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RVDT
14th May 2013, 20:03
Another nail I guess.

Heli-hunters to fight ban (http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/heli-hunters-fight-ban-5432290)

But it's OK for it to rain 1080 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080_usage_in_New_Zealand) poison apparently.

Heli-hunters are vowing to fight moves from Associate Conservation Minister Peter Dunne to ban their sport, saying any legislation to outlaw it "defies logic and common sense".

Heli-hunting is the practise of flying into high country areas and searching for trophy animals. The animals most frequently hunted were introduced tahr and chamois - breeds of goat - although deer and pigs were also hunted.

This week Dunne won a significant victory, when a High Court judge dismissed a case brought by a group of four helicopter operators and two hunting lodges appealing the minister's decision to deny them a 10-year heli-hunting consent, instead only allowing two years.

Dunne said the win paved the way for him to introduce legislation into Parliament, banning the practise outright.

According to the Department of Conservation, commercial heli-hunting was an established industry with mostly foreign clients paying a trophy fee of about $5000 per animal.

Colin Withnall, QC, the legal representative for aerial assisted helicopter hunting groups, said closing down the industry would cost the New Zealand economy millions of dollars.

But the Deerstalkers' Association has labelled it "abhorrent".

"It's absolutely abhorrent and it doesn't take place anywhere else in the world," Snow Hewetson, of the association's national executive, said.

"There's no fair play involved. There's no chance for the animal to escape. It's just someone sitting in a helicopter running the animal down until they're too tired to go any further and then shooting them.

"It's not sport, it's inhuman, it's not a good look for New Zealand."

But heli-hunting operating groups say they are doing the country a favour by keeping wild deer and goat numbers down.

Neville Cunningham, of Mt Cook Trophy Hunting, said the proposed ban went against "logic" and "common sense".

Cunningham said that as well as providing affluent tourists with an "adventure experience", such guided tours also helped the Department of Conservation with pest management.

krypton_john
15th May 2013, 00:42
Pest eradication by shooting from helicopters is still ok though. It seems that doing so for fun or sport is the issue here.

Adroight
15th May 2013, 05:35
There will always be those who think that killing animals for sport, bear baiting, dog-fighting, cock-fighting, etc is good fun and those who do not. Sometimes culling is necessary. Maybe the answer is to get those who enjoy killing for sport to do the culling for free.

Weheka
15th May 2013, 08:09
At the end of the day does it matter how the animals are shot? I thought the trophy hunters still shot from the ground, not out of the machine? They can just afford to be flown in and out, good luck to them. And good luck to the people who have, and benefit out of, their not inconsiderable business.

What about DOC, who fly around and conduct wholesale slaughter of Tahr and Chamois with everything wasted? What about DOC who decimate the Kea population with the aerial 1080 drops?

Maybe Peter Dunne should concentrate on finding some other meaningful subject to keep himself busy with, and try to justify his considerable pay packet, instead of wasting everyones time with this sensationalist nonsense.

Or maybe he just wants to be remembered as the "Sue Bradford" of his political party? i.e. Achieve exactly nothing with a piece of nil legislation.

That lights normal!
15th May 2013, 17:34
No animal should be killed. If you want to eat meat, just buy it at the supermarket.:E

grumpytroll
15th May 2013, 17:57
I have seen similar issues in the U.S.

1. People feel bad about killing deer so they pass legislation severely limiting the hunt.

2. The deer (large rodents when seen up close) overtake the cities and eat gardens, knock down fences and are sometimes aggressive to humans and cause millions of dollars in damage to vehicles in collisions.

3. The same people who fought for the legislation are now unhappy that their precious gardens and lawns are being completely destroyed, soo...

4. They pass legislation authorizing their local government to hire special hunters to wipe out the deer population.

So you see that they are now in control of who kills the deer and that makes them smugly satisfied. Instead of volunteer hunters who purchase a license from the state and therefore financially support the care of our natural resources and are limited to the number of animals they harvest, they actually pay a few select, special hunters to do the same thing at tax payers expense! The old double reverse.

Brilliant

That lights normal!
15th May 2013, 20:00
It seems often, "the problem" some people have is that no one should enjoy hunting. As long as the hunters are paid, and hopefully hating every minute of it, it's ok.

The same seems to apply to 1080 poison baits. Even though the animal dies a horrendous death, it is some how preferable to a humane kill with a firearm (the aim of every hunter - NPI)

These small minded hypocrites may see two advantage to 1080:
No one is deriving any recreation, and (evil) "guns" aren't used.

We urgently need to remove warning labels. The morons are breeding up.:mad:

krypton_john
15th May 2013, 22:24
Remember that 1080 is targeted at possums, not larger beasts.

The thing about 1080 aerial drops is that it is effective against possums in remote, inaccessible native forest areas. Hunting possums in these sort of areas is just not going to be effective.

SLFMS
16th May 2013, 08:28
As a hunter that enjoys utilising the great conditions in NZ for hunting I find this sort of article interesting to read.
I read another article in the Deerstalkers Association magazine recently in which hunters which shot 6 pointer Bucks or smaller were scalded. The Reason been that if they were left, next year the Stag could have trophy antlers that somebody could hang on their wall.
Although I do not have anything against trophy shooting I do not understand it. I personally shoot with the intention of eating the animal and find killing an animal just for some antlers a little perverse. The meat on large Bucks especially during the Roar is average at best.
This is the true reason for the Deerstalkers push on the matter, They want to preserve the good Trophy's and do not want them been hunted by commercial operators. The Association has no interest in lowering Deer numbers.
After reading the article I withdrew my membership from the association as did one of my family members.
From the Department of Conservation's view point the more Deer that are shot the better as they are a feral pest. It seems surprising (perhaps not from the government) that the Associate Conservation Minister would be odd's with this.
It's even more crazy to shut down an industry that supports local jobs and gets tourist dollars into areas that might not normally get them:ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh: