Deer Cullers To Hold First Reunion

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30895, 30 October 1965, Page 11

Deer Cullers To Hold First Reunion

VEXT year Christchurch will be the venue of a unique gathering of professional shooters who have bagged more deer than any other band of marksmen in the world. The ■ occasion will be the first reunion ever held of shooters who have been employed by the New Zealand Government as deer “cullers” during the 35 years in which its deer and noxious animal destruction campaign has been in operation. Mr J. Thomson, author of the books “Deer Hunter” and “Deer Shooting Days,” has been largely responsible for the early efforts to arrange a suitable reunion. Various shooters, Mr Thomson included, have discussed the idea in recent years and in June a meeting of five former Government shooters was held. An interim committee was formed, with Mr Thomson as convener, to get arrangements for the reunion under way. The committee has sent about 1000 circulars to shooters throughout New Zealand advising of the reunion, and inviting suggestions for functions to be held over the week-end. Already the response has been encouraging, with replies coming from many parts of the country. The reunion will probably be held about August or October next year. It will be open to all present day and

former Government cullers who have shot for about a season or more. Christchurch is the obvious choice for the reunion. Most of the Government’s shooting operations over the years have been carried out in the South Island ranges, portions of which have supported some of the largest concentrations of deer in the world. Deer cullers have ranged over much of the remote high-country regions of New Zealand in the course of their work, from the rugged Southern Lakes and Fiordland regions and in the Southern Alps of the South Island, to the tangled, bushclad ranges in the north. An average of about 40,000 deer are destroyed each year by Government cullers, and personal tallies of several thousand deer have been gained by many shooters, particularly during the war and early postwar years. The reunion could attract a gathering of shooters who have bagged, collectively, possibly 200,000 deer or more—and many of the adventures involved in getting them are likely to be recounted in detail during their first reunion. The interim reunion comi mittee comprises Messrs Thomson, G. Lindstrom, I. Thyne, T. Gibson, J. Bell, and G. McQueen. Committee members are

hopeful that an association of deer cullers may result from the gathering, with regular meetings and other functions. The committee wished to hear from as many shooters as possible, said Mr Thomson. Circulars had been sent to most shooters whose names and present addresses were known, but there were many others who could not be traced. All cullers were requested to forward their names and addresses, and to advise other cullers.