Tabla de contenidos para Issue 86 en NZ Hunter

Q You were brought up in a small community where hunting, fishing and mahinga kai are an important part of everyday life. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how those experiences have shaped your views on the place of hunting in our communities? Okay, so, right here we are situated on State Highway 35. This is a highway that is laden with hunters, farmers, people that depend on the environment for our survival. Economic survival, recreation purposes, you name it. And so I think when you live in, when you’re raised in, rural NZ you see the world around you differently. There’s a couple of things: I think that one, the environment is something that we see not just as something to kick about but as…

Here at the head of the valley the snow looms high overhead, waterfalls cascade off the mountainside and fingers of dark beech forest reach down to the valley floor. Our days settle into an easy rhythm, splitting wood, out scouting for wild Red stags then back for dinner. The old fireplace invites a blaze and we oblige – a good fire brings out the boy in every man. Then it’s time to blow the last candle out. Half an hour later the fire is flickering but sleep is elusive. It’s easy to watch the flames and get lost in memories. The doctor was doing his best to talk about the weather, anything he could think of except the reason for our walk. There was no getting around the fact that…

The great thing about lenses, is the ability to choose a specific lens to perfectly suit the images you are trying to achieve. The worst thing about lenses, is you have to choose a specific lens to perfectly suit the images you are trying to achieve. Sound like a conundrum? It is! Some lenses are more versatile than others, but no one lens can do it all. Before we get in to that let’s start at the bare bones, what is a lens and how did they come about? HISTORY In researching lenses I found some more interesting historical information. The word itself is Latin, unsurprisingly. ‘Lens’ experiments began with an Arabian scientist named Abu Ali Hasan around 1,000AD. He noted that when looking through a glass sphere the image…

Remembering that reducing the weight and ‘bulk’ of what you carry actually means you can also move to a smaller pack and so further reduce the total carried.. This time, I’ll look a bit more closely at the types of shelters mentioned last issue. You’ll recall that a double-wall tent is typically the tent body and a rain fly and is what most hunters are familiar with. Overall, you will be drier, with space to store gear out of the weather. However, that comfort and space comes at the expense of an increase in both bulk and weight. One of my suggested options was to use your existing double-wall tent in a single-wall configuration - leaving the inner behind - reducing overall weight. Most hunters can trim at least a…

But, even with all that fancy gear and an honest attempt at good planning, you can find yourself having bitten off more than you can chew and in the midst of what feels like a death march. There’s a valley I’d had my eyes on for quite a while, and after the usual pouring over a topo map, Google Earth, and even consulting my trusty Moirs Guidebook, it appeared that a solid overnight trip should have it covered. So, on a Friday evening, I did the usual last-minute ring around to see who was keen for what for the weekend. We took off at a leisurely hour on Saturday, leaving the truck just before lunch as a team of three, being Joseph, Luke and I. Now Joseph is built like…

This is upstream of where the river does a big dog-leg to the south around the Newton Range. I’m not sure how or why the hut got its name. Sure, it’s on a river flat, but it’s a relatively well-drained one covered in tall snow tussock and nary a mud puddle in sight. The Arahura is the fabled pounamu river of local Māori and was used by them as a route over to Canterbury via Nōti Raureka or Browning Pass. A benched trail was established by Europeans over the pass in the nineteenth century to connect Canterbury with gold-rich Westland, however the bench stayed high on the true left of the valley opposite Mudflats. Obviously, the place didn’t have much appeal for the early settlers. After the gold rush ended…

Have you shot a bull tahr stacked with age rings, a heavy old stag, or a battler of a buck? Email us some high resolution images and a caption (under 100 characters) to go into the draw to win the annual Old Man Trophy - a grand prize for one of the six winners each year: A $1000 voucher supplied by Tyron Southward Taxidermy for any of their services WINNER Elliot Riley  "A 16 year old one-horned doe I shot early January in the Nelson Lakes area. It was the first trip for my new Sako 7mm-08 and I had six days solo hunting looking for a summer buck. Didn't manage to find the buck I was looking for but I got on to this old girl in a steep…

Still rubbing my eyes, I was struck in awe of the magical mountain scene before me. To my feet lay an ocean of clouds with the full moon shining above, and mountain peaks emerging through the gleaming white like hundreds of little islands. To the west lay the peaks of desolate Fiordland and to the far north, I could see a few white glaciated peaks of the Southern Alps, glowing in the moonlight. It was the first time in 36 hours that I could see the world surrounding me, further than 20 metres away, as I had been caught in bad weather. Two days earlier I had parked up my home on wheels at the end of a backroad, (at the time a Toyota Corolla with a mattress in the…

I was so excited as we missed out on last year’s mission because of stupid covid. There was good cold and clear weather forecast for the next three days and the truck was filled with lollies and chocolates. After what felt like the longest drive ever, we finally arrived at our secret hunting spot. We had only been there for five minutes when we heard the first roar. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight away and my heart started racing. We quickly dumped our gear and crept up over the spur to try get a glimpse of our first stag. I heard some sticks break so Dad let out a moan to try and get it to come in. Straight away we saw the sneaky…

I’ve been running my own taxidermy business for over 20 years now and you get to meet some real “good buggers” along the way. One of those good buggers is Wade Renfro. Wade runs a hunting outfitter business out of Bethel, Alaska, and we get along really well. He came out to New Zealand some years ago, hunting Red stags in the North Island and then tahr and Fallow with me in the south. He had a great time and got several good trophies. We have kept in touch ever since. Wade invited my wife Lisa and I on a hunt for aoudad in Texas, courtesy of a buddy of his who guides for them down there. Dates were booked and we landed in El Paso, west Texas, where Wade…

I still have a childlike joy of catching images of animals, that’s magnified a hundred-fold when it’s a trophy. And if checking the SD card is like opening presents on Christmas, then cellular cameras that send the photo to your phone is like having Christmas presents sent to you all year! So when Allan from AJ Productions, probably New Zealand's leading authority on trail cameras, asked if I wanted to review one I jumped at the chance! CELLULAR Since we’ve never done a review on a cellular camera we’ll talk a little about that technology first. These cameras will, instead of just recording an image to an SD card, send it directly to an app on your phone as well. This has some powerful applications. You can use it to…

A faulty alarm clock and a bunch of cows that were going to be shifted in the wee early hours of the morning were to blame. The grass we were to use to cover the layout blinds had already been picked but was unfortunately an hour north of us in a wool sack in the back of David’s truck. This meant we would have to pick some before we could start hunting. This didn’t not thrill Jake one little bit. Funnily enough, I had my first real job after leaving school on this particular farm. Back then, I thought a life of dealing with live animals was the life for me but back then wages were terrible, and the hours weren’t flash either, so I decided instead to work indoors…

Nomad 1300 The first of the new offerings from Ironman 4x4 The first thing to note of the Nomad 1300 is its compact ‘in-transit’ profile. With a footprint of just 1600 x 1300mm and a net weight of just 68kg the Nomad 1300 is perfectly coupled, in both size and weight, with dual cab ute canopies and many dual cab ute cabins as well as all size of 4x4 wagon and SUV The ABS lid is formed with a tapered shape to assist with Aero dynamics and reduced drag. When installed the tent will open to the right hand side of the vehicle. While compact and light in transit, the Nomad 1300 unfolds to reveal an impressive mattress space of 2050 x 1600mm. That’s larger than your standard queen size…

I'd been lucky enough to spend over 30 days in Fiordland during the bugle, ten days as part of an actual party and the rest as a tag-along filming for our TV Show. Even though most of this time was theoretically spent ‘working’, there is no place on earth I'd rather have been. Hearing those big creamy-coated bulls voice their spine-tingling bugles and watching them round up their harems of cows in such steep and unforgiving mountains is an amazing and incredibly humbling experience. It’s almost spiritual in some ways. The year 2018 began with some luck and saw Greg and I draw a ballot, the first period of a core block that tends to produce quality bulls. But as per usual, Fiordland did what Fiordland does and our hopes…

How can it be hunting? You just sit there until something walks past, right?’ Little did I know that there is a whole lot more to it. Some 15 years on, I have three treestands and all the bits to go with it. I would go as far as saying that I thoroughly enjoy it. There are more qualified people on this subject than me, but I’m going to dive into some of the details that I’ve discovered and adapted for the New Zealand environment. It started with a trip to Stewart Island in 2006. I’d never shot a Whitetail before and apparently sitting in a tree was a good way to get one - how boring. Well, I was wrong! The first Whitetail that walked through right under my…

The Coprosma genus consists of around 90 species which are found throughout the Pacific and Australasia. 58 of those 90 species are endemic to New Zealand making the genus one of the largest in New Zealand. Most are what you would call ‘shrubs’ but 8 species grow into small trees. Way back in the dark ages, 1985 to be more precise, I got accepted as a trainee with the Agricultural Pest Destruction Council (APDC). For the younger readers out there, in 1967 the long standing regional Rabbit Boards (administered by a national body called the Rabbit Destruction Council) were disbanded and replaced by the APDC. Later, in 1989, the role was taken over yet again, this time by the newly formed Regional Councils. But I waffle …. 10 cadets were…

WHAT IS PROTEIN? Protein is found throughout the body: in muscle, bone, skin, hair, and virtually every other body part or tissue. It makes up the enzymes that power many chemical reactions and the haemoglobin that carries oxygen in your blood. WHAT ARE THE KEY ROLES OF PROTEINS IN THE BODY? - Aids growth and maintenance of tissues - Transmits hormonal information and nutrients between your cells, tissues and organs - Acts as a buffering system, helping your body maintain proper pH (acidity) values - Helps maintain the fluid balance between your blood and the surrounding tissues - Forms antibodies to protect your body from foreign invaders, such as disease-causing bacteria and viruses - Is a valuable energy source but only in situations of fasting, exhaustive exercise or inadequate calorie…

In October the Government released its long-awaited Emissions Reduction Plan designed to prescribe the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across a number of sectors of the economy over the next 15 years The Plan is subject to public consultation and as such is open to intense lobbying by interest groups on all sides of the debate. Highly-funded and powerful conservation lobbyists Forest & Bird reacted by demanding the Government undertake a major control programme on wild game animal numbers in order to reduce browsing and increase the carbon capture of our native forests. They released a series of maps using extrapolated Department of Conservation data to illustrate the spread of deer, pigs and goats and despite some pretty obvious flaws with the maps and pretty dubious methodology they gained significant…

Made in Italy and founded by Giuseppe Zamberlan the company has been producing mountain boots since 1929 in the factory at Torrebelvicino at the foot of Italy’s beautiful Dolomites and is currently headed by Maria Zamberlan, granddaughter of Giuseppe. Giuseppe collaborated early with Vitale Bramani, fellow mountaineer and the founder of Vibram – the now industry standard rubber sole maker, thus they were one of the first adopters of the system and reaped the rewards with sales now expanded to 45 countries around the world. Recently Hunting and Fishing acquired the brand so I’m sure they’ll soon become more widely known in NZ! The Lynx Mid GTX had all the right ingredients for an all-round New Zealand boot when I first picked it up and read the manual. A stiff…

With this in mind and remembering that it’s BBQ season then why not try this easy-as recipe. Kofta sits in the family of meat ball dishes, which is similar to a kebab and originates from the Middle East, Asia, and India subcontinents. In their simplest form, koftas consist of balls of ground meat, usually beef, chicken, lamb, or pork (but in our case its rabbit) and mixed with spices and onion. The mixture is formed or shaped onto a stick and then cooked over an open fire or BBQ and served with pita, salads, dips and sauces. The beauty of this dish is that it’s easy to get the kids involved mixing it through their wee paws and shaping it onto the sticks which then leads to them wanting to…