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.

Coming up in February is the special meeting with Doc Southland to discuss the draft Conservation Management Strategy for Rakiura/Stewart Island. This is a good opportunity to give input into this management strategy and urge you all to attend.

I am also pleased to report that the planning for the start of the HUNTS course in late January is well on track and it appears we will have approximately 15 "students" attending this hopefully first of many courses. It has been a number of years now that the branch has actually run a HUNT's course and thanks to the commitment of a number of people, they have produced a very good format for this first course. They will also be asking for volunteers to assist at times, so if you can, please help.

Hot Barrels and Tight Lines.

John