Thread: Carrying firearm on doc track

met Mum,Dad and 6-7 year old on track on way out today...zero comment or concern about the two fellas with rifles slung...they were backed up to fence off track holding child in arms in fear of the big bad wolf walking beside me tail wagging and happy to see folks..she stayed at my side like a good girl too..... the old dog might be an issue but "popsicle" would lick you to death,the plurry smooch puts her chin on my shoulder when Im using binos.....hard enough to keep them fogging without her imput too......

yeah its all good mate, people are used to seeing hunters in NZ. just don't be silly and have it pointing at people etc. and have it unloaded
its socially acceptable and legal

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

yes its legal..but like all other public places use a bit of discretion and heaps of common sence....over your shoulder is better than in your hands.... its one place full camo and face paint isnt a good idea at all.
you wont appease a real Karen type...but if you are just wandering along with rifle in a safe manner..well thats just tough bickies.
500 yards from a great walk track is in rules..other tracks you are fine.

High-vis camo should be ok?

I think the "caught anything?" question is because too the non hunter, it probably feels harsh to ask if you have killed anything. A Russian girl I dated years back used to ask if I had killed someone? turned out, as I understand it, that they have a different distinction between something and someone.

A track I used to use alot would quite often have deer visible from it, In my younger days Id happily shoot from it, until one trip where I was forced to rethink that. It had been a hard trip and no deer seen over 3 days, On the walk out we spotted a hind and yearling 350 meters away across the valley. So My friends lay down and each got ready to shoot. I went down the track too the corner to check no one was close and then signalled for them to shoot and they each got a deer, but as we prepared to climb over we realised one was still alive and due to the terrain in would take us an hour to get too them. So another shot was fired to finish it off. After the shot a guy hailed us from just around the track corner id just checked. We replied, and he came on round. He was very decent and apologised for yelling, but said he was a bit nervous as he had had his arm shot off. And yep he was missing an arm. Shit I felt bad, we all did. After that I no longer shot deer from close too walking tracks.

But you cant win sometimes. A mate and I shot 3 deer on a snow covered hillside. The carcases lay over about a hectare and just as we finished butchering we were surprised to see a party of 20+ trampers walk over a ridge half a k away. They were not friendly and we could not work out why, until we got some distance from our kill site and looked back, Blood on snow over a hectare looks quite shocking in reality.

These incidents made me realise that yep non hunters can be ignorant at times, But unintentionally, so can we, in what we take for granted and as normal to us.
The worst, most insulting comment I have had on occasion, is raised hands and or "dont shoot" But always its just people who dont know and a cheery hello and dont worry etc are the only way to deal with any interaction.

Once appon a time we would carry a rifle over the shoulder up the main street of town or on a bus, pretty much anywhere. Now carrying one on a Doc track is coming into question. A sign of generational change I guess. I wont ever try and hide the fact that I'm hunting and have a rifle.

After that poor woman got shot in the campground whilst brushing her teeth by that pack of complete turds, I was walking down a track and a tramper put his hands up and said
"Don't shoot! I'm not a teacher!"

Because of some complete fucking moronic dickwanks who should be sterilised, I had to suck it up and move on

I hate being held hostage to the lowest common denominator of stupid that can convince someone to allow them access to firearms - fucking windowlickers

ouch!!!!

Originally Posted by sneeze

Once appon a time we would carry a rifle over the shoulder up the main street of town or on a bus, pretty much anywhere. Now carrying one on a Doc track is coming into question. A sign of generational change I guess. I wont ever try and hide the fact that I'm hunting and have a rifle.

Yep. When I got my first .22 in 1971, bussed to town (CHCH) walked to cop shop for permit, ten to Tisdale's. Purchased rifle, walked back to cops , and registered it. Then off to nearest bus stop, and back home. All with a naked firearm.

Originally Posted by Growlybear

Yep. When I got my first .22 in 1971, bussed to town (CHCH) walked to cop shop for permit, ten to Tisdale's. Purchased rifle, walked back to cops , and registered it. Then off to nearest bus stop, and back home. All with a naked firearm.

Done much the same in the 70’s - no AOS, no drama of any sort.

But society has changed and in my opinion not necessarily for the better.

Way back then I visited friends of my uncle's of a farm round the west side of Lake Taupo. After an uneventful hunt for deer and pigs it was time to head home to Wellington. My hosts too me as far as the end of their rural road, dropping me on the west side State Highway. I was carrying my Mountain Mule pack and 30-06 in a canvas carry bag. It wasn't long before I got a ride to Turangi. Then I started walking south on SHW1. I walk quite a long way and remember stopping on the bridges and canal to watch the Trout below. I walked right past Rangipo - Tongariro Prison. Some of the inmates were out in the gardens working and stopped to watch h me walk by with rifle and pack. None of the management came out to speak with me. Eventually, miles down the road, I got picked up by some good old boys who were heading for Porirua. I climbed into the flat deck tray, put my swanie and balaclava on climbed into my sleep ing bag, pulled the tawny cover up and went to sleep. At Porirua they dropped me at the railway station and I caught the train into Wellington, then brought a ticket for the Johnsonville line. A Police Officer had a brief chat with me about hunting, but aside from that, no-one batted an eyelid. Classic trip.

DON'T TRY THIS TODAY!

Early 90s and i was 18 and studying in Hamilton. Used to hop on bus during duckshooting season with a shotgun, get dropped off at the city centre station, and walk over to Maeroa with it over my shoulder in a gunbag. No one, nit even police cars driving past batted an eye or thought to ask me what i was up too.

Originally Posted by BruceY

'Crap out of the barrel'?...from many years of stalking....a couple of strips of insulation tape over the end is perfect...and then three or so longer strips wrapped around the barrel as replacements when needed.....

For me the worst is constantly getting crap stuck down between the barrel and the stock when going through the bush (or bushy tracks) with rifle on pack. I have to spend ages at the hut trying to fish it all out, I get a bit worried that all the twigs etc wedged in there will put the sights off a bit. That's why I would def consider one of those light gun sock-type covers.

Originally Posted by Juicy

For me the worst is constantly getting crap stuck down between the barrel and the stock when going through the bush (or bushy tracks) with rifle on pack. I have to spend ages at the hut trying to fish it all out, I get a bit worried that all the twigs etc wedged in there will put the sights off a bit. That's why I would def consider one of those light gun sock-type covers.

Mate of mine had a rifle that couldn’t shoot a good group and asked me to try some reloading for it, I decided to give it a bit of a birthday at the same time and when I took the stock off it was basically packed with fern fragments and seeds and grass. Not sure if it was this, cleaning the barrel or torquing up the action screws, maybe a combination of all, but it shot much better afterwards.

Just spent the last two days carrying my rifle and using a particularly busy DOC, nobody was concerned at the sight and most asked politely if I had been lucky which I wasn't.

Week day and 10 cars in the carpark Monday, 12 today. Quite a few were tourists up for climbing our local walking peak. I went further afield and the legs are quite sore now.

I checked on my new DoC permit:

5. No firearm shall be discharged:
• In the vicinity of huts, tracks, campsites, road-ends or other public places.
• Within 500m of a Great Walk Hut or track. More about New Zealand's Great Walks.
• In a manner that endangers, frightens or annoys members of the public, or that endangers any
property.

My opinion is that the third one about "endangers, frightens or annoys" is the key one because if there is no complaint there is no problem.
The 500m only applies to Great Walks which are limited.
The "in the vicinity of ..." is intentionally vague as vicinity just depends on the circumstances ...

The circumstances are discussed in all the worthy posts above. It's not a legal question.