Spring has sprung with some lovely warm days but there’s certainly been a sting in the tail along with it.
As I write this alpine passes are closed all across the country and North Canterbury is having the lowest snow fall in living memory – for the second time in a month! We are well and truly into prime avalanche time now for the next few months so tahr hunters beware and pay attent... read more »
Some of you may be asking why have we got a kea on the cover?
Well firstly it’s a truly magnificent photo of one of our iconic mountain birds, taken by our very own Luke. And secondly is showing what we all know but a lot of the population don’t - and that is hunters are some of NZ’s greatest conservationists, and we enjoy seeing the result... read more »
Winter feels like it’s here now, with quite a few snow dumps occurring in May. The roar timing was interesting, generally late in most places with the Sika roar especially seeming more spasmodic with quite a bit of activity well on into May.
This was as a result of the variable weather patterns and less daylight hours in a lot of places over summer. We can expect some late fawns on the ground next spring and summer.
No doubt you’ve all heard Forest and Bird have put their judicial review of DOC and the communit... read more »
Well, back in 2007 when Fi and I first made the jump from primary production and agriculture to magazine production, who would have thought we’d still be here 17 years later producing our 100th issue!
It has been a huge roller-coaster ride with the fight for common sense conservation and bureaucracy occupying such a large chunk of our time. The years have flown, and we really are making some gains now with the current government seeing the value in what we’ve been saying for m... read more »
I hope the New Year had been treating you all as well as it has us. We finally managed to get away for a real adventure with 15 days in the Hooker/Landsborough Wilderness Area.
What a great break that was! We ran a little short of food and eventually got chased out by that big rain that washed out South Westland again, but the only negative to the trip was seeing so many nanny tahr in places we haven’t seen them before. We definitely have more work to d... read more »
El Nino is back! That’s what I said last issue, but it hasn’t eventuated just yet, with more wet weather affecting the East Coast and we’ve gone from dust back to mud again. Oh well, there’s been the odd fine weather window here and there in most places for those of you who have been able to get in the hills.
The Sika Show was a resounding success – apart from the rugby Sunday morning - and there was a lot of great information and displays. Well done to Mike and John and everyone who contributed to making it a great event. And despite the election being over it was great to see Nation... read more »
El Nino is back! The West Coast has been copping a pasting and we’ve had a dry and windy month on the East Coast so looks like we’re going to get a windy spring which we haven’t had for a few years.
The dust storms in the silt covered East Coast have been horrendous over the last few weeks. We’ve managed to get away from cyclone recovery long enough to film a couple of episodes for the TV Show before the stags dropped their antlers which was a bit of a relief!
The WARO... read more »
It’s been another challenging couple of months with weather patterns as unsettled as ever, but hopefully you’ve all managed to get a few trips in between the rain, wind and snow!
The huge news this issue is the release of National’s Hunting and Fishing Policy. This is a really big deal, and encompasses so much of what we’ve been fighting to achieve for many years. Kudos where Kudos is due - Chris Luxon, Todd McLay and their team have taken on board what w... read more »
It’s been a real mixed bag of a roar this year, with La Nina fading and repeated Westerly weather fronts bringing more bad weather than good - especially in the South Island – the complete opposite to last year!
The roaring has been very patchy and localised as well in most areas. This has no doubt saved a few trophies in remote areas as the weather hasn’t been conducive to covering large amounts of country, and it’s been pretty quiet and harder to find the mature stags unless you struck... read more »
The bloody weather! That is how I started my last editorial, but little did I know what was to happen a couple of weeks later would make the North Island summer so far pale into insignificance
Cyclone Gabrielle. It’s now 5 weeks on from the day the Hawkes Bay and other North Island communities won’t forget in a very long time. Our HB base has been devastated, and we’ve been able to think of nothing but trying to recover since. The fantastic wilderness trips to various ... read more »
The bloody weather! Ok, enough about that - but it has been one of the topics that has been having a huge effect on everybody from the drowned East Coast to the sunburnt south and west!
The other big breaking news as I write this is the Prime Minister retiring and National announcing a hunting and fishing portfolio. Congratulations to Todd McClay on being the first spokesperson. It’s really pleasing to see all the hard work we’ve all put in to this space includi... read more »
What a spring this has been with endless wet weather on the East Coast of the North Island especially, and long fine spells on the West Coast.
We sure are getting some pretty mixed up weather at the moment! Antler growth and animal condition appears slow this spring everywhere we’ve been despite the warmer conditions – go figure!
This editorial is one of bouquets and brickbats. First up, the Sika Show this year wa... read more »
Spring is not far away now in many areas despite a very challenging winter, and depending on your altitude.
The very first shoots of Mountain tutu are just starting to appear on the warmest claypans in the Kaweka Forest Park, which means the Sika will be hoovering them up very soon.
KAWEKA 1080
While we were in the Kawekas doing a kiwi nest raid on Sunday, Ospri finally ... read more »
It is with great sorrow we say goodbye to one of our longest term writers and friend, Matt Winter.
Matt’s incredible photography and wide knowledge of all things outdoors - whether birds, plants or animals - has kept us all entertained for many years. Till we meet again Matt. Tribute on page 4.
There’s been a fair bit of pretty rough weather and snow in the last couple of months. A lo... read more »
We’re rapidly approaching winter for real now, with the longest day not far away
I would suggest anyone wanting to experience a tahr rut hunt without any helicopter disturbances would do well to get into the Southern Alps this year, as with borders opening up the helicopter operators tell me they have a lot of bookings for trophy bull tahr heli-hunts/AATH next year. With t... read more »
By the time you read this the roar will be well underway!
We were able to squeeze in a couple of epic trips that you’ll see on the new season TV Show episodes very shortly. As I write this we have just gone into the Red Traffic Light setting due to the imminent Omicron outbreak, and who knows just how this is going to affect our hunting for the fores... read more »
The Christmas break is over and I hope you all managed to make the most of it.
We were able to squeeze in a couple of epic trips that you’ll see on the new season TV Show episodes very shortly. As I write this we have just gone into the Red Traffic Light setting due to the imminent Omicron outbreak, and who knows just how this is going to affect our hunting for the fores... read more »
This spring has been totally dictated to by Covid, and as I write this the Auckland outbreak is now well and truly marching its way down the country.
Those in the South Island have not been affected too much yet, but we can all see it’s only a matter of time. Auckland hunters have been locked at home for months now, and frustration is spreading throughout the community. It’s going to be a very interesting Christmas indeed!
At th... read more »
We’ve just come out of lockdown as I write this, and the poor old Aucklanders are still in level 4, so there hasn’t been much hunting done lately!
All our mid-winter trips had to be canned and now the Red stags have cast their antlers, but we’re hoping to squeeze in a Fallow hunt before they too drop in October.
I had thought that most people who are endangering the future of hunting in New Zealand are outside of the hunting ... read more »
It’s that deepest darkest time of the year when only the keenest seem to venture far into the mountains!
We’ve had a fair amount of snow unlike this time last year, and the avalanche risk is up to Considerable or High in anything above 1200m in most of the Southern Alps. So be careful if venturing into any terrain with those classic avalanche characteristics, and remember, it’s ... read more »
We hope you’re all enjoying the new season’s TV Show episodes, Wednesday nights on TVNZ’s Duke. It’s been a trying season thanks to Covid, getting them all filmed and edited and to air but thankfully, judging by the feedback we’ve been getting, it looks like it’s been well worth the effort!
It's tahr and chamois rut time, and we’re trying to get in the hills every suitable weather window – of which there haven’t been many! You’ll have to wait until next season’s episodes to see the results, but let’s just say – girls rule!
The 21/22 annual tahr control plan we’ve been tryin... read more »
We hope you’re all enjoying the new season’s TV Show episodes, Wednesday nights on TVNZ’s Duke. It’s been a trying season thanks to Covid, getting them all filmed and edited and to air but thankfully, judging by the feedback we’ve been getting, it looks like it’s been well worth the effort!
By the time you read this the Wapiti ballots will be well underway and the Red roar will be kicking off everywhere as well. The guys from our main TV Show sponsor Continuous Group won the Wild Natives 1st period, and have asked one of us to show them around the block. As Willie’s still too bus... read more »
Starting off with the good news, we have been flat out filming and editing the last few episodes of the new season of the TV Show due to go to air on February the 17th.
Despite the Covid restrictions limiting our roar hunts to private land, since then we have managed to complete some amazing expeditions and seen some amazing country and animals. I promise you your Wednesday nights will be busy watching TVNZs Duke channel for some time!
The process for c... read more »
This spring has had the usual mix of weather so far, but we have had a few cracker days in between fronts that we’ve managed to get up high on the mountains and down low in the rivers and make the most of.
By the time you read this the deer should be mostly in their summer coats except for the yearlings which are always the last to change, making these young and tender animals easier to distinguish – just try and leave the knobbies, the yearling stags!
The election has been and gone and we... read more »
Most of you will be aware of the result of the new consultation the High Court ordered DOC to do over the second half of their 20/21 Tahr Control Operational Plan.
The whole hunting sector put a huge amount of effort into presenting facts, population modelling and options to the Department, but unfortunately it largely fell on deaf ears. We could not save the bulls in the National Parks, and DOC intend to continue to do all the hours they originally plan... read more »
Tahrmageddon 2, it’s hard to believe, but here we are again…
I’m not going to go over the way this debacle has played out so far, as it’s covered in other parts of this issue of the magazine.
Where to from here? By the time you read this DOC contractors will have completed the 60 hours of culling in National parks DOC has instructed them to do. Mo... read more »
As I write this we are in Covid 19 Level 2 and hunters are allowed to go bush all over the country again, as long as they are sensible about it and follow the Level 2 guidelines.
Thankfully most hunters were seen to be obeying the rules through Level 3 and 4, but there were a couple of exceptions. Hopefully we have no major community outbreaks and we will be able to continue to get back to normal both in work and recreation where possible.
Under Level 3 we were a... read more »
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... read more »
Well here we are approaching that time of year again.
It’s the countdown to the roar and our favourite time of year. The maps are out, heads being scratched and plans schemed to work out where we’re headed this year to try and find that true wilderness stag to top all stags! The good thing is there’s been little WARO this season, so there should ... read more »
This spring we’ve visited some interesting new places, and revisited some favourite old haunts.
I never fail to be amazed by the variety of hunting experiences available in this country, and every time we come back from a trip I find it’s just opened the door to many more! I’ve seen some young and old fullas get their “first” of several species and trophies in the last couple of months, ... read more »
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 r... read more »
I hope the tahr ballot block weather worked more in your favour than it did in ours.
We had Speculation Creek the 3rd week in May and it was a complete washout, no-one was able to get in. Oh well, back to walking in when the weather is more suitable, which is more our style anyway. We’ve had some great success off camera since then, doing shorter trips driving in up the East C... read more »
The first real bite of winter is hitting the hills as I write this.
The roar is well and truly over, and we’re into our planning of the cold months ahead now. We had an awesome sojourn in the Greenstone after Fallow, we’ve done our first sortie after Rusa, and have tahr rut, winter Red stags and of course waterfowl to hunt and film over the next few months.&nb... read more »
As I sit to write this it’s been just two days since the tragedy in Christchurch.
Our sincerest condolences go out to the families of the victims, and to all of those affected directly. And we are all going to be affected - whether directly or indirectly. New Zealand lost its innocence on March 15, 2019.
Within hours of the shooting... read more »
It’s rapidly approaching that time of year that all hunters look forward to – the stag’s antlers hardening and the coming of the roar!
Now is a great time of year to harvest some fat venison and some will be already looking for stags. There are a few things to consider if you’re looking to collect some antlers you’ll be proud of. Firstly, some facts about how a stag’s antlers grow - they pump calcium rich blood up through the... read more »