BOW-AND-ARROW HUNTER

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29262, 21 July 1960, Page 6

BOW-AND-ARROW HUNTER

American’s Trip To Shoot Deer (New Zealand Press Association) ROTORUA. July 20. Seven bows, ranging in drawing weight from 701 b to 1251 b, will be used by an American archer, Mr Allen Orr, during a month of hunting in the South Island. Mr Orr has had a sample of New Zealand hunting conditions during a short trip to the Urewera, where he shot both deer and opossums, and at Rotoiti, where the targets were wallabies. “In the Urewera we got one deer, a young spiker at about 150 yards, but that was a freak shot. Usually the best range, even for the 1251 b bow, on heavy game is about 30 yards,” he said. Mr Orr was particularly pleased with the opossum shooting, as the animals are regarded as the archers’ dream quarry in the United States. Mr Orr who is a lawyer in Sioux City. lowa, is a veteran of the United States Marine Air Corps where he was a divebomber pilot. After the war he became interested in archery. He was asked if there were many archers in the United States of America. “Well yes, there are. In 1945 there were 45,000 bow hunters and in 1955 there were more than 4,000,000. About half belong to clubs.” “What decided you to come to New Zealand for this hunting trip?” “Originally I wanted to go to Tanganyika, but the Government closed down on bow hunting. Then I thought of the Congo but that didn’t come off either. “Finally I saw an article in the ‘Field and Stream* magazine about ' the New Zealand deer herds and the fact that there was no season and no limit. : “I wrote to your Tourist Department and it put me on to Mr Rex Forrester, a hunter here. Mr Orr is staying in New Zealand for about 60 days, and intends to take some 5000 feet of 16mm colour film in addition to his hunting. In the South Island he has hopes of deer, thar and chamois. 'A I*