Thread: Tahr control update from NZDA

Originally Posted by ethos

I’d like to not lose tahr from NZ - I don’t think we will- but I’d like to lose some rich American or kerosene cowboy ruining my hunting even more. I’ve never been primarily a trophy hunter, but if I’ve got horns on the wall I’ve earned them, as it should be.
Drop the numbers back, lose the cowboys.

Overseas hunters are charged a trophy fee by DOC collected by the Safari Park / Hunting guide. The Game Animal Council has sought to have overseas hunters levied to provide an income for GAC, rather than levy NZ hunters. Re 'Kerosene cowboy' It is no longer legal for overseas hunters to shoot from an aerial platform. flying machines are however used for access the same as Kiwi hunters use them. The point being possibly missed is that if these 'pest' animals are generating an income for DOC and for the country as a whole then we are much more likely to maintain a herd. There are now sufficient Tahr on private game estates to provide all the trophies needed by overseas hunters if the feral herd was eliminated. The reason that Tahr are commercially trophy hunted on the DOC estate is that trophy parks outside the exclusion zone can choose the cheaper option of a 'fair chase' animal paying only the DOC fee rather than paying a park inside the zone a trophy fee.
So we should embrace the overseas tourist hunter they are our saviour. How cool if Prince Harry was taken Tahr hunting when he and Megan are here, that would lift the image.
There are 30,000 spare so if the kiwis can't get the job done let the tourists hunters have a crack