One of the NZ Game Animal Council’s key functions, under the Game Animal Council Act 2013, is to provide information and education.
Learn more about some key topics relating to hunting and game animal management linked below.
Introduction to NZ’s game animals
New Zealand has ten species of game animals – seven deer species, tahr, chamois and wild pigs.
Learn about each of them.
Hunting ballots
In New Zealand, game animals can be hunted year-round on public conservation land, however in some areas access is managed through ballots or booking systems. See links to popular public land hunting ballots or booking systems.
Licensing and permits
See information about gaining your firearms licence, permits required for hunting on public land and hunting on or accessing private land.
WARO / Wild animal recovery operations
Read about WARO – a commercial wild animal hunting concession, administered the Department of Conservation. WARO concessions allow helicopters to be used to hunt and recover wild animals on public conservation land.
Biosecurity
There are a number of diseases that affect game animals and hunting that hunters should be aware of. Learn about TB, African swine fever, chronic wasting disease and more here.