ROD AND GUN Deerstalkers’ Association’s Achievements Reviewed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31123, 28 July 1966, Page 22

ROD AND GUN Deerstalkers’ Association’s Achievements Reviewed

(Specially written for "The Prate'’ by

JAMES SIERS)

Next week delegates representing 10,000 deerstalkers from clubs throughout New Zealand will meet in Auckland for a three-day annual conference.

Each year the business of the association grows increasingly more complex. Outdoor sports, particularly those involving the use of dog, rifle and gun, rely to a large extent on the good will of property owners either for their expression or for access to unoccupied Crown Land, Forest Service holdings or national parks. The association, with other interests, is at present trying to assure Federated Farmers that its interests are identical to those of the farmer. The association has been taking an active interest in the Arms Amendment Act, making representations to the Statutes Revision Committee and to the police about some aspects of the bill which has just had its second reading. It has been keeping a close eye on the developments in the game-meat industry and is trying to maintain and build up the growing interest among club members in research. The benefits of a research scheme, using rank and file membership, can be great once individuals undertake to fill in cards with the necessary information. The data are transferred to punch cards, and worth-while results obtained.

The association produces its own quarterly magazine and the latest issue reviews the progress it has made

since the formation of the parent body. “As our organisation approaches its twentieth birthday, it becomes increasingly difficult for many of us to remember what the country’s hunting scene was like before the formation of the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association. “Over the last two decades a great change has been wrought in New Zealand's attitude to introduced wild animals and this change has been almost entirely due to our efforts. “Gone for good are the years of the 30's, 40’s and early 50’s when the daily press regularly carried outpourings of anti-deer propaganda. “Gone, too, are the hoaxes that went by the name of departmental annual reports, which succeeded in duping a whole generation of politicians, wasting millions of pounds and creating for the State a vested interest in the indiscriminate slaughter and waste of wild animal resource.

“The great dream of the killers, balanced like some inverted pyramid on the supposed solid ‘rock’ of extermination policy, has crumbled and all but a handful of old diehards have jumped clear. We scarcely hear now of the last rabbit, let alone the last deer, or the last opossum, but these were most popular catch cries in the past “And to anyone who thinks that this upheaval was the result of some blinding flash of wisdom suddenly experienced by bureaucracy, let us

assure him of the contrary—it was introduced by a long course of bitter pills administered by the New Zealand Deerstalkers* Association and its members to some very reluctant patients. “Much of what we take for granted today has been achieved by the collective effort of many thousands of members giving freely of their time and money in order to give substance to an ideal—the building of a strong, united fraternity of big game hunters. “Despite the faults in the system we have built, and our all-too-prevalent inclination to allow these unduly to obscure the successes, we have accomplished much of what we set out to do: the N.Z.D.A. is firmly established; it has a substantial effect on government policy; it is growing steadily through the years, and is paying many dividends to its members. “We have the satisfaction of knowing that our journal ’Wild Life’ has the largest circulation of its kind, past or present. Readers can see in it examples of the finest wild life photography, the measurements and pictorial records of some of the greatest antler and horn trophies in the world, instructional articles, and New Zealand’s own brand of hunting, exploration and adventure stories. “Without the N.Z.D.A. there would be no game trophy competitions, and thus little or no trophy concept to big game hunting. There would be no Olympic centre fire rifle target shooting, for which we are at present nationally responsible. N.Z.D.A. sets and will continue to set the ethical standard in stalkers’ attitudes to their sport. "Stalkers today can pit their skill against their fellow sportsmen with camera, rifle, and pen—they can learn the intricacies of hand-loading ammunition, head skinning and amateur taxidermy, measuring and evaluating a trophy head, the best choice of equipment, its care and its safe maintenance and usageall from the contacts they make within our system of branches and from the pool of accumulated knowledge that has accrued therefrom. "Perhaps many will agree that the personal friendships enjoyed are the greatest dividends of all. How many of us first met our closest friends at a branch meeting, a National Conference, an annual dinner or when out hunting? ... Yes. N.Z.D.A. pays dividends to us all, and the bigger the personal investment, the bigger the dividend.’’