• /
    • Archives /
  • 30/11/1999

Archives For 30/11/1999

Waimate wallaby hunt: Things that go bounce in the night!

Sarah Mankelow —  19/03/2012
Wallaby.

Wallaby

It’s wallaby time of year again in South Canterbury! The 22nd annual South Canterbury Recreational Sportsmans Club wallaby hunt was held 16 – 18 March.

The club has run an annual wallaby hunt since 1991. Waimate is known as the wallaby capital, but entrants in the SCRSC wallaby hunting competition hunt throughout the Hunters Hills and Mount Dobson area. 2008 was a particularly bumper year for the competition, with 2000 wallabies shot over one weekend. How many were shot in 2012? We don’t know yet, but we’d love to hear from you if you were there! What was your tally?

A tale (tail) of three wallaby

Before people arrived in New Zealand, the only native mammals were three species of bat and eight species of seal and sea lion. Our first peoples brought kiore (Pacific rats) and kurī (Polynesian dogs). European settlers introduced a huge range of creatures, including seven species of wallaby.

The Waimate kind – red necked (or Bennett’s) wallaby – were brought here by Michael Studholme, the first European settler in the district in the early 1870s. He released two females and one male, which in 1874 bounced off into the Hunters Hills, where their descendants have been breeding ever since.

On occasion, they have extended their range into areas south of the Waitaki River and into the Mackenzie Basin. International tourists have been known to report being surprised to see a ‘giant rat’ on the Two Thumb Range! Wallaby have even become a bit of a road hazard around the place as they look for their next meal. You may see their distinctive calling card on the hillsides (and we don’t just mean the chewed up vegetation!)

Unfortunately, they cause a lot of damage on public and private land, so they are in the sights of landowners, the regional council and DOC! So it is great to see recreational hunters actively targeting wallabies through this event.

If you missed the competition, there’s always next year. But in the meantime, you can still set your sights our way.

Some ‘hot spots’ for red-neck ‘roos are:

Don’t forget to:

P.S. Tried the famous Waimate wallaby pie?

Want to venture further into culinary wilderness? Here’s links to three recipes for mouth-watering wallaby:

In Animal pests, Canterbury, Hunting , , ,
permalink

If these walls could talk… deer culler huts tell tales of our past

Sarah Mankelow —  20/02/2012

Everyone who has tramped or hunted in the back country knows that feeling; when you clear that last ridge or walk out of that last patch of forest to see the hut just ahead in the distance. Your pack suddenly gets a little lighter and you feel a sudden burst of energy that sets you steaming towards tonight’s home away from home.

But as you take off your boots at the front door, have you ever thought about all the others that have done the very same thing before you? That you are the latest player in a history that goes back decades?

Hunters arrive at historic Shutes Hut; photo David Yule.

Hunters arrive at historic Shute's Hut (1920 rabbiters hut)

The back-country of New Zealand contains about 1400 huts, a network unequalled anywhere in the world. And over half of these were built for government shooters.

Historic huts are more than just shelter; they are a reminder of the past and a link to our cultural heritage.

“So oil up your boots my boys, and check your pack and gun
The deer are far too numerous, there’s culling to be done.”
(Caughley, G.)

Deer culling sorted the men out from the boys

Deer were first introduced into New Zealand over 150 years ago, to hunt for sport. They spread so far and so fast they became a serious pest.

In the 1930s the government (Department of Internal Affairs) started paying shooters to go into the backcountry to reduce deer numbers and slow their spread. It was tough work, both physically and mentally.

Some of the earlier huts were built by the deer cullers themselves. Because these huts were built in remote locations, they often used what was on site, using old crafts for the last time like splitting, hewing, pit-sawing.

A new generation of culler huts

When the New Zealand Forest Service (NZFS) took over responsibility for deer control in 1956, they quickly began creating a network of tracks, bridges and huts for deer cullers who practically lived in the backcountry.

The first steel metal huts were cold and uncomfortable, and were soon replaced by the standard NZFS-designed wooden-framed and lined four and six-bunk huts in the valleys, and two-bunk bivs on the passes.

Muddy Stream Hut.

Muddy Stream Hut St James Range.

Many of these lasted far beyond their expected lifespan and still stand today, used by modern trampers and hunters. They have become an iconic feature of our New Zealand back country and are unique in the world.

Good keen men

The deer cullers were admired for the difficult job they did. They became an iconic – almost mythic – figure in the New Zealand landscape, thanks in part to the many books written about their exploits. They played a big part in creating the legend of the kiwi bloke, or as Barry Crump phrased it, the “good keen man”. The hut was an ever-present stage in these books.

State-funded deer culling continued until the early 1970s but faded out after commercial hunters using helicopters became more common. However, the legacy of the deer culler lives on, in their huts.

Cedar Flat Hut, West Coast.

Cedar Flat Hut

Why not plan your next trip to one of these historic huts?

Roger’s Hut (1952) One of three remaining slab-beech huts in the entire Urewera Range, built in the winter of 1952 by a team of cullers led by Rex Forrester.

Te Totara Hut (1952) is the oldest surviving hut in Te Urewera National Park, also built by Rex Forrester, from split totara slabs.

Cedar Flat, (1957) on the Toaroha Track inland from Hokitika was built from a mix of sawn air-dropped timbers and hand-adzed timbers from the surrounding bush. 

Slaty Creek Hut (1952) Another West Coast hut, built of pit-sawn totara slabs with an iron roof.

Dasler Biv (1966) in Mackenzie Basin was first known as Cullers Biv. This two bunk hut was built by NZFS with treated wooden piles, flat tin walls and chimney, and corrugated iron roof.

Caswell Sound Hut (1949) is the last physical remnant of the New Zealand-American Fiordland scientific expedition set up to study the Fiordland Wapiti herd. It was built of surplus supplies at the end of the expedition, so it would be used by Wapiti hunters.

Clark Hut (1941) the last remaining split beech log hut in Fiordland National Park was built by cullers Archie Clark and Allan Cookson. Archie Clark, the first deer culler in the area, was a local legend, an expert stalker and a crack shot.

Muddy Stream Hut (1965) was built in the St James range, Lewis Pass. In 2006 DOC donated the hut to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve who restored and officially opened it within the reserve during Conservation Week, August 2006.

Children hear a tale or two from old deer culler Bill Scott 2006.

Children hear a tale or two from old deer culler Bill Scott outside Muddy Stream Hut in 2006.

Further reading

Caughley, G. (1983) The Deer Wars: the story of deer in New Zealand (Heinemann).

Wild animal control huts 

Wild Animal Control Huts: A National Heritage Identification Study (PDF, 5514K)

In Animal pests, Historic, Hunting, Huts ,
permalink

Jobs at DOC: Hunter, Kim Dawick

Department of Conservation —  22/08/2011

Every Monday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

This week we look at DOC hunter, Kim Dawick:

Kim (left), with his dogs Jake, Fleur and Jesse, and Joe Gurnick (right), with his dogs Girl and Storm. Te Mata Hut

At work…

Name: Kim Dawick

Position: Ranger – Hunter Supervisor, Waikato hunting team

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I work as part of a seven person hunting team. We hunt the remote back country culling goats; occasionally we also control pigs and deer if they are causing problems to other work programmes. We camp together in huts, tents or bivies for ten day runs and then we come out for a four day rest period.

My main role is to support the hunters. It’s a very strategic position where I try to have everything organised in advance, accommodating the individual needs of six others who will all be away from home for ten days without communication. If I’m doing my job properly I should have pre-empted all the possible contingencies and the hunters should think that I’ve done nothing at all. But if I’m failing in my role… all hell breaks loose and nothing goes to plan with seven people on “hurry up and wait’’ or worst case we are stuck in isolation with inadequate equipment.

Two of Kim's favourite former goat dogs, Jimmy and Jesse, holding hands

In our team we collectively own 21 dogs. To maintain high standards we put all newly recruited dogs through a rigorous selection and training process, but unfortunately only about 20% of the dogs we trial ever eventuate into anything special. Those dogs in the upper percentile that do make the cut are worth their weight in gold and no dollar value can be put on them, as by this time at least two years of intensive hunting/training has been invested in them. Our dogs are part of the family and we really look after them—they are the real hunters and we just follow them around in the bush to take their glory.

What is the best part about your job?

We work off track, and go to places so remote that very few people will ever venture. I get to work with real characters; it takes a special person to be able to do this job. But one thing they all have in common is that they are all honest, tough people who measure the value of a person by their loyalty and the amount of work they can do in a day.

What is the hardest part about your job?

It’s a tough job, period.

Gentle Annie in Te Mata. Dogs are Beau, Jimmy, Jesse and Jake and the ‘’Where’s Wally’’ hiding near the waterfall is Joe Gurnick

Where we work there is no cell phone reception, no internet, no heaters, no electricity, no refrigeration, no toilets, no corner store or supermarkets. We have to be successful at our job or we would go hungry because we rely on getting some of the meat from the animals we hunt due to lack of refrigeration. Often the only way out is a pre-scheduled helicopter ride in ten days time. We walk for eight hours a day, all completely off track without a break for ten days in a row, and often team members will hunt in excess of 12-hour a days in the summer months and they never collect TOIL. But when it’s your passion it never quite feels like work (in the conventional way).

We spend ten days away from our families—this means that the hunters only see their wives and children for 26, four-day periods a year! Our families are stuck in the real world paying the bills, getting kids to school, working in their own jobs and dealing with all the issues of raising a family by themselves, while we are away completely out of contact. It’s very hard on relationships and many marriages don’t survive. But, given the high risk nature of hunting, we try to look after each other as much as we can and because of this there is a comradery amongst the hunters that I’ve never witnessed in any other career.

What led you to your role in DOC?

After high school I qualified as a mechanical engineer, then did a post graduate Diploma in Teaching. I worked for a couple of years in both roles however, I was never happy in these careers. Whilst on my OE (teaching in London) my wife stumbled onto a job advertising for a couple wanted for work in Scotland. We had no idea what we were getting into and just hoped that it wasn’t a dodgy b-grade porn film! It turned out that they needed a nanny and someone to work the ‘farm’. It was quite fortuitous—the ‘farm’ turned out to be a castle game estate that ran driven pheasant shoots and deer stalking. I worked in this role for about 18 months and decided that I could never go back to teaching or engineering again… I was hooked on hunting for a living, so it was a natural progression for me to end up securing a job within a DOC hunting team upon my return to New Zealand in 2004.

After 18 days hunting in gorse in the Coromandel with zero goats for a four man team, Kim struck the jackpot and shot 19 in one mob. Dogs are Jake, Jimmy, Fleur and Jesse

What was the highlight of your month just gone?

This month I’ve been doing my planning for the year ahead, organising logistics, landowner permissions and putting out tenders for goat control. I wouldn’t call it an exciting month.

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Family
  2. Dogs
  3. The ease at which we can experience so many interesting things in New Zealand

Three pet peeves

  1. Laziness
  2. Quitters 
  3. Liars

Three foods

  1. Banana Swiss Maid dairy food
  2. Goody goody gumdrops ice cream
  3. Meat

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Coromandel
  2. Marlborough Sounds
  3. Matawai

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Donnie Darko
  2. Anything ‘’unplugged’’
  3. More of a magazine reader than a novel reader… it suits my short attention span.

Jake (the Muss) and Xena bailing a nanny goat, Whareorino

Deep and meaningful

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Relax, you’ll find a job that you enjoy doing.

Who or what inspires you and why?

People who stand up for what they truly believe in, even if it’s unpopular.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Umm tall and good looking? Oh you mean: an engineer, a pilot or a hunter… two out of three isn’t too bad eh?

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Stay at home dad? Although this is most likely a bit like hunting for a living… everyone wants to do it, until they actually try it.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

As a goat hunter we tend to defend our honour a lot by denying any involvement between man and beast. However, if you want me to play this game I may as well be at the top of the food chain and choose to be a falcon. I guess it combines two out of three from that other question before about what I wanted to be when I grew up!

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

Get out there and do it. It’s a sad indictment, but I hardly ever meet New Zealanders in the bush. Probably 85% of the people I meet in the bush are tourists using our walking tracks, 5% would be New Zealand tramping clubs made up of senior citizens (good on you, you’re much tougher than our PS3 playing teenage couch potatoes) and 10% would be hunters. Pretty sad really that we pay for all these huts and walking tracks with our taxes and the average New Zealander doesn’t even know they exist, or choose to go there.

In Animal pests, Hunting, Jobs at DOC, Waikato , , , ,
permalink

Hunting permits now on-line

Brent Beaven —  08/02/2011

Hunting permits have gone on-line!!  You can now get your own permits from the comfort of your own home, at any time of the day.  To get a permit, check out permits and licenses on the hunting section of the DOC website.

The new permit system has come about as a direct result of DOC trying to do things a bit better for hunters. We want to make it as easy as possible for responsible hunters to hunt legally.  In my first year in the job, I often heard complaints about the old hunting permit system.  These ranged from frustrations with trying to get to the relevant office to get a permit through to inconsistencies in conditions between neighbouring areas. Hopefully, we have sorted this out with the new, national on-line system.  As a National System, you can now get a permit for anywhere in the country from any DOC office, or even the comfort of their own home.

A successful hunter at Hopkins River above Lake Ohau, Canterbury

The new permit system has a “tick box” option to receive alerts.  If hunters tick this, then we are able to send them information that might affect their hunting – such as an upcoming culling operation, or a hut or track closure.  We will not be using this facility to send out spam.

The permit kill return system had been dropped off the new system.  It has been run for 20+ years and, despite a couple of local exceptions, has never gathered any useful data.  We have also removed the need to supply your firearms licence to get a permit. There are enough exceptions to requiring FAL (e.g. bow hunters) that it makes this problematic for the system.  What it boiled down to was that we wanted to make it as easy as possible for responsible hunters to hunt legally.  The permit states a number of conditions that must be met for the permit to be valid, including having a firearms licence if you are using a firearm.  If someone gets a permit and isn’t following the conditions, like they don’t have a firearms license, then the permit is invalid and they don’t have the Department’s permission to be hunting on the public lands. 

The National (on-line) Hunting Permit System makes it easier for hunters to get a permit and hence to hunt legally and safely on public conservation lands.  It will enable hunters to get a permit to hunt at any time from any computer with an internet connection.  The permit system allows one permit to be issued for multiple areas in the country.  I know it isn’t perfect, but it is a lot better than the old system. 

Links

In Animal pests, Hunting, Recreation
permalink

Hunting on conservation land

Brent Beaven —  26/07/2010

Hunters and DOC often seem to be seen as opponents, when the reality is that we both have very much in common. Hunting is a conservation activity, if for no other reason than the fact that hunters are out amongst it, enjoying and revelling in New Zealand’s fantastic outdoors.

A successful hunter at Hopkins River above Lake Ohau, Canterbury

A successful hunter at Hopkins River above Lake Ohau, Canterbury

Realising what an important component hunters were of our conservation oriented park users, DOC has been working toward providing better service for hunters. One of these key improvements has been to redevelop the hunting pages of the DOC website. The first phase of this upgrade has now gone live and can be viewed at www.doc.govt.nz/hunting. The new structure provides simpler and clearer pathways for finding information, held together in one place.

We know it isn’t yet perfect, but it is a lot better than what existed previously. We have set up a feedback link off the homepage, so that users can suggest any improvements, but you can also supply suggestions here via the DOC Conservation Blog.

Over the coming year, we will be improving the quality and standardising the Where to hunt information, as well as looking to create an on-line hunting permit facility.

In Hunting, Recreation
permalink