2024 Young Deerstalker of The Year

Newton McConochie Award - For the Most Outstanding Young Deerstalker of the Year Proudly Sponsored by Hunters Element

Recommendation from Southern Lakes Branch

Blake is an enthusiastic and unbelievably energetic member of our branch , since joining 3 years ago at the young age of 7, he has been on numerous club hunting trips, The most memorable ones for me are hunting goats in the Macetown area, a steep and rugged mountainous area and he was on his feet for over 8 hours hiking with his dad and other members. The secret I have been told is to feed him often and have lots of stops. Other members found this terrain tough and were exhausted back at camp but Blake was keen to run errands: fetch the beers, fill water bottles and keep the adults entertained. 

He participated in the club Tahr hunt at Mount Cook and successfully shot a Tahr (under guidance with his dad and trip leader Phil Wilson) , He was involved in the working bee trip in the Greenstone and with another member shot a Fallow. He was amazing at the Back country hut funded working bee to the Freeman Burn hut, again helping members with holding nails and fetching items and due to his size he was able to squeeze under the hut and remove old rubbish. He attends most of the meetings – infact he is the one that asks his dad to drive him the 2 hours from Te Anau to the meetings held in Queenstown.

He certainly knows how to handle a rifle and is quite the accurate shot having seen him in action at a club shoot and on club hunts . He recently shot his first roaring stag