Table of contents for Issue 73 in NZ Hunter

Our winter hunting has been fairly eventful to say the least, and we have some interesting episodes coming up for you next season. Spring is just round the corner in the low country but don’t expect to see any signs of it for a month yet in the high country! Some of the most dangerous times of the year travel wise are coming up - with equinoxial winds, unstable spring snow conditions, and rapidly rising and usually high river levels due to snow melt and the generally unsettled spring weather. It is imperative you watch the weather and avalanche forecasts closely, and be prepared to postpone your trip for more favourable conditions. Inconvenient though it may be to have to change time booked off work, family commitments etc, it’s much…

It’s the kind of scene you don’t forget, and something that resonates with me to this day. This planted the seed for my tahr hunting career and from that moment on, I was sold. In 2014 I moved to Christchurch for university and with the ability to be in tahr country within a few hours, tracking down a trophy bull became a big part of my life Finding a bull with the age, character and story to make a true trophy is not easy. Four years of regular excursions into tahr country during my time at university showed me this. While I was fortunate enough to personally take (and see others take) some exceptional Red deer, chamois, pigs and wild sheep, and a lot of good bull tahr during this…

I’d like to share some of my own adventures, of being a Kiwi with a passion for the outdoors. This story is a recap of ‘year one’ with my new hunting buddy Millie. It all began early in 2018 with emails bouncing back and forth regarding a little heading pup. She was ready to be picked up from Darfield, so my wife and I packed up the ute and headed north to meet her. With our new addition to the family in a box on the back seat, we returned home and Millie soon settled in. I got some basic training underway immediately as there is no better time to start than from the word ‘go’. Straight away I picked up on Millie’s soft nature and her eagerness to please…

YOU CAN WIN SEND US YOUR HUNTING PHOTOS FEATURING ONE OF THE BERETTA FAMILY OF PRODUCTS AS LISTED ABOVE AND THE WINNING PHOTO WILL RECEIVE A PAIR OF STEINER SAFARI ULTRASHARP 10X42 BINOCULARS RRP $699 Entries should be emailed to editor@nzhunter.co.nz - Subject: Beretta Photo Competition Firearm used must be shown in photo…

Pull your heads in – it’s not over! It means spring is just around the corner and in my opinion, some of the best waterfowling to be had is about to begin. I reckon hunting Canada geese would have to be the icing on the cake when it comes to waterfowling so I get pretty excited at the end of July when I can put away the duck gear for the year and pull out the honker fleet. So this is how I spend my spring. We are extremely lucky here in the motherland that we can now hunt geese all year round with no limit restrictions. If you’re slightly nuts like me and you plan it right, you can pretty well hunt waterfowl for ten months straight. The majority…

IRONMAN 4X4 PRO FORGE UPPER CONTROL ARMS Allow installation of larger tyres and further increased ride height by providing corrected wheel alignment and greater operating clearance around the arm as is often the limitation when using the OEM upper control arms. Manufactured from 6082 T6 alloy with silver anodised corrosion protection. Ultimate strength is achieved using a drop forged method of construction. Low maintenance components which follow the OEM philosophy ensure durability is not compromised. Bushes and ball joint are replaceable with OEM compatible or genuine components. All fixtures including brake wire provision are integrated within the arm. ADR compliant with a 3 Year 60,000km warranty. • Optimise Wheel Alignment at Raised Ride Height • More Clearance for Larger Tyres and Increased Lift • Improved Ball Joint Angle • High…

This issue I’m going to discuss a matter I get dragged into quite often these days, and that’s warranty claims on rifles that “don’t shoot!” Now this is a tricky situation and as with most things, there are two sides to the story. Firstly, you as the purchaser has certain rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. Here’s a few points from the Act relevant to this discussion: Retailers and other suppliers guarantee their goods will: » Be of acceptable quality. » Be fit for the particular purpose that you told the seller you were purchasing it for. » Match the description given in advertisements or sales brochures, or by the seller. Acceptable quality means goods: » Do what they are made to do. » Are acceptable in appearance and finish.…

We intended to drop my ute at the Whitcombe car park and head to the start of the Waitaha Valley in Haley’s family van. Unfortunately a car pulled out in front of her and it was ‘lights out’ for the van. Luckily no one was hurt and Haley was even more determined to continue with the trip. The tow truck driver put us in contact with Rachel from Hokitika Scenic Tours and she went out of her way to get us where we wanted to go. The goal was use ‘Shanks’s pony’ to reach one of the world’s most isolated and scenic huts situated at Ivory Lake, and hopefully to get on to some roaring stags in the process. The Waitaha Valley track and hut network is maintained by the…

Sami was keen as mustard and I had to give her a couple of reminders that we were a team, as she drifted a bit too far ahead. She settled into her routine and we began our hunt. She came and went and worked sign within ten metres of me as I followed a game trail. My hunt was a combination of hunting as I normally would without a dog, and also watching her for any indication of the proximity of game or a start for a tracking job off the ground or wind. Half an hour into the hunt, Sami started to test the wind and show a bit of ‘keen’ down the face below us. At this early stage in her career (ten months old) she was quite…

It was an exhilarating ride and I felt the butterflies lift in my stomach as we angled around the glorious Harkness Valley. Below us opened up a mountain wonderland with small fingers of beech stretching down into tussock basins with a perfect stream snaking through it. The headset chatter stopped as we took in the beauty of the surroundings and then suddenly we were hovering above the green landing pad. Then I saw the ex-Forest Service hut looking magnificent in splendid orange nestled in amongst the natives in a truly idyllic location. Just an hour beforehand, East Kaweka Helicopter’s head pilot Chris had expressed concern about my original destination of choice. He’d soon curbed my enthusiasm for Backridge Biv, explaining rather straightforwardly “You’re going to get blown to hell and…

They are very fast flying birds that also have an alert and wary disposition. This makes them a challenging species to hunt. They have even earned themselves the nickname of 'pocket rockets'. My favourite time of the year to watch, observe and photograph California quail is late spring and summer when the chicks have just hatched. The young birds leave the nest as soon as they dry out and are extremely active within a few hours of being born. At birth they are about the size of a large bumblebee and I'd have to say they are some of the cutest little birds you will ever see. Over the course of several kahawai fishing excursions to the Wairau Bar in Marlborough, I had noticed a couple of family groups of…

"IN THE CONTEXT OF HUNTING, SAFETY IN THE BACKCOUNTRY IS PARAMOUNT" Being able to move freely and with confidence is one of those attributes of physical conditioning that many of us often skip over; instead we put that time into getting fitter, faster or stronger. Mobility isn’t the same as flexibility, although it is related. Mobility incorporates aspects of flexibility and strength. Someone with good mobility is able to perform functional movement patterns with minimal restrictions in the range of motion (ROM) of those movements. A flexible person, while being very supple, may or may not have the core strength, balance or coordination to perform the same functional movements as the person with greater mobility. Over a period of time if mobility issues or imbalances are not addressed we endure…

Named after the 85th anniversary of the company, the 85 action was a redesign of the 75, and the Finnlight achieved some significant weight reductions over the older 75. Now 12 years later, we have an updated version of the 85 Finnlight, with some interesting and unique features. THE 85 ACTION IN BRIEF The 85 action is a three lug semi controlled round feed in that the extractor grabs the case rim just before the cartridge disappears into the chamber. It’s not a full controlled round feed like the Mauser, but it does mean you can drop a round in the top and push feed it, so kind of the best of both worlds. The extractor sits between the top and right side lugs, while the manual ejector rides up…

And with spring goose on the hunting radar, what better time to share the recipe with you? This parfait will be a treat at any function you are hosting. The beauty of it is that it can be frozen and once defrosted, it will taste just the same as when you first made it. Parfait is not to be confused with ‘foie gras’. Foie gras (directly translated as ‘fat liver’) is seen as a luxury item which involves the force feeding of a mature duck or goose large quantities of corn so that its liver becomes enlarged. It is still common practice in France today but it’s not allowed in NZ. Foie gras is a fantastic culinary item but the only way you will have it here is from a…

We had spent many days in the valleys and tops, visiting every nook and cranny, and even more time looking at maps of the area. This was to be a finale trip of sorts, attempting to put all our curiosity and questions to bed. Mid-March was a dog of a time for weather and we had to delay the trip a few times before finally getting a forecast that guaranteed at least a couple of fine days back-to-back. Because of the delays, we had to cut four days off the trip so we chose to concentrate on a section of the planned route that we could play either way, depending on how the weather rolled out. Not an ideal start, but I think we would have died of old age…

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!…

For me, it’s always been about how to find the next rabbit or hare, or how to get close enough to a goat to kill it. Or even where my next arrow funds will come from... Now I’m 33 and my thoughts are new. I still think about bowhunting every day – but I’ve changed gear a little. Now I think about how to find the biggest stag in the catchment and then when I find it, I think about how to stalk it, and hopefully kill it. Then come questions like how can I become more accurate? And what big game species am I going to hunt next? Or other important stuff, like what can I get my next venison made into? This bowhunting addiction has taken me from…

There are many ways to carry venison back to camp. We’ve covered the ‘whole animal carry’ so here is another way, by turning the hindquarters into a backpack. Safety note: it would be a wise idea to have something bright to tie on top if you use this method. 1 - Roll your carcass onto its stomach after you have gutted the animal. From the shoulder end, as close to the beginning of the neck as you can go, cut a wide slice through the skin from one shoulder blade across to the other (about 30 centimetres). This will be the end of your pack straps. 2 - Now, either side of the back steaks and well down the flanks of the carcass, cut all the way back to the…

Two to three year gaps between hutbook entries weren’t unusual in the past, and while profiling the hut on the website helped it reach a record eight visits in 2017, this is probably a bit of an anomaly. Sir Robert is located in the head of Sir Robert Creek in the Mungo catchment which is a tributary of the Hokitika River. Sir Robert Creek backs onto the Main Divide and it's a spectacular and rough bit of country. The lower reaches of the creek are gorged and impassable, and all routes to the hut involve tops crossings. Sir Robert can be accessed from the West Coast via the Hokitika, Whitcombe or Toaroha valleys, and from Canterbury via the Mathias River and Canyon Creek. Sir Robert was built by the New…

We reviewed the Kilo2200BDX rangefinder coupled with the Sierra3BDX 6.5-20x52 scope back in issue 68 Christmas last year. Read that review for a full breakdown on how this ballistic system works, but in brief, the rangefinder talks to an app on your phone that uses the Applied Ballistics engine (currently the best in the business) to read out your “come-ups” and wind holds in the optic – in this case the range finding binos. You enter the rifle and loads ballistic profile into the app, and it takes into account all ballistic parameters, including the environmentals; temperature, pressure, wind strength and direction, and then sends the data to the binos to read out, and this works even without your phone being on. You can either dial the correction into your…

NEW FIREARMS LEGISLATION ANNOUNCED Hot off the press is the second tranche of changes to our firearms laws and with many of the proposed changes being leaked it was confirmation of much of what we already knew. The main points of the legislation as announced are: • The creation of a firearms registry to enable the monitoring and tracking of every firearm legally held in New Zealand. • Changing the length of the time of issue for a firearms licence from 10 years to five years. • The creation of a licensing regime for shooting clubs and ranges. • A requirement to be a licence holder in order to purchase and hold firearm parts, magazines, and ammunition. • Strengthening and tightening the rules in the licensing regimes for individuals and…