October National Board Reports

NZDA National Board, photographed at the 76th Conference and AGM in July 2024.

It has been a pretty packed month for me, as mentioned in my last board member report we had the end of the Woodhill season and take a kid hunting on the final weekend of September. The kids were very successful this year with 15 out of 18 taking an animal, good weather and an enthusiastic WFMC committee was a big help in this success.

Following on from the last weekend at woodhill, (Monday morning) I picked a mate of mine up from the airport after 3 weeks in Bali and we headed to Galatea. We spent 3 days in the bush, 40mm of rain turned into 140mm, we where both successful bush stalking a Rusa stag each. Towards the end of the week I attended the Game animal council parliamentary hunt at Ngamatea station, it  was a great event with various ministers bringing their families and being successful in harvesting some prime Sika venison, which was boned out and donated via the Sika Foundation as packaged and processed mince to local food banks in the central north island.

A week or so of clearing emails and catching up, followed by more hunting, myself, our CEO Gwyn, our marketing manager Hugh and past treasurer Carolyn headed in for a sika management hunt. The animals where cagey and used the light to their advantage 3 animals were harvested for the trip and at least another 3 where very lucky. We flew in with Heli Sika who where more than accommodating, I would encourage all members to book in for management hunts to do your bit for conservation and support local business, becoming a member of the sika foundation will provide a discounted rate.

The 2nd and 3rd of November is one of the hunting sectors flagship events for the year, the Sika show at mystery creek events centre in Hamilton, be sure to get along and support a great event the NZDA stand will be in the same place as previous years along side the other NGO’s, make sure you come and say hello!

A brief update this month to let you know the Peeking Wallaby Match schedule for 2025 is now available. You can find this here. 

The Federated Mountain Clubs “Love Our Huts” campaign starts in earnest in less than a week. The idea to remind everybody about the value and need to care for our backcountry infrastructure is very timely. Simply acknowledging your local huts and giving them a spring clean is a great place to start.

My recent trip with Southern Lakes branch to the Mid-Greenstone hut was a whole different level of care with a really organised group of people, gear, materials, and plans to give this hut a real makeover. I was amazed at the range of folks who arrived on foot (4.5 hrs walk in) and helicopter to add their skills and energy to the wide range of tasks. Great example of organisation and care.

The Back Country Trust notes on its website that they still have funding ($40k) to allocate to worthy projects – it’s just about applying (which can seem like harder work than the actual maintenance I know!). So, if you know a local hut that needs some work check it out.

Recently I was able to take part in one of DOC’s panel sessions regarding review of the general and ballot permitting systems run by them. It was an interesting experience and I am certain we will have a better system overall in the future. One perspective that I see as very important is that applying for a permit should be easy on a smartphone so an app based process is needed, not a PC website as it is now. Also, open area permits need to have a much longer duration, three months is too short. It’s a good time to remind everybody that it’s a legal requirement to have a permit for DOC land and there are good reasons to check yours is current or apply if you don’t have one:

1. It’s a legal requirement

2. They are free

3. Each permit tells DOC of a hunter’s interest in hunting the public land of New Zealand – the more interest the better

Download your permit document to your phone and you’re all set!

Happy and safe hunting

Richard Wells