NZ Hunter

word from the editor

The cold weather and snow has hit with a vengeance in some areas, and winter is really here now! 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 trying to work on with DOC has now been released. It is written only at Management Unit (MU) level, and on the surface we are happy with most of it, but as the saying goes – the devil is in the detail. We have given DOC extensive information on areas within the management units that require more attention, and areas…

q&a

HI GREG I have a Remington 700 long range in 7mm Rem Mag. I currently have been using Fusion ammunition but have been told that if I want to push out to hit 600-700 yards, I would need a custom handload. Do you know or have any idea what kind of ammo I would need to make/have made, or what projectiles or powders do you recommend for long range deer hunting? CHEERS IN ADVANCE, SEAN HI SEAN For longer range you need better ballistic performance than Fusion to enable you to hit where you want to, especially in the variable and more unpredictable winds in the mountains. This means a high ballistic coefficient (BC) projectile travelling at good velocity. There is good factory ammo that is suitable to about 600 yards in the 7mm Rem mag if…

an alpine vacation with nz hunter

Although it looked like a straightforward sidle on the map, it turned out to be an obstacle course peppered with tree roots and steep pinches. With a weeks’ worth of gear and food on my back, and only a Sheffield pie in my belly, I was stubbornly willing my legs to try to keep up with Greg. At this point I wondered what I’d gotten myself into and was furiously brainstorming valid reasons for me to walk back to the truck or call for a heli pick up. Three days earlier Scotty and I were on the road, heading away for the weekend when we received a message from Willie. “Are you guys keen for a weeklong alpine trip in Arthur’s Pass hunting chamois and Red stags?” No one in their right…

finding success in a new spot

I love the process involved in finding a new spot and going through the steps from the very beginning - looking at the maps, planning possible routes, campsites and likely faces/bluffs up to the time of the first trip, where it all looks completely different to how you imagined There really is no alternative to beating the feet and getting out there to truly explore and familiarise yourself with new areas. The spot featured in this story was first brought to my attention on a relaxed tramping overnighter. While camped in a remote part of the Canterbury high country, I began looking at the topographic maps of the surrounding area, as well as picking the brain of an old tramper in his mid 70s returning from a trip in this particular valley…

bushnell live animal gallery

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

my first west coast bull tahr

In 2018 we were due to fly into our balloted block, Bubble Creek, for the fourth period, but the forecast for the whole time was atrocious with heavy snow predicted for most of the week. We had made the call to pull the pin a few days prior, thinking it wouldn’t be worth the travel from Wellington, if we were even able to get into our block. The team was the same as we had last year - my Dad Mike and his long-time hunting mate, Barry, and me (Josh), with our destination this year being the Edison Block. Day 1 Being from the North Island, I was really looking forward to my first tahr hunting trip down on the West Coast. I was hoping to bag my first tahr and to take…