times to say the least! With the whole world and now New Zealand reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the things that were extremely important before the outbreak suddenly seem less so. As I write this the situation is changing daily, and we are all wondering if we are going to be able to get to our Wapiti and Red ballot blocks, roar trips, and then opening of the waterfowl season followed by the tahr ballots and all the other things we had planned for this time of year. Travel round the country is going to get progressively more difficult and helicopter firms are shutting up shop for the roar and for the foreseeable future. As frustrating as this is going to be, we need…

The week prior we had done a scouting trip, pushing out a bit further to a spur we hadn’t hunted down before. This was our first Red stag roar and to be honest, we weren’t taking it too seriously. I wasn’t convinced that hunting during the roar was for us as we were primarily after meat and from everything I had read, rutting stags weren’t going to be in the best condition. We set out as normal up the main ridge. We hadn’t bothered to get a roaring horn as we figured we could just roar back through our hands, but weren’t really expecting to hear anything anyway so we didn’t think it was a big deal. After a five hour walk up the main ridge, we reached our spur…

My brother Mark (Skiddy) was chomping at the bit to get himself a roaring stag there. This would be the first hunt we’d do together by ourselves. Skiddy picked me up at 3.30am and we set off with our trusty fur babies, Ruby and Buddy. It took 1½ hours to drive and an hour’s walk up the creek before we got to the hunting ground. The plan was to get to the base of the centre ridge before daybreak. We made good time zigzagging up the side creek and found the centre ridge. We de-layered, braced ourselves for the burn and got stuck into climbing the steep razorback ridge. We were pleased with our timing as the sun was just starting to peek over the opposite ridgeline. Skiddy let out…

Fiona and I, along with our son Jackson (6) and daughter Aliana (4½) live on a 10 acre block on the edge of our family farm about five minutes north of Westport. We are fortunate to have access to the farm on a daily basis to run our dogs, go for motorbike rides with the kids, pick blackberries, play in the creek or just visit Mum and Grandma. We get to see wildlife all over the farm and although there are plenty of hares and the odd goat around, the deer are a little harder to find. Jackson has followed in my footprints from day one and it is no surprise to us that he has turned into the typical little kiwi bushman. “If Dad can do it, I can…

The 2.3-18x56 had enough magnification just, but was too heavy and bulky for our purposes. Swarovski must have realized the gap in the market as they’ve now released a 3.5-28x50, which has ample magnification at both ends, and a not too large objective and at a reasonable weight. The 3.5x is low enough for up close bush hunting and the 28x is more than enough for the longest practical hunting situation. TESTING The Z8i is a second focal plane, Milrad adjustment scope. All have a 30mm tube and they’re all i for illuminated models, or what Swarovski calls Swarolight. The reticle has a day and night mode (brighter for day, duller for night), has 64 brightness settings. The illumination has a tilt sensor built into it, so it switches itself…

I quite like wearing softshells, they breathe better than most heavy-duty raincoats, they’re quieter, and often more durable for general wear - like bashing through the scrub on a cold autumn morning. They’re the modern evolution of the swanni really. You’ll often catch me sneaking through the tight manuka trying to outsmart a cagey buck or stag wearing a brushed outer softshell like this so that I can move as silently as possible, rainwear is simply too rustley for this application. They will absorb the water eventually, but on day hunts it’s not an issue and the outer on this jacket feels a good balance between water resistance and quietness. "The Legacy is the brainchild of the Hunters Element head product designer. He wanted to create the ultimate mid/outer layer…

The winning photo receives a Hunting & Fishing voucher to the value of $100. Send all your photos to editor@nzhunter.co.nz Note: Photos must be of a suitable size for printing - a minimum file size of 1MB is preferred.…

K95 Ultimate Ultra lightweight “KippLauf” (break barrel in English) mountain hunting rifle We’ve had about a thousand requests for this over the last couple of years so we’re stoked we can finally offer it. It has modular stock options such as adjustable comb, butt and recoil reducer all optional. Elastomer grips or leather grips on order. Priced from $6949. Package options available to include Blaser scopes at heavily discounted rate. Pre-order now for delivery in Spring. Blaser Ultimate Expedition Rucksack The Ultimate Expedition rucksack combines all the innovative features needed by the hunter Developed from experience, its foldout rifle carrying compartment ensures safe transport of rifles while providing direct access at all times. At the same time, its sophisticated carrying system allows ergonomic game transport. The game carrying sack that…

Bushnell are proud to promote this page aimed at celebrating our game animals. Send in your photos of live game animals to luke@nzhunter.co.nz to go in the draw to win an exciting product each issue. The prize for this issue is... Bushnell Prime 10x28 Binoculars With an RRP of $299!…

There’s all the research involved in figuring out which blocks you want to apply for, the draw itself and finding out if you’ve been lucky enough to draw one, then the logistics of getting in and out, and of course the hunting itself. Then there’s the frustration of having booked all your annual leave for the trip only to get completely washed out by the weather. Depending on your approach you can turn the week’s hunting into a proper holiday, with a substantial base camp or sometimes even a hut. Or, you can be minimalistic and travel light with the aim of covering as much of the block as the weather window will allow. Over the years I’ve seen some fairly elaborate setups, with multiple heli loads shifting everything from…

We were 1200km north of Montreal, Canada in the centre of the Ungava Peninsula, east of Hudson Bay in Northern Quebec on a one-week caribou hunt. Thirty hunters had flown the first 950km north in a charter aircraft. The aircraft, adapted to serve the mining camps, held 32 passengers, with the other half converted to cargo, plenty of space for hunters’ gear and supplies for the camps. The flight landed at the airstrip at the Caniapiscau Reservoir (Lac Pau), created as part of the James Bay hydro project. The construction camp built for the hydro project served as the base camp for caribou hunts in northern Quebec. An Otter on floats flew hunters in groups of six from Lac Pau to one of five hunting camps that had been chosen…

In the last issue we discussed muscular strength in relation to hunting and ways that we can incorporate some strength-specific conditioning into our weekly training In this issue we will focus on muscular endurance. There is a lot of crossover between the two aspects but we can structure training sessions specifically to achieve gains in areas that we want to see more improvements. Endurance on the hill isn’t just about the long walks and stalks – it also relates to all of the repetitive shorter bouts of movement during a big day on the hill. Muscular endurance relates to how many times you can sustain a repetitive movement pattern without getting heavily fatigued. If we look at a multi-day backcountry hunting trip (without the whirly bird) it can look like…

It’s not the most spectacular of settings, but definitely has its own charm and ambience, and in my estimation is highly underrated as a destination. The hut itself is a bit of an anomaly in terms of design, built in the early 1980’s during a brief tenure of the valley by the Department of Lands and Survey. There was an older hut on the site, probably built by the Department of Internal Affairs in the early to mid 1950’s and extended at some point when NZFS took over the valley. Bill Johnson was a culler at the time and did a lot of early hut building. He first used the hut in April 1960 and said it was badly in need of care by then and not a lot of…

With the testing completed we mounted the 2.3-28x50 on our 7mm Rem Mag Tikka T3 TV Show rifle in Optilok mounts. A quick zero at 100yds and we were ready to roll. With a serious all range scope like this, it had to go into the big country of the main Kaweka range – no bashing round in the mingimingi infested scrub of the eastern Kawekas for this set-up! After a pleasant wander over the range one February afternoon, the dogs and I headed around to one of my favourite fly camping spots on the western side of the range. That evening we spied a reasonable 6 pointer and a couple of spikers feeding on the mountain tut beds, but nothing that interested us either for the table or the…

Hunters targeting Himalayan tahr are playing an important role in managing tahr numbers and protecting some of New Zealand’s unique alpine biodiversity, says the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Game Animal Council (GAC). DOC Tahr Programme Manager James Holborow says a big part of what makes tahr hunting so special is the magnificent alpine environment. “You don’t need a helicopter or a two-day walk-in to hunt tahr. There are places like the Ben Ohau and Two Thumb ranges, which are accessible, and you have a good chance of finding tahr during a day hunt.” “We need to ensure tahr numbers aren’t too high, and hunters have a key role to play,” he says. GAC General Manager Tim Gale says while tahr are most at home high in the mountains,…

He had also mentioned to me many times before though that he would like to bag a deer at some stage to tick it off the list, so we hatched a plan and I am pleased to say that he has now achieved that goal. Regardless of whether it’s a mate or a family member that you help, it is rewarding to see the highs and lows of achieving that goal for the person you take out. For me and most avid hunters, this is one of the most favoured times of the year – chasing deer in the roar and then opening day for ducks. Not to mention the cooler weather in the mornings and at night as well as the warm days…you’ve got to love this time of…

It was peaceful and quiet but for the birds singing their dawn chorus. The frost made our breath visible as we talked and slow moving clouds turned a pretty pink hue as the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon. Hoisting on our packs laden with a week’s supplies, John and I turned our gaze towards the ridgeline and set off. The last week of May is the middle of the annual chamois rut. At this time of year winter’s icy grip can come early and take hold of the mountains and valleys. Early snowfall then makes such places less appealing to visit. Usually by now most casual stalkers have oiled their rifles and stored their hunting equipment until spring – sensible, really. European hunters highly prize chamois as first-rate trophies…

The car was reading minus 3 degrees when I arrived at an area I’d never visited before and my 12kg pack suddenly seemed a little underweight for two nights of those temperatures. I had decided on my route based on some map studies and it was about an hour before I bumped into my first deer. Soon after this I got a stag roaring and continued to come across lots of hinds throughout the day. That night as I shivered in my hammock, the Sika stags were roaring well in a number of directions but the bush I’d encountered that day was steep and next-level thick, with tons of old snow damage. The next morning I headed off in the direction of the closest sounding stag from the night before.…

The area is steeped in history with destinations like Spion Kop, the Cricket Pitch, the Footy Field, the Big Slip etc talked about by many a hunter around the campfire. Hundreds of hunters have stalked the place over the last century, chasing Red deer first, while in more recent times (the last 50 years) it has become a haven for Sika. Early lessees of what was Owhaoko Station in the mid-1800s started pushing sheep as far back as they could as there were no fences or boundaries, only rivers and a very big horizon. Some almost went bust, such was the harshness of the country up until the 1930s. Any shepherd worth his salt wanted to be part of the seven-man mustering crew with their swag of dogs, accompanied by…

Movements increase and with that, deer sign will become obvious. Some stags that have remained ghosts will now be turning up on trail cameras or can be spotted just wandering around in the middle of the day. Some stags seem to lose their cunning, but there is one thing that gives them away more than anything else – and that’s their vocalisation. I’m going to focus this article on Red deer due to their availability across the country and also because Reds are probably the easiest to get onto in the roar with a bow. GEAR Let’s start with gear. The bow that you’ve been ticking up a few goats with is fine, not much point in changing that. Your arrows might want to be slightly upgraded though. The cheaper…

BACTERIA Bacteria is everywhere – on us, inside us and all around us. So what is it? Bacteria is made up of tiny, one-celled organisms that are found almost everywhere on our planet. There are thousands and thousands of different species. Most are harmless but there are some really nasty ones that can cause severe conditions and sometimes death. These dangerous bacteria are responsible for much of the world’s suffering (for man and animals) by disease. A typical bacterial organism is made up of four parts: 1. The fimbriae are like tiny hairs on the outside of the bacterial wall – these help it to stick to surfaces. 2. An internal cell structure that is kept intact by the bacterial wall. 3. A flagellum – a long whip-like appendage that…

Sporting the equally new Excape camo it’s a marked departure from what we’ve come to know from Ridgeline. The Ascent ticks all the boxes you need in a soft shell jacket, with none of the unnecessary frills. They can be notoriously bulky but I found this quite packable, and light for an outer layer at only 770g. In this season of the TV Show you’ll meet Gary from Pukatea Trails. We had a fantastic trip with him in to the St James country and I knew I had to take Sam back. Nearly 6 months on from the episode we finally got back and did a long weekend trekking through more of St James (the hunting side is a whole other story!) and found these jackets the perfect outerwear solution.…

This allows you to effectively accelerate, stop, corner, go up or downhill and sidle. The less your wheels lift off or their downward pressure is reduced the more successful and safe you’ll be at all these things – and that is the job of your suspension. The modern ute manufacturers produce pretty reasonable suspension ex-factory these days, which will do a fair job of all of the above in average on-road or soft-road conditions. It does depend somewhat on what their designers thought their market would be though – whether heavy duty agricultural, or the soft recreational/urban market. A classic example of this was the very heavy duty leaf rear suspension Hilux’s and in fact most Utes came out with and still do - until some brands recently changed to…

THE DECOYS WERE QUICKLY AND EASILY DEPLOYED AS THE PUDDLE WAS A MERE 12 INCHES AT ITS DEEPEST While driving home from a morning shoot, I always check various locations on the way to see if I can find a huntable number of ducks. When I’m doing this, I rely on areas that I know normally hold good numbers of Mallards. I also factor in the time of the season so I can concentrate on food sources that I’m expecting ducks to be eating. After doing this for a number of years I’ve built up a store of knowledge that helps, like remembering the ducks that were feeding on the whole crop on John Smith’s place two seasons ago or the good grass hunt out the back of old mate…

COVID-19 The roar is in full swing and let’s hope COVID-19 hasn’t stopped too many of us kiwi hunters getting out there. Restrictions have certainly affected international hunters coming to New Zealand with ballot and roar blocks freeing up throughout the country. COVID-19 has severely impacted the guided hunting sector which includes game estates, guides, helicopter operators, taxidermists, expeditors, breeders, freight forwarders, transport providers and lodging suppliers who are all facing some extremely tough times. The travel restrictions have meant that the guided hunting sector has essentially been shut down at the start of their peak season. Now is the time to support our local tourism industry. If you have ever dreamt of going on a guided hunt, now is a great time to do it and at the same…