Thread: Seeking Advice - New to Hunting

Hi guys,

Myself and my fiance have decided to get out of town for a while, and do some long-term camping. While we are stuck in Auckland for the time being, our ultimate goal will be to move far, far away.

Anyway, I have always wanted to learn to hunt/fish, camp and become self-sufficient out there as much as possible. I have a bow and an air-rifle (I can hear you laughing), but that is all I can really work with at this stage. A gun license sounds like a fantasy in the current environment (a friend said not to bother... there is a 2 year wait-list at least).

Can anyone share their thoughts on how we might approach this? Where should we go? We have 2 (non-hunting) dogs that will be with us, and we are happy to rough-it long-term. Ultimately we will probably get a sweet camper trailer of some sort, but we want to start with the bare minimum before we go fancy. This is going to be a way of life for some time, assuming we enjoy it as much as we think we will. Also, the plan is to slowly migrate south, assuming we will ever be able to get into the South Island again...

Don't get me wrong, we aren't going to be dependent on hunting and fishing to survive, given I still have income from a business I own... but it would be fun to try and make that work.

• Where would you start?
• What would you do if you had no choice but to do this?
• If you needed to maintain some kind of cell reception, how would you do that?
• What gear would you consider 'must-have'? What would you do for comms/navigation?
• What would the minimum effective vehicle/4WD be?

Literally any thoughts or insights will be appreciated.


Cheers,
Mitch

Start small then work your way up. Start shooting a few rabbits. Make sure to learn and practice other skills especially off track navigation.
Nap compass and phone are all you need for navigation. In reach or plb for extra safety.
Get a 22 and a 223. You will be sorted for the vast majority of NZ hunting. Get good with them.

Hey, welcome to the forum.

NO one person will be able to answer all your questions, but a good start is reading through the forum, and watching videos.

The absolute first place you should start with your bow and air rifle (not laughing because both can kill) is learning how to be accurate with each.

You don't want to wound an animal so figure out how to master your weapons.

first thing i shot (rat) air rifle
first deer i shot crossbow.
start off with something small like a 22, learn to shoot and gauge wind/ elevation etc.
from then on things get better but way more expensive

I would start with the camping. Get that sorted, then worry about the hunting.
Air rifles are not allowed on public (DOC) land. Bowhunting is allowed with a permit (which are free), though I think there are minimum draw requirements etc that apply. The air rifle could keep you fed with rabbits, possums etc if you have access to private land.
Maintaining cell reception means only going to areas that have coverage, which rules out a lot of areas if you want constant reception. Some areas you will get reception within a shortish drive, or by walking to the top of a certain ridge, etc if you just need to check messages occasionally.

Originally Posted by Dusty Fog

firstly i would make sure not to impregnate girlfriend as this has a way of complication a lifestyle
youll catch more fish than animals until getting the hang of hunting
bow is good(crossbow better but new ones cost arm n leg)
kahawai should be running on the west coast as of now(marakopa be good,lots of bush in the background)
learn your tides,day or two after big tides to find crays n paua)might learn a bit about diving if you have no experience

I think we have had enough of people going camping at Marokopa for a while!

Register with the NZDA HUNTS program.

Wow, thanks guys. That was really fast. My feeling has always been that the hunting and fishing community is a bloody good one... cheers guys. I really appreciate it.

Hypothetical question... once it is 'legal' to do so, do you think it is doable to walk and camp from Auckland to Wellington? What route would you take?


Cheers,
Mitch

By the way, all the advice above I am taking on board, and putting together a plan to learn what I need to learn. Also, I have a recurve and a crossbow (I wanted the crossbow for initial hunting and the recurve is for fun/last resort once I am good enough). It definitely cost an arm and a leg! I got a Mission Sub 1.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Mitcho

Wow, thanks guys. That was really fast. My feeling has always been that the hunting and fishing community is a bloody good one... cheers guys. I really appreciate it.

A great community until some knobhead decides to shoot someone, then we are all serial killers in the media's eye.

Originally Posted by Dusty Fog

firstly i would make sure not to impregnate girlfriend as this has a way of complication a lifestyle
youll catch more fish than animals until getting the hang of hunting
bow is good(crossbow better but new ones cost arm n leg)
kahawai should be running on the west coast as of now(marakopa be good,lots of bush in the background)
learn your tides,day or two after big tides to find crays n paua)might learn a bit about diving if you have no experience

crossbow up to 20m. a decent compound bow triple that. owned both in the past and a 70lb compound is damn scary

Originally Posted by Phil_H

Very first thing I would suggest you need to do - if you intend hunting with and owning a rifle at sometime - is get your firearms application in to the Arms Office. Even if the delay is two years, it isn’t going to be any shorter time the longer you leave it. In fact I would suggest you both get an application in.

Cheers
Phil

Along with this, try to stagger the two fire arm licience expiry dates. If they both expire at the same time, you won't be able to hold them while both of you are unlicensed.

A small point but one to consider down the track.

From all the reading I have been doing Bay of Plenty seems to be over run with deer.

Realistically go out with binoculars and a notepad. Look for deer and try to stalk into them, them make notes about what worked and didn't work.

Worry about shooting them later.

They are wrong about the gun license though. If you don't apply you won't start the process of rising to the top of the queue of the long list of applications.
May as well start asap.

Hey guys… I was wondering if you could comment on how security fits in to the equation.

If we load up a 4WD with everything we intend to live off, and fit it all out etc., it seems like we would be taking a bit of a risk every time we park up somewhere and wander off into the bush… What can be done to avoid getting our stuff stolen while we are away from the car? Is this even worth worrying about?

We would be pretty screwed if this happened… so just curious about your experiences and thoughts.


Cheers,
Mitch