Shooting From The Air

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31407, 28 June 1967, Page 16

Shooting From The Air

Sir, —The complaint made by various members of the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association about irresponsible shooting from helicopters in the Lewis Pass region amaze our party. During the month or more we were shooting in the same area, we found them meticulous in making sure of our localities and destinations, and never once shooting within several miles of our party. Of course the answer could well be that, to my knowledge, only two permits had been issued for the area by the Forestry Department—one to Graham Stewart and Company and one to our party. Any member of the Deerstalkers’ Association who was shooting in the area concerned was there without a permit.—Yours, etc., L. MORTON. J. TUCKER. I. MILLER. June 26, 1967.

Sir,—Because of the high cost involved when a helicopter is in the air ($2 a minute), only the most skilled pilots can navigate these craft in and about our rugged “tops.” The shooter with the pilot is a marksman using a semi-automatic rifle with a telescope. These people want a carcase unmutilated; this rules out senseless wasting of ammunition and poor marksmanship. Government and forestry cullers leave a carcase to rot. Using helicopters, they are brought out, trucked to the freezer, then off to the export factory. Surely the overseas exchange earned by so few far exceeds the use of countless cullers and senti mental complaints about cruelty, richocheting bullets, etc. The so-called deer-stalk-ers leave many a wounded animal, but also succeed in killing their own kind every now and then.—Yours, etc., M. P. ROBINSON. June 27, 1967.