Backing Hunters: game animals, access and the Game Animal Council

The document’s framing is that game animals on conservation land are managed by the one agency whose default is to control or exterminate them, and that the Game Animal Council was given a seat at the table rather than a hand on the levers. Transferring management to the Council is meant to change that, with full funding for its current and proposed duties.

Game animal and gamebird species would be recognised in legislation as valued natural resources to be sustainably managed, rather than pests to be exterminated “as far as possible”. New Zealand’s most valued herds would be designated Herds of Special Interest, starting with Stewart Island whitetail deer. The document notes the current Government is already doing this for Wapiti and Sika and says the work should continue.

DOC manages more than 950 huts and 15,000km of tracks with a 30 percent maintenance shortfall and has issued over 2,300 closure alerts since 2021. Hunting, tramping and conservation groups already restore huts and maintain tracks with volunteers, but live on annual discretionary grants. DOC would be required to give community groups first right of funding where they can offer a competitive option, enabling multi-year contracts.

The Voluntary Nature Credits Market would open to accredited hunting groups so they can earn biodiversity credits for verified results, and the NZ Deerstalkers Association and Game Animal Council would be formally represented in predator removal decision-making.

DOC would stop dictating which helicopters commercial venison recovery operators use, with aircraft safety left to the Civil Aviation Authority. In exchange, the Game Animal Council could restrict commercial take by animal gender where necessary — the document’s concern being that current permits let operators strip out the trophy stags recreational hunters value most.

The Game Animal Council would designate accessible landing sites, and DOC would have to adopt clear, public and uniform testing processes for assessing them. The document argues large areas of rugged country like Fiordland are closed by no-fly and no-landing zones drawn as legacy lines on a map without clear conservation or safety reasoning. Separately, the Outdoor Access Commission would be directed to prioritise hunting access in its work programme.

One for deliberately standing in the line of fire of a lawful hunter, which the document describes as dangerous sabotage. One for harassing game bird shooters with drones or helicopters used to scatter or flush birds. The document says no specific offence currently addresses either.