December 2011 PRESIDENTS RAMBLE

Gidday

With only a couple of more weeks until Christmas, the pressure is on to get the presents sorted and get some venison for the xmas barbeque, well that’s a good excuse for a hunting trip.

I have just returned from a few days in the Kiamanawas, just me and the dog and although it rained non stop for most of the trip it was still great to be out there doing it. I didn’t encounter one other hunter so they must have been doing the presents!

A big thanks to Gary and the team from Hunting & Fishing who put on an excellent night for us last month where we had a preview of some new products and an informative presentation of the construction of Stanfields Whare and the hunting opportunities in the Kiamanawas in the 1960s, interesting to see the good quality reds that were around at that time.

On behalf of the committee I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and look forward to catching up with you in the New Year.

Please note there will be no Newsletter in January.

Get out there and do it and be safe.

Cheers
Pete

November 2011 PRESIDENTS RAMBLE

Gidday

Well we have got the Cup tucked away for 4 years and now we can concentrate on a bit of hunting! The last 10 minutes of the game was a bit like stalking in on a roaring stag,

November 2010 PRESIDENTS RAMBLE

With the tragic shooting accident that occurred at labour weekend it is timely that we all reflect on our responsibilities as firearms owners and hunters with regard to observing the basic firearms safety rules and also particularly with regard to the circumstances around the accidental shooting, the ethics that we as hunters observe when out hunting. The issue of spotlighting off public roads in public areas and close to public facilities is a behaviour that I would expect NZDA members to condone and not participate in. Unfortunately because NZDA has such a "public" presence the members of the NZDA are tarred with the actions of a number of totally irresponsible "hunters".

As we move into the spring period where hunting activities increase let us all think about this tragic accident and the devastating personal consequenses and focus on our responsibilities as firearms owners and ethical hunters. So follow the rules and enjoy the outdoors.

October's social night had us all gathered at the Hunting & Fishing store in Te Rapa, where Gary, Shane and Richard gave us a run down on whats needed to successfully hunt geese and also bring us up with the latest fishing techniques using soft baits and slow jigs. Plenty of bargains available and with Xmass coming up a couple of "prezzies" such as a new fishing rod/reel for the wife certainly goes down a treat.

October 2010 Presidents Report.

Over the last couple of months we have had two very good social nights, with Dion Patterson giving us an excellent presentation on his many trips to Fiordland providing us with some spectacular footage of the country down that way and also advising on various aspects on what and what not to take. All I can say about Fiordland is "Big Country - Big Challenge and Be Prepared". The ballot applications close 15th October so get in quick if your keen. The other social night we had Shaun and Bob over from Basecamp and they gave us a run down on how they produce their salami's, sausages, patties and other small goods. They also gave an extremely helpful butchery lesson on a set of hind quarters and I certainly learnt a few tips on how to do it properly without "butchering" the meat and learning about the various cuts.

Last weekend a number of us headed down to Taupo for the Sika Show to do our regular stint at measuring the heads. This year there was plenty of measurer's, so we all managed to get to see the show itself and pick up the odd bargain or two. Entries were down this year with the top sika head scoring 198 and the top red was the big one entered earlier at the NZDA Nationals scoring over 450. To me the best red head was a very even 14 red from Gisborne way scoring 390, certainly a top trophy and much better looking than the high scoring one.

August 2010 Presidents Ramble

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.

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.