Thank you to all of you who took the time to send in a submission to Game Animal Council amendment bill.

And again to those who made the extra effort to present orally to the select committee last month. That process really showed up the complete ignorance of not just the rabid indigenous-only ideologists, but also general.

Well-meaning conservationists, to what the hunting sector is actually achieving out there in the hills, and the real and potentially huge gains for conservation we are making. They had no knowledge of what Herds of Special Interests actually mean to the area they are designated in. We heard over and over how hunters only shot the big stags, wanted more animals generally and did not want to control the hinds/females. Nothing could be further from the truth! The whole point of HOSIs is giving the hunting sector the ability to manage both the selected herd and the habitat they live in for the best quality possible, to ensure a very low population of healthy animals in a healthy habitat. The HOSI system allows hunters to contribute the money to do this, via ballots etc. It does not mean recreational hunters are going to personally do all the hind control themselves. But the money they contribute, to have the chance to experience the highly sort after hunting experience that results from the HOSI, will pay for the respective Foundation to do the work on the ground in managing the herd /hind culling and all the other conservation projects they undertake. And as I said in my oral submission to any doubters that this won’t work, just look at what has happened in the Wapiti area under the FWF for the last 15 years. We have put our money where our mouth is and achieved the results in remote and challenging country at little or no cost to the tax payer - that none of the so called conservation organisations nor DOC have been able to achieve. My challenge to those conservation organisations opposing HOSIs is – “put up, or shut up!”

How DOC and GAC Operate

The progress of the GAC amendment bill is a timely reminder that we as hunters need to understand the political reality of the world we recreate in. Managing game animals is a long-term undertaking and requires continuity and certainty. The problem is that governments operate in 3 yearly cycles with the inevitable swings in attitude towards game animals that we have seen in the past. We as hunters, individually and through the organisations we belong to or support, make a significant investment in hunting and conservation and we need to make sure that investment bears fruit. We need to make sure we have the right people looking after our interests into the future. MPI and regional councils have mandates to control species as pests which leaves no room for managing game animals for hunting benefits.  The two main players in the hunting space are DOC and the Game Animal Council. DOC as an organization has a wide range of portfolios that are governed by a mountain of legislation policy and plans that means they are getting pushed and pulled in all directions as the various portfolios compete for resources. Game animals are but one and we have seen the roller coaster ride they have been on over time with tahr being a classic case in point. They have suffered the ravages of changes of personnel, policies and changing attitudes to game animals just within DOC itself. DOC is ultimately responsible to the Minister of Conservation as their boss. Since the current government came in and introduced a new portfolio and Minister – that of Hunting and Fishing – DOC has an additional master when it comes to game animals. They have been adding people and resources to this hunting and fishing “division” to service this portfolio and the Wild Animal Control team are working more closely with hunters. They have some great people who have really upped their game in working with the hunting sector in the last year which has been great to see, but … what happens when we get the inevitable pendulum swing in politics and a change in government? Their budget for the hunting and fishing division and sector will be cut, and we’ll be back where we used to be at loggerheads with a Department that is answering to a new Minister with a totally different ideological agenda to the current one! You only need to go back a few years to Minister Sage to see how that will pan out.

The Game Animal Council, although answerable to the same Ministers is not saddled with the same set of competing interests. It does not have to manage the great walks, deal with weeds, manage pests, save whales or the myriad of things that DoC is responsible for. It has a single focus through the Game Animal Council Act for the sustainable management of game animals and hunting for recreation, communities, commerce and conservation.

In comparison the Wild Animal Control Act says DoC is responsible for controlling wild animals generally, and of eradicating wild animals locally where necessary and practicable,

These are quite different objectives!

We must make hay whilst we have the current government but we need to be very careful not to put all our eggs in the one DOC basket no matter how helpful they may be at the moment as history has shown us how quickly that can change even without a change of government.

The best way we can get any long-term future for hunting and game animals and resist the damage of a change in government is by supporting the strengthening of our own statutory body – the GAC – as the best managers of our valued introduced species in New Zealand, run by hunters for hunters. We will need to find more funding mechanisms, so we are not dependent on the government of the day, and the Game Animal Council needs to be empowered and supported by the hunting sector including its leadership.

We must all unanimously support the GAC and lobby the current Minister to make it as strong and independent as possible.

In this issue:

This issue we have... 

06 – Tahr Expectations | By Luke Care

14 – Memorable Firsts| By Brendon Malcolm

20 – Return To Paradise| By Brandon McMurtrie

26 – Fighting Fallow | By Ben Carthew

32 – Aoraki Tahr | By Greig Caigou

36 – Corina Jordan - Science to Management | By Hannah Rae

46 – Mental Hunts – Supporting Hunters, Breaking Down Barriers| By Glen Thurston

48 – Wāhine Wapiti Experience Women Find Their Place in Fiordland| By Hannah Rae

54 – Heritage Red Deer Foundation Who Are We?| By Willie Duley

58 – Triumph in the Whanganui | Steve Bryan

60 – Better Hunting - River Safety | By The GAC

64 – Spartan Rifle Builds

66 - GAC Update | By The GAC

70 - ‘Go Slow’ in Dogs - Background and Updates | By Hayley Hunt

76 - Good News Stories - ‘Punter the Hunter’ a Children’s Book | By Greig Caigou

80 – Remote Huts – Greys Hut | By Andrew Buglass

90 – The Most Beautiful of Deer – Part II | By Greg Fagg 100 – Counting Your Chickens | By Corey Carston

110 – Pork Croquettes | By Richard Hingston