HUNTING WITH BEA HOPE A priceless tag?

Press, 11 June 1977, Page 14

HUNTING WITH BEA HOPE A priceless tag?

Each year in New Zealand, tens of thousands — perhaps hundreds of thousands — go fishing, hunting, or shooting. The fishing enthusiasts range from grandchildren to granddads, their fishing grounds from lake to creek, from river to seashore, and from boat to the end of a wharf. They pursue marlin or mackerel, trout or trevally, cod or cockabully, and each individual enjoys it. I think that is the real reason why people go; simply because they enjoy it.

One professor of psychology at. the State University of New York, Dr Ley, said: “Fishing provides the rationale for escape from the press of the people, business and cares of the world, at the same time bringing the fisherman into the out-

doors and closer to nature.”

Three hundred years ago, Izaak Walton described angling as “an employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness.”

You could say that of any outdoor recreation, whether it be fishing, fresh or saltwater, or hunting or shooting — all have immeasurable benefits to the individual.

Pursuing any’ wild creature, whether it be fish or game, teaches observation, resourcefulness, and an

appreciation of nature. The latter trend may take several years to develop

to the full, but it is best exemplified by the many experienced deerstalkers who find ultimate satisfaction in replacing the rifle with the camera.

Anti-blood sport groups may knock the hunter or the shooter, but it is a fact that frequently at the spearhead of conservation issues are the sportsmen, fighting to protect a river from indiscriminate damming, a wetland from being drained, or a forest from being wantonly milled.

Outdoor sports give benefit to youth. I don’t recall any youngster who has been taught a love of fishing or hunting, a knowledge of fish or game, ever being a vandal.

Society is better off with an outdoor-oriented people. It can be said that in three or four decades, with urbanisation, New

Zealanders have tended to lose the rugged outdoor character. You cannot price that with dollars, but one sportsman has endeavoured to calculate a monetary value to outdoor sport. He is John B. Henderson, the long-serving national president of the Deerstalkers’ Association and now a life member. In 1969, on behalf of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, he assessed economic facts about “Mr Game Shooter.” He found the investment in dogs, gun-s, and other equipment, in 1969, averaged $261 a shooter, giving a New Zealand estimate of SI3M.

On top of that came the season's costs — an average of $39 a shooter. It was estimated that the New Zealand estimate would be in the vicinity of S2M each year.

Remember, that was 1969. eight years ago. Consider inflation since, and the mind begins to boggle ar the investment and consumer spending ar. outdoor sport can generate. There were then 50.000 game shooters. There must be as many deerstalkers. Trout fishermen? Well, they have been estimated at more than 120,000. Then you can consider tea fishermen, whether they be surfcasters or boat fishermen. The economic value to the nation- might be more than S3OM each year. It is a dollar value worth considering when development threatens outdoor recreation. Then there is the other value — a priceless tag. We cannot put a figure on the physical and psychological benefits. They are beyond pricing.