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Not sure if this is the correct place as it bleeds into politics but it has a direct relevance for hunters
From the university that gave us gun control nz we now have hunting = bad
I would guess their agenda is that if there is nothing to hunt there there is no reason to own a firearm
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom...climate-action
FFS! These animals have been here for 100-200 years. Hardly new to the countryside. "Without new plant growth coming through, forests and alpine lands are doomed." Jeeze they get a bee in their bonnet.
click bait....not a lot of substance to it and unfortunately,some will believe it.
the bit that really makes me sad......IF they did remove ALL the deer,pigs,goats,wallabies,possums,rabbits......wit hin a short space of time...certainly less than 30 years,you wouldnt be able to move around forest areas,it would be choked up...and then in another few years the strongest tress would take over..unfortunately in a lot of cases those wouldnt be native.....Im not at all convinced gorse will be out grown by anything....
Yep , nothing more than an attempt at discrediting both DoC and rec hunters. The reality is that ungulates are here to stay and collaborative management is the way forward.
I’m not sure what qualifies the author to comment given that she is a Public Health professor..not a wildlfe biologist, a biosecurity expert, a hunter, an ecologist.... the list goes on.
I’d expect a high school student would be able to produce a better article than that.
What we need are young ecologists that are also passionate hunters to carry on the great work of people like Cam Speedy ect..
The best thing we as hunters can do is introduce as many young people to our sport as possible.
and not so young.....
True. No ageism.:thumbsup:
I have always thought the FAL and hunting community had a small voice in this country. The same community that takes it on the chin and gets on with things, making this country tick along working hard and not complaining. Unlike some of the groups writing articles like this
She doesn’t understand that the various hunting foundations relationship with Doc has been earned.
Seedling counts, deer pellet counts, enclosure plot monitoring, kill data, organised hunts..
Out there in the forests working alongside Doc staff to gather information and try and paint a picture of the current state of our forests as ultimately it’s the health of the forest that is our real true resource at the end of the day. Healthy forests = healthy deer.
The Kaweka Forest Park and Fiordland are two perfect examples of how different groups can work together, pool resources and ultimately achieve the best outcome possible which always involves natural forest regeneration.
To read an article like that written by someone with absolutely no experience that’s made zero attempt to research any of the positive things that have been achieved makes me sad to be honest. I think even Doc would be pissed off with that to be fair.
She doesn’t know shit. Specifically these facts:
-nothing wrong with planting native forest but it’s not the greatest option from a carbon sequestration point of view. Introduced tree species are a lot more efficient at this
-mature native forest is a carbon sink but is generally net zero when it comes to sequestration i.e. the CO2 taken out of the atmosphere for growth is about equal to that released from rotting vegetation
-our forests can cope with low (arguably moderate) browsing pressure. They have made this adaptation well before deer arrived. What the fuck does she think the Moa did?
-game animals are unlikely to ever be eradicated, barring some type of future biological/genomic warfare breakthrough. Control is the solution for the foreseeable future
-to suggest we can get our “fix” from tramping is bullshit. She hasn’t experienced the thrill of the hunt, the adrenalin, or sense of accomplishment when you cleanly take an animal and can fill the freezer with prime protein. Tramping has it’s merits but ultimately doesn’t come close
-hunters don’t want out of control game animal populations either. No one wants a defoliated understory and heaps of skinny deer
Best that she sticks to “public health research”; she has a poor understanding of ecology, introduced animal management, hunting etc.
Sadly the poor lady thinks she is on track with what she doesn't really know anything about.
Let her have her day....the wind will do the rest.
The only counter to university public health/humanities troughers attacking elements of the public that fund them, is to push to defund/reduce fund these politicised subjects at university. Australia has done this and effectively doubled fees for those courses.
We must push back by asking the Nats and ACT to do the same, labour will not govern forever.
I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, what a fuckin joke.
What a dull place these islands would be without introduced species.