Tabla de contenidos para Issue 111 en NZ Hunter

There is Fiordland with the Wapiti, and Stewart Island with the Whitetail. I am drawn to hunting for the experiences it offers and the sense of adventure it provides In my lifetime, I have shot only a handful of deer outside DOC land. Even on DOC land, the deer I have shot there generally require a long walk in to shoot them. I guess that's why Fiordland and Stewart Island are so appealing to me. HISTORY I first wrote about Stewart Island in Issue 2 or 3 of NZ Hunter, and again in numerous subsequent issues. If my memory is correct, I was warning hunters all those years ago about how simple it would be to eradicate Whitetail from Stewart Island. I remember mooting that a HOSI would help secure…

Master the roar this year Autumn rolls around, the nights cool off, the bush comes alive, and suddenly the hills are echoing with that sound that pulls hunters back year after year The roar is the highlight of the calendar and possibly the most exciting hunting for many of us - not just because of the chance of a good head, but because it is when you experience stags at their best. But the roar is also when the consequences of our hunting decisions are on full display. The quality of the stags we hear and see each year is not an accident. It is the result of years of good herd and environmental conditions, and the discipline of hunters who knew when to pull the trigger, when to let…

Over the years, as materials and technologies have continued to advance, we've seen several updates to the hugely popular Hubba Hubba platform - the HP, NX, and Bikepack models, all refining and rebalancing that delicate compromise between weight, durability, and functionality. More recently, MSR appears to have shifted slightly away from the old mindset of “cutting your toothbrush in half to save a few grams”, instead prioritising creating a more enjoyable experience overall in the backcountry. This philosophy is clearly reflected in the latest Hubba Hubba tents: the LT and the HD. Both are freestanding, double-wall, three-season tents designed for backpacking, with the key differences largely revolving around durability and ventilation. HUBBA HUBBA LT As with previous Hubba Hubba models, the LT is available in one, two, and three-person configurations.…

Working with our gundogs’ natural instincts and desire to grab a toy or bumper, we taught the word “Fetch”, then turned this into the “Back” command, chaining together a sequence of behaviours; run away from me, in the direction pointed, to a pile of bumpers, and bring one back Working in a simple environment (cut grass lawn) with a pile of bumpers we use repetition to pattern a behaviour until its reliable on command. Repetition gives us opportunities to praise the dog for the right behaviour while also providing correction opportunities if mistakes are made or the performance is substandard. For most gundog breeds the act of retrieving is self-rewarding. It's in their DNA, the drive to chase, grab and retrieve. By adding verbal praise when the job is done…

NEW SWAROVSKI OPTIK BALANCE SPOTTING SCOPES SWAROVSKI OPTIK IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCETHE NEW AT/ST BALANCE FAMILY OF SPOTTING SCOPES, ANGLED (AT BALANCE 18-45X56) OR STRAIGHT (ST BALANCE 14-35X50) WHICH COMBINES THE FREEDOM OF HANDHELD USE WITH THE POWER AND PRECISION OF A HIGH-END SPOTTING SCOPE. Our cutting-edge image stabilization delivers razor-sharp views, without any shake. No setup. No hesitation. Just steady, handheld clarity, sharp, unshakeable vision - every time. At the heart of the AT/ST Balance lies SWAROVSKI OPTIK's renowned optical excellence. With advanced Shake-Free Image Stabilization, the AT/ST Balance keeps your view perfectly stable - even at high magnification or in challenging conditions. The AT/ST Balance was designed with mobility and spontaneity in mind. Lightweight, compact, and tripod-free, it gives you true handheld freedom. RRP: ST BALANCE 14-35X50 $5,360.00…

If you are filming a whole series with multiple trips and a few hunts that do not quite pan out with success then that is all sweet. People can watch another episode and see you succeed that way. But filming a single hunt video without shooting something just does not quite slide the same way. Sam Yule and Cam Henderson had already taken on a five day trip in Otago a few weeks prior to try find a mature, classic shaped stag, but the ball never landed in their court. This time around, I was added as an extra set of eyes and someone to help guide Sam onto a stag via radio if we did manage to find one. I had never met Sam before, only seen him on…

We tested velocity verses pressure with the 3.100” long 300 FXXX and the 2.900” 300 FXX, and now we'll continue with the 2.700” 300FX. Here again is the water capacity table for the three chamberings and the updated load test table with the 300FX added in to complete the comparison. The results here were super interesting to say the least! As we said in Part 1, the powder verses pressure results were very predictable and linear, with a 3 grain step up between the chamberings for the same pressure, and 2 grains more to go from 65,000psi to 70,000psi in each chambering. The big surprise was the velocity! Yes, the 300FXXX produced the most velocity which wasn't surprising, but the smallest 300FX beating the 300FXX, and achieving not far behind…

We talk about how she went from farm girl with zero hunting experience to running Mt Campbell Hunting Club, teaching adults the ins and outs of learning to hunt. Along the way, she shares her take on balancing a demanding career, navigating burnout, finding connection in the outdoors, and why the women-only hunts became an unexpected success. How did the outdoors shape your early life, and was hunting part of that? I grew up on a number of farms. My family is from Central Otago, and we have a station behind the Alexandra clock, so I've been in the outdoors since I was born. Mostly, I was just being on the farm, hunting wasn't really part of my childhood. When I was five or six, we moved down to Southland,…

Better Hunting is a free online training platform built by the NZ Game Animal Council to help hunters improve their skills and knowledge, while helping them understand their obligations and responsibilities as hunters and firearms users. The courses and resources are intended to provide a pathway and support hunters who go on to do practical training, such as the NZDA HUNTS courses. The content is designed by New Zealand hunters, for New Zealand hunters. You can do the courses on your phone and even download them for offline viewing using the app. For new, inexperienced and casual hunters, the two main courses, Hunting Essentials and Firearm Essentials, cover foundational hunting and outdoor skills. There's also an Introduction to Pig Hunting course. More experienced hunters will still find useful information throughout…

REMOTE HUTS WEBSITE The track goes high in order to get around a series of canyons in the valley's lower reaches. The first of these is the spectacular Whakarira Gorge which is worth a day-trip in its own right. How did a hut get a name like Boo Boo? I Was initially told that it originated from a cocked-up food drop at a deer cullers’ camp there in the 1950s, however a map from 1919 has the creek next to where the hut now is already named as Boo Boo Creek. So much for legend! Boo Boo was in the first in a batch of New Zealand Forest Service 4-bunk S81 designs built in 1959. It had an open fire and perspex windows. In the early 1980s Lands and Survey…

While I'm not quite yet sold on EV 4x4's for my uses, I've recently discovered that electric dirt bikes are a different kettle of fish. I'll admit the electric dirt bikes hadn't really caught my eye until recently. I've grown up riding bikes, with a succession beginning with a vintage Honda 50cc and finally ending with a KTM 250 I sold in a fit of financial responsibility that both my wife and I have regretted ever since. I'm quite partial to a combustion engine too. I love the sound of a motor working hard, be it a limiting 250 two-stroke or a good v8 roar - but that's not often very useful in a hunting scenario. I've watched the introduction of electric products to the hunting market with a keen…

This recipe needs to be on yout list for the roar I needed some Fallow for my son's wedding that I was catering for and using this recipe, so I rung a farmer who I knew and thought he might have a couple running around out the back of his farm that I could at least try and chase. So, I decided to take a mate who doesn't hunt. I have known Darren for a number of years. He is a top chef and has covered all bases in cookery that you could think of from owning his own restaurant to wining national awards. I even taught him when I came back from overseas and we competed in the National Culinary Team together at the Olympics in Germany. As luck…

As a welcome addition, bowhunter Kevin Watson is adding his experience with archery kills to this discussion. Based on my experience as a hunting guide, I have observed that many people think they know where to aim on a deer to ensure a kill. However, when they shoot and hit the intended spot, the projectile misses the vitals. Now I've seen deer killed effectively hit with the rifle after being hit in places other than the lungs. However, I wouldn't recommend shooting at these spots. The massive amount of energy produced by hunting calibres can, to a certain degree, compensate for errant shot placement. At some point, though, this will lead to an unrecovered animal. The best spot to guarantee a quick kill is to place a projectile through the…

I found this ironic, as they were always rifle parties. I wondered if perhaps they just needed to get off their quad bikes. However, I bit my tongue and digested the feedback, and he was right. On each trip over the same country, we saw fewer and fewer deer. But what could we do? The property wasn't huge, and good bowhunting country was at a premium. We had to find a way to minimise the impact our hunting had on the property. I decided to find a way which would allow the property to hunt the same on the last day, usually day five, as it did on the first day. The obvious thing was to find more country and develop new hunting circuits, taking the pressure off our usual…

To me, the idea of a custom build felt excessive - unnecessary, overcomplicated, and offering no real advantage to the everyday hunter. I believed, with absolute conviction, that a good factory rifle possessed the same essential qualities and would deliver the same practical results as any high-end custom option. When I looked at custom rifles, I didn't see performance - I saw price tags and over-engineering. And for a long time, that belief went completely unchallenged. As the years passed, though, small cracks began to appear in that certainty. I remember watching some of the very first NZ Hunter Get Amongst It DVDs - ones I still have to this day. One scene in particular has stuck with me: Willie behind his bullpup .338 Lunatic, absolutely hammering animals in terrain…

Profiling the aweosme work hunters do around New Zealand Submit ideas to luke@nzhunter.co.nz This edition we head North to the Tararua Ranges, where hunter and tramper engagement began over 100 years ago when the first huts and tracks were formed. There's always been strong club effort in maintaining these resources as huts deteriorate in the harsh conditions of our forests and cut tracks need repeat work every few years to keep them in a good useable state. Back in 1988, the Tararua Aorangi Huts Committee (TAHC) was, I think, the first major voluntary backcountry community group formed in the country to take on upkeep of a large hut network and that organisation morphed into the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network (GWBN) in 2020 and has as its Chair Derrick Field ……

His Mark V action with its nine locking lugs (3 rows of 3) and 54 degree bolt lift released in 1958 was claimed to be the strongest in the world. The Weatherby brand is no longer the only high performance innovator and a few other cartridge and rifle designers and manufacturers’ products have matched or in a few cases even exceeded Weatherby's performance. Recently with the use of some new materials in rifle manufacture and some innovative new cartridge designs, Weatherby is once again being talked about by those wanting the best performance for some specific hunting situations - especially by those wanting lightweight mountain rifles. The Mark V is a full diameter bolt type action, with the lug diameter the same as the bolt body, therefore removing the need…

Before the hunting-focussed brands saw the light around lightweight mountain gear One Planet had a strong following in the hunting fraternity, and it's awesome to see them returning to this market through the magazine. As a concept a waterproof sleeping bag is a wonderful idea, but the execution has been tricky over the years. When I hear the phrase ‘waterproof sleeping bag’ my first thought is a 2kg behemoth made for polar expeditions. One Planet fortunately didn't read that brief. With a 55 year heritage in Australasian sleeping bag manufacturing, they have a fair idea of what's needed for our climate. And that's a breathable 1kg sleeping bag, the fact that they achieved this and made it waterproof is a serious feat. The model I selected weighed 968 grams, including…