NZ Hunter

a word from the editor

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 the end of October lobby group Forest & Bird did another of their media beat ups, claiming that game animal numbers are at “crisis level” and our forests, our “largest living carbon sinks are on a death watch”. This is yet another case of carefully chosen language, inuendo, data misuse and manipulation to…

q&a

HI GREG I have a Swarovski Z8 3.5-28, and it is one hell of a scope and I love it. I see that you guys have reviewed this scope in your magazine and I am just wondering if I should get the ballistic turret or just stay with the BRX-1 reticle that it has which is good but I like the precision of dial-up. I am probably only shooting out to 400 yards. Also, I want a bipod and I am just going to get one from hunting and fishing. It is mainly so I can get above the grass line when I shoot. Would you recommend a 9 inch or 6-inch bipod? CHEERS, JACKSON HI JACKSON I would always go for a dial up turret over a reticle any day, as you will sooner or later get…

wapiti dreams

I'd been lucky enough to spend over 30 days in Fiordland during the bugle, ten days as part of an actual party and the rest as a tag-along filming for our TV Show. Even though most of this time was theoretically spent ‘working’, there is no place on earth I'd rather have been. Hearing those big creamy-coated bulls voice their spine-tingling bugles and watching them round up their harems of cows in such steep and unforgiving mountains is an amazing and incredibly humbling experience. It’s almost spiritual in some ways. The year 2018 began with some luck and saw Greg and I draw a ballot, the first period of a core block that tends to produce quality bulls. But as per usual, Fiordland did what Fiordland does and our hopes and…

nz hunter sits down with the minister of conservation hon. kiritapu allan

Q You were brought up in a small community where hunting, fishing and mahinga kai are an important part of everyday life. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how those experiences have shaped your views on the place of hunting in our communities? Okay, so, right here we are situated on State Highway 35. This is a highway that is laden with hunters, farmers, people that depend on the environment for our survival. Economic survival, recreation purposes, you name it. And so I think when you live in, when you’re raised in, rural NZ you see the world around you differently. There’s a couple of things: I think that one, the environment is something that we see not just as something to kick about but as something that’s…

mountain solitaire

Still rubbing my eyes, I was struck in awe of the magical mountain scene before me. To my feet lay an ocean of clouds with the full moon shining above, and mountain peaks emerging through the gleaming white like hundreds of little islands. To the west lay the peaks of desolate Fiordland and to the far north, I could see a few white glaciated peaks of the Southern Alps, glowing in the moonlight. It was the first time in 36 hours that I could see the world surrounding me, further than 20 metres away, as I had been caught in bad weather. Two days earlier I had parked up my home on wheels at the end of a backroad, (at the time a Toyota Corolla with a mattress in the back),…

bushnell® live animal gallery

THE PRIZE FOR THIS ISSUE IS... BUSHNELL PRIME 10X28 BINOCULARS WITH AN RRP OF $299! 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…