HunterFisher

NZ Hunting

NZ A great country for the avid hunter. One of the best features for hunters is the fact that there are many huge national parks available. Anyone can gain a fee Department of Conservation permit and enter these parks to hunt any time of the year. You can now book a NZ DOC hunting permit online!!

This is one country where hunting is not restricted to the wealthy or privaliged. Of course there if you have permission to hunt on any of the privatly owned farms and stations, you have that option as well. This is more so for small game, goats and game bird hunting.

If you are not familiar with NZ it is important to understand the difference between ' real ' wilderness fair chase hunting and ' penned ' shooting.

There are many hunts sold by outfitters to the unwary that are marketed as fair chase ( this is particularly common with trophy red stag hunts ) However the ' hunt ' actually takes place on a large farm or station, ring fenced with high deer fences. The stags are bred up on another farm and purchased prior to the ' hunt '. They are then moved to the property and the client is ' guided ' to the stag and it gets shot. The client then goes home happy and thinking he has shot a wild trophy red stag. Of course some so called hunters are happy to hang animals on their walls and boast to their friends about their ' trophies ' when it was actually shot in a glorified pen. I do not support this type of shooting and will oppose it when ever I get the opportunity to do so.

However many kiwis prefer the challenge of hunting the truly wild deer in the beautiful national parks. The heads are not as big but you will experience NZ in all its glory in our wonderful national parks.

Firearms laws are still reasonably liberal with guns like semi auto shotguns and rifles, openly available to licence holders. Handguns are restricted to target shooters and collectors. There is no handgun hunting allowed unfortunatly. Military style semi automatics are restriced to a special licence endorsment. However if you are determined to jump through the burocratic hoops you can own them.

Bowhunting is also very popular and this is an intense challenge, considering NZ wild game is hunted year round and tends to be very wary.

Before the European came to NZ the only land mammal was a small native bat. All the species one can hunt have been introduced. There are no snakes and only one species of poisonous spiders.

However the NZ bush is no place for the feint hearted. The weather can change rapidly and hunters should be well equipped to cope with wet weather, snow and low temperatures. Good gear is a must.

Beautiful 9"+ Chamois buck from South Westland, Southern Alps, NZ - This Chamois is displaying its summer coat. Read on to find out about NZ Hunting..