Intelligence has its limits, but it appears that Stupidity knows no bounds......
“Did you catch anything ?”
Its so universal it must be a real thought structure in non hunters. They all say it.
A hunter is always much more circumspect: “get onto much up there ?” Or somesuch so youve got room to not say much without giveing offence or to give good info if you feel like it. Most often if I meet a hunter and theyre already in my ground Im happy to tell them what its like and directly them to an ok spot but not the best one …
Personally i carry the gun with bolt out on big popular tracks like Wairere Falls or Sunrise Hut; carry it with bolt in but empty mag if raining or a normal tramping track eg North South track in the Kaimais or further up the Hinemaia tk on the way to Cascade in the Kaimanawas and load rounds into the mag if on a rarely used route like say up from Wairere Te Tuhi / N-S junction to the Clay Road; only when bush hunting off the track on my own do I put one in the chamber and rely on a pretested safety catch ( I test it every time as a routine).
The upshot is yes, you can carry your unloaded rifle in any way you like on a public track. And no you dont have to be shy about it. You dont have to carry it in a gun bag or a slip.
You are a New Zealand hunter, a breed of a certain type, and your activity is lawful and respected.
If a tramper/family/day walker said “Did you catch anything ?” to me; I'd be stoked they were showing an interest I have to walk a few hundred metres down a gravel road to where I go hunting and often have day trippers pull over their car to say hi and have a chat. Most aren't hunters, but had grandads, fathers etc who were.
So I do think that we as hunters get a bit paranoid at times that we are frowned upon by the entire general public. We are probably frowned upon by the few who get their opinions into the news media. But I reckon the general public as a whole are sweet as. A bit like how farmers feel persecuted by the general public; yet in a survey they did a couple of years back the general public were overwhelingly positive towards farmers. Their opinions don't make clickbait headlines though....
A few years back I did a demo on how to salt skins and cut up a couple of goats when the Stratford library had a "hunting themed.diplay/month" I did the demo in town, outside the library on a busy Sat morning. I was astounded by the positive reception; mostly from non-hunters.
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