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 able to stick to our North Island and South Island NZ Hunter bubbles and get out and film a couple of late roar episodes day hunting on private land – which was a real change for us and a totally different style of filming. Unfortunately the movie camera expertise was in the S.I. bubble and Luke and I in the N.I. had to bumble our way through as best we could!

Hopefully next season you’ll find the “Covid Episodes” entertaining and rest assured, we’re back into the big country now with a vengeance!

The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation (FWF) in conjunction with the GAC has come up with a fantastic opportunity to help other Kiwis in need, and show hunters in a great light. FWF need to remove around 1000 Red and inferior Wapiti type animals from Fiordland each year to meet the biodiversity part of their agreement with DOC, and this year with the feral venison price being so low, they were going to have to search and destroy - leaving the animals where they fell instead of recovering them. The FWF and the GAC approached DOC and suggested why don’t they recover the animals and have the meat processed and donated to the food banks for needy New Zealanders. DOC have come to the party and supported the operation out of their own budget to make it a break-even proposition for the helicopter operators, Southern Lakes and Fiordland Helicopters who are providing their machines and expertise for no profit. Fare Game Meats in Invercargill are also processing the animals at a very good rate and the end product will be Wapiti mince provided for the needy free of charge through the food bank system. Prominent chefs will also be involved providing easy recipes to ensure everyone knows how to get the most out of this meat. As I write this we are about to head in with the operators and film a story from the mountain to the plate around the whole “Meat the Need” operation. In these days of Covid-19 doom and gloom it is nice to have such a feel good story come about due to the efforts of the hunting fraternity.

Speaking of Covid-19 you may notice this magazine is a few pages smaller than usual. A lot of our advertisers have done it tough over the last few weeks and therefore don't have the budget for marketing. In turn we need to run a certain percentage to make the magazine financially viable, so just for this issue we cut the page number back a little. Don't worry we'll be back to full strength soon! Make sure to support our advertisers where you can, they enable us to keep bringing great content to you. 

The Spot the Logo winners for last issue are Kevin Rowe and Callum Blackburn.   The logos were on page 73 in the Tuff advert and on page 99 in the Sportways advert.

If you missed the TVNZ DUKE airing of Season 6 of the TV Show, it’s now playing on TV 1 on Sunday afternoons at 4pm, so there’s plenty to watch on a cold winter afternoon!

There are still ample winter hunting opportunities left so get out and make the most of it - good luck! 

In this issue:

• The Jacobs Valley – with tahr guide Joseph Peter and Swedish photographer Hans Berggren
• Winter Hunting Red Stags by Luke Care
• Karl Bottema and the Holy Grail
• Jens Logstrup’s Kaimanawa Sika
• Highcountry Winter Stags with Matt Senior
• Advice From A Hunting Newbie – Hannah Rae
• Perfecting Layers – A Guide by Points South
• Winter Porkers by Cody Weller
• Johnny Bissell; Hunting Little, Local and Often
• Big Bad Blaser Brothers – by Jared Hearsey
• A Reason To Hunt – Jonathon Fulton’s Northland Boars
• Body Conditioning by Michael McCormack
• Corey Carston’s Safe to Eat series continues with Wounds and Bruising
• The Clarence Bivvies from Permolat
• My Biggest Mistakes – Corey Carston
• Whole Roasted Pheasant with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme by Richard Hingston

Test Fires: We Evaluate...

• The Bushnell Core DS Trail Camera