I recently went to the Dinsdale pub to view the entries for the Dinsdale Hunting Club's hunting competition and from the line up of deer and pigs; hunting within the greater Hamilton/Waikato area is definitely alive and kicking. A large amount of money was raised for charity as a result of this competition, so all credit to them for organising a very successful event.

The NZDA National Conference was held early July and five of us from the branch headed down to Palmerston North to fulfill both AHT Competition and branch delegate duties. The theme for conference this year was based around the Sambar deer and there was certainly some impressive heads on display. A couple of things that came out of conference was that investment money of approx $18,000 lost as part of an investment made in a failed company was generously covered by Mark Dunajtschik. Once the offer from Mark was tabled and accepted, it put paid to any pre conference "bickering" that had been doing the rounds. Also laid bare at the start of conference was again some of the "crap" that had been circulated to branches, which fortunately got sorted early and everyone then settled down to conference business.

Another plus to come out of conference was the announcement from Stoney Creek of their new association with the HUNT's course. Part of this is the promotion of the HUNT's course through Stoney Creek's outlets/web site/trade displays etc. Also announced was that each successful HUNT's course graduate will receive Stoney Creek products and a voucher.

This year's AGM has been and gone, again with a small number of branch members attending. All the previous committee members have signed on for another year with a couple of new faces joining us on the committee, so I would like to officially welcome them onto the committee and personally thank them for volunteering.

Measuring night this year was hugely successful with a very high number of entries in both the AHT and Photographic sections. It was pleasing to see a high number of entries from junior members and also from "graduates" of the HUNT's courses. Its good to see these juniors and HUNT's graduates getting out there and amongst them, so by all accounts running the HUNT's course is certainly been very beneficial to both the branch and the graduates.

July is the NZDA conference month, which this year is being held at Palmerston North, so the committee will be kept busy sorting out all the correspondence and other matters relating to conference. Again the branch will be well represented at the National AHT competition level with a number of members attending as competition officials and measurers.

Also coming up in July is our annual prize giving / pot luck dinner so keep an eye out on the newsletter for details.

Conference this year has been and gone and unfortunately I was unable to attend, but the Branch was again well represented by our delegate Keith Matthews and also in the running of the AHT competitions with our resident national judges and manager. From all accounts conference ran smoothly and actually finished ahead of schedule, which is something that does not happen very often. The branch's entries into the AHT, photographic and literary sections did extremely well, so will have more on the results later.

Spent an enjoyable day recently helping install bait stations with the operators doing the poisoning operations in the Te Tapui reserve, so all thanks to Bill and Luke for letting me tag along. I intend to hopefully spend another couple of days in the reserves helping them do their work. With all the noise we were making I did actually get to see a doe standing 20 metres away and also heard a number of deer walking about. I am very disappointed, that at this stage, that besides myself, only one other person has actually made an effort to go along and help. They are very keen to get some help with pre feeding, installing bait stations etc and by offering our help will portray our willingness in managing and ensuring the survival of the fallow herd in the reserves. The information with regard to what you need to do to volunteer has been made available in flyers, at social nights, the news letter and via e-mail, so there is no excuse that you have not been informed.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that we will be looking for volunteers to help out with the poisoning operations in the Te Tapui reserve that is scheduled to start early/mid May. The contractor has asked for volunteer groups when required of approx six people at a time to help carry in bait stations etc and generally help out where we can. We have given our commitment to Environment Waikato to help out where we can, so if you are available and keen to help, please call me to let me know. Will let you all know whats happening as soon as we get the information around the contractors schedule and requirements with regard to when the volunteers are required and when the reserve will be closed to hunting.

Another couple of events coming up is the AGM on Monday the 4th May and Measuring Night on Thursday 28th May. I would like to see a better turn out for the AGM this year, where this is your opportunity to provide feed back, suggestions, etc etc. We are always looking for volunteers to help out at on the committee and if you cant make it and want to be involved give us a call and register your interest.

Measuring Night is always interesting as to what will actually turn up, as reports so far seem to indicate that things have been unusually quiet so far on the "stag" front, which could be attributed to the warm/mild weather we have had so far. Bring on the cold blasts. Last year we won the Norman Douglas Trophy for the best in antler, horn and tusk with an impressive aggregate score so retaining it for another year could be something to aim for. No pressure.

Hopefully you have all had a pleasant and relaxing time over the holiday period filling the freezer with venison and fish, and look forward to reading about these exploits in the newsletter.

For those of you who have not heard, I received word from Environment Waikato late last year that the proposed possum control operations in the Te Tapui reserve scheduled for later this year will be a "GROUND BASED" operation using 1080 in bait stations - so no aerial drops. That's certainly good news for us and I would like to thank all those who have supported us in our endeavors with regard to this proposed operation. I would also like to thank those people within the EW and DoC organisations that were sympathetic to our concerns with regard to the preservation of the fallow herd in the reserve. We will at some stage be having a meeting with EW to go over the planned dates/methods/closure period for the reserve so will let you know the details once this is finalised.

The branch has also sent a submission into DoC, with regard to the draft Waikato Conservation Management Strategy, which is in addition to one submitted by Dr Hugh Barr representing all NZDA members. If anyone is interested in viewing this submission I can forward/email them a copy.