By Corina Jordan, Chief Executive, New Zealand Game Animal Council
Most of those who have hunted tahr, chamois, red deer or wapiti in the South Island high country will have a kea story.
It can be the enjoyment of seeing one of our most distinctive native birds riding the updrafts, calling across a valley or mischievously investigating camp. Other times it is the frustration of finding a pack strap, tent, boot or other piece of critical equipment pulled apart or stolen.
For alpine hunters, kea are part of the experience and looking after them is one way we care for the places we love to hunt.
The relationship is not always simple. Kea are curious, highly investigative birds. Camping equipment, food scraps. electronics and hunting gear can all attract their attention. In alpine country, serious damage to shelter or equipment is not just an inconvenience, it can be a genuine safety issue.
To mitigate this, hunters should keep camp tidy, pack loose gear away, avoid feeding or encouraging kea, keep food scraps and carcass material away from camp, and consider hiding their gear under canopy or scrub where that is possible. It’s all about reducing potential conflict.
There is also the issue of lead. Lead exposure is a known risk for kea. While historic hut and building materials have contributed to lead poisoning, bullet fragments in carcasses or affected tissue can also create a risk where kea scavenge.
This problem was especially prominent through official tahr control work, when up to 250kg a year of lead shot was entering the environment. The good news is that due in large part to the advocacy of the hunting sector, DOC moved away from lead ammunition in aerial control operations.
Recreational hunters can also do their part by choosing to use non-lead alternatives when hunting in kea habitat. It is important to acknowledge that non-lead options can be less effective at longer ranges, and hunting in the alpine environment often involves longer shots, where ammunition performance is critical. If you do use lead, do your best to remove bullet-damaged tissue, or bury or hide carcass remains.
The other side of the kea and hunting relationship is the value hunters provide to kea conservation. Hunters spend time in remote areas where formal monitoring is difficult and expensive. This creates ‘citizen science’ opportunities for sightings records, observations of banded birds, behaviour reports and other data across large areas.
The Fiordland Kea Sightings Project is a good example. Ballot holders are encouraged to record sightings and contribute information to the kea database throughout the annual wapiti ballot period. Similar opportunities exist through the Tahr Ballot Kea Sightings Project.
Hunters can log their kea sightings from anywhere across the country through the Kea Database (keadatabase.nz). You can also report kea conflicts on the Kea Conservation Trust website (keaconservation.co.nz).
By reducing conflict with kea, being aware of the risks and making it easier to contribute, hunters can play a really positive role in kea conservation. Learn more about hunting in kea habitat at nzgac.org.nz/guidance-for-hunting-in-kea-habitat.
Celebrating hunting’s volunteers
This month also marks National Volunteer Week, and a reminder of how much our sector depends on people who volunteer their time.
Volunteers are the engine room of the hunting sector. They run our clubs, organise events, train new hunters, manage game animal programmes, look after huts and tracks, support food donation initiatives and undertake conservation work.
Much of this work happens quietly. It is often unseen and, in many cases, done by the same dependable people who step up time after time.
On behalf of the Game Animal Council, I want to acknowledge those volunteers. Whether you are clearing a track, repairing a hut, mentoring a young hunter, checking traps, serving on a committee, helping with a working bee or giving your time to protect the future of hunting, your contribution matters.
New Zealand’s extraordinary hunting opportunities do not look after themselves. They exist, in many respects, because volunteers care enough to do the work. For that, we should all be deeply grateful.
All the best,
Corina