A key function of the NZ Game Animal Council (GAC) is to conduct research, including research on the hunting of game animals.
Below is a list of research projects or reports that the GAC has led, been part of, or is currently undertaking.
NZ Game animal hunting research project 2023-2025
The Game Animal Council (GAC) has a major research project underway to gather information about deer, pig, chamois and tahr hunting in New Zealand. The last time this kind of research was done was in 2011-2012. Much has changed over the last decade or so and it is important for the effective administration and management of hunting and game animals that the GAC and other key stakeholders have access to up-to-date data on the sector.
Deer impact on indigenous forest carbon 2023
In 2023, we commissioned research by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, to assess the probable impacts of deer on native forest carbon stores, a comparison of the likely nature of possum effects on carbon stores, and an assessment of the reversibility and manageability of deer effects on carbon storage and emissions, focused mainly on tall forest types. The research confirmed that deer and other ungulates have little overall impact on the carbon storage of our intact indigenous forests and that biodiversity must remain the objective of management.
Wild Deer Management and Meat Recovery 2023
As part of the Game Animal Council’s work to help implement the Te Ara ki Mua Wild Animal Management Framework, in 2023 we completed a report into meat recovery associated with wild deer management in New Zealand. The research was undertaken through liaison with and funding from the Department of Conservation and contributes to our collective understanding for how some recently applied deer management approaches fit within the deer management system.
Lake Sumner RHA Deer Management Project 2023
The Game Animal Council in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, local landowners and recreational hunters successfully implemented a hunter-led deer management and research project in the Lake Sumner Recreational Hunting Area (RHA) during May 2022.
Valuing white-tailed deer on Stewart Island 2023 (PDF File)
In June 2023 the Game Animal Council, with support from the Rakiura Hunter Camp Trust, conducted a short survey of hunters to determine what white-tailed deer on Stewart Island/Rakiura and the hunting experience mean to the New Zealand hunting community. Read more about white-tailed deer here.
Fiordland deer management operation 2022 (PDF File)
In 2022, a jointly developed management project successfully removed 432 female deer from Fiordland National Park. The project, which was implemented by the Department of Conservation, with input from the Game Animal Council and Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, removed female deer (hinds) from sensitive conservation areas in western Fiordland around Kaikiekie/Bradshaw Sound.