From flicking through my reference on NZ Deer Capture Operations, it seems Ivan Wilson and Graham Jacobs came up with the first successful net-gun. Word soon spread through the heli-venison industry and it appears that other shooters started making their own net-guns in the shed! Apparently Wilson and Jacobs would arrive at a shooter's house to show him their net-gun in the hope of a sale, only to have the prospective customer emerge out of his man cave with his own net-gun! I can find no mention of anyone actually patenting the idea or design of the "net-gun". Presumably a net-gun can today be purchased from a certified manufacturer but back in the early eighties, it seems everyone had a go at making their own gun.
500 Fan.