Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Heli-Hunting Petition

Hi guys,

I hope this is a suitable place to get as many people on board as possible..

I've been a member of this site since about 2006 and I have a lot of respect for many of your opinions when it comes to game management.

Being from NZ, we tend to have a very un-regulated management system (i.e. hunting all year round, no bag limits etc) and this is partly due to our wild game species being "introduced animals" and therefore classified as "pests" according to our authorities. Obviously we recreational hunters don't considered them to be pests as we contribute millions of dollars per year into the economy for hunting related activities... and would rather them be managed as "resources", but we're a wee way away from achieving that yet.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to get some of you on board in a petition against legalising heli-hunting in NZ. Which has just recently been legalised (March 2009) under the existing wild animal control operation (WARO) permits.

I don't want to bog you down too much with the detail, but essentially the term "heli-hunting" is where someone (i.e. a pay ing client) can fly around in a helicopter accompanied by a hunting guide; spotting, herding, and then shooting trophy animals on public estate land (i.e. where all NZ'ers and overseas visitors / tourists acces) from a low flying helicopter.

Which in my personal and professional opinion is just insane.

Anyway, the petition (link below) may achieve nothing, but at least in 5 years time when our public land tahr, chamois, red deer, sika deer, and unique whitetail deer herds have considerably reduced trophy quality, and our pristine and peaceful backcountry is jammed full of noisey helicopters that affect everyones amenity values, you (and I) will be able to say we tried to stop this! Lets not let the minority ruin it for the majority!!!

Just think, if you were planning a trip to NZ for a hunt on public land which many people do, how would heli-hunting affect your decision to come to NZ??

Please take 1 minute of your time click on the link below and sign this petition, it is simple and easy.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-guided-helicopter-hunting.html

You can add further comments to the petition if you wish - its important to express your views on this outragous matter. Particularly as you guys tend to have more structured opinions towards game management.

Please forward this link to everyone on your mailing list that shares an interest in NZ. This petition only went up on Monday April 28th and already it has grown remarkably fast, illustrating the opposition and passion that recreational users have towards preventing this sort of activity from taking place on public land administered by DOC.

Please do your bit to help snowball this petition all the way to the politicians desk.

To learn more about heli-hunting here are the following links from discussions with Department of Conservation Ministers, and letters to the public address the heli-hunting issue.

http://www.box.net/shared/j3qeefb0z7

http://www.box.net/shared/h7jpxro7x3

http://www.box.net/shared/d24dixndb5

http://www.box.net/shared/y1tx97mxyu

http://www.box.net/shared/609p3cbkk9

Thanks for your time and support on this significant issue for NZ outdoorsmen!!

Cheers
Jamie Carle

p.s. a handful of stags taken by a buddy and I in April this year during the rutt off public land - the proper way - by foot. Over the 14 days hunting we (my buddy and I) covered 177km on foot and I lost 9kgs while my buddy lost 11kgs of weight.












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How can we let heli-hunting affect such a prestine and amazingly valuable public resource??