Thread: Paid hunt vs gear upgrades

Well I'm a bit undecided as to weather a paid hunt is worth doing to get a bit more help with stalking techniques bush knowledge etc
Or should that money be better spent upgrading my gear a bit gun
Camping sh"t quad etc
Wats ur views?

There is no way in hell I would pay to go for a hunt, unless it was for the chopper cost somewhere. NZ is crawling with animals, practice, practice, and practice some more. Join the NZDA if you want advice and help.

Gear upgrade or spend the money to get out hunting.
i.e instead of taking paid leave you can take a day off and have it paid for out of that money

or use the money to get to new areas further away from people.

Time in the hills will pay dividends

Originally Posted by oneshot

There is no way in hell I would pay to go for a hunt, unless it was for the chopper cost somewhere. NZ is crawling with animals, practice, practice, and practice some more. Join the NZDA if you want advice and help.

1+ Join NZDA, they will help, pay the $200 or what ever it is and do the Hunts training

I refuse to pay for meat when so much is free on public land

iv done paid hunts in the past and to be honest its shit, there more intrested in shooting ezy deer fast then showing you how to improve on your skills, now instead of paying to shoot a stag I use the money to go towards travel/ferry/choppa its better now to get out looking for tahr or deer and not see any thing then pay over $2000 to pick a stag to shoot

probably wont pick up any skills on a paid hunt especially if its self guided. good to get a group of mates and knock a couple over for meat though.

don't worry about the deerstalkers see if you can team up with someone from the forum, or better yet read a few books and get out there doing it youll learn a lot quicket

You never regret buying quality gear that you still use yrs later.

So upgrade a few things and try to get a more experienced hunter to take you out for a few trips.






There will be NZ Deer stalker run HUNT courses soon ,ring your local NZDA and go on one of those. Highly recommended for less experienced hunters to get a lot of advice and info from older experienced hunters.

They go through Diff nz Game species and habits,habitat,river crossings,first aid,Rifle range time for marksmanship training,bullet selection/reloading/ballistics,Douglas scoring on all types of deer/goats/thar/chamois,hunting ethics,ecology and flora fauna of nz,Skinning and Trophy preparation, and,Firearms safety and laws plus can the exam for your firearms licence if you don't have one,Bushcraft and navigation weekend away using compass and maps,Hunting & stalking techniques,trip planning and gear selection, risk assessment.plus a fair bit about gamebird hunting.

A lot of instruction is by experienced hunters who are also Mountain safety council instructors.Most of the lectures/lessons are very detailed and comprehensive.
We got shown 2 deer gutted and broken down into the various cuts by a qualified butcher right in front of us, plus how to make a freshly shot deer into a "deer backpack".Plus a caping demonstration on one of the carcasses.

Plus you will actually get taken on a hunt or two at the end of it with another hunter guiding you through areas they already know well.

Costs around $200 give or take a few bucks which includes NZDA membership.
Did one myself this year to see if I would learn anything and I got far more out of it than I thought I would.

Pay me, i'll buy better gear for me and get you an easy deer as soon as i can.

Buy better gear. Cant beat good quality gear.

Never come across a paid hunting guide where they take you into the bush and teach you, but Im sure there are guys out there that do this. In my opinion try find someone who is willing to show you the ropes, and I guess joining a NZDA will help your chances with this.

Paying to hunt on private blocks does help build confidence in placing a shot or just watching animal behavior if your on a well managed piece of land. I was lucky to have done this the last 8 years or so and never paid more than $500 for 5 days including piss, food, deer, cabin etc., but that was mates rates. I have now turned to public blocks as its normally only weekends I can hunt, and I enjoy the challenge.

Just go out and get into it. U don't need shit loads of new gear just the basics, but make it good quality the stuff you have got. The more u go out the more u learn, the better u become. Takes time, but so does most things. Save your money for gas to get to the great hunting spots we have here in nz.

Cool cheers guys well I guess that answers that pretty clearly
Got myself a a7 sako couple years back but have only managed the one I'm good with navigation and that just not sure if I'm doing sumthing wrong or moving to fast maybe trying the wrong areas ?
Even if I just spotted more I'd be happy
Defiantly don't get out as much as I'd like as my hunting buddy works the mines and our time off never lines up

Sako kid travel ain't a problem company ute and card mate
Like to try different areas ruahines and the west coast are the top of my list but access and parking safety are always issues for a non local

Ruahines!!! You lucky devil! Its 5 hours away for me

Where are u based mate?