I would like to take the opportunity to bring everyone up to date on the on going Wapiti battle.
Over the last two seasons we have been managing the deer numbers in the Wapiti area under clause 32 d of the WARS Licence. Basically the guts of clause 32 d is, the department say who can and who cannot recover deer in a given area, in this case, the Wapiti area of Fiordland.
As a part of this, the Wapiti Area Management Team in conjunction with the Department of Conservation controls who is doing the recovery in the area. One of the requirements is, at all times an observer is to be on the helicopter while shooting the Wapiti area, in short we control what is getting shot.
Please note, implementing clause 32 d of the WARS licence was driven by the Department of Conservation.
The first season was trial and error but we managed to shoot 658 animals. Included in that total was 116 shot by recreational hunters.
The second season, June 2006 to June 2007, the Department suggested we should be removing 800 deer from the Wapiti area. This rate was set on the history of animal recovery in the Wapiti area.
The season ended on the 30th of June 2007 and total number of animal shot in the Wapiti area for the 2007 season was 822. This year recreational hunters managed to shoot 169 animals again showing the importance of mixing up the methods used to control animals in the Wapiti area.
One thing all hunters and the Wapiti team are uncomfortable about is culling. We have been trying to reduce this as much as possible. In the 2006 season we managed to recover 152 animals plus the 116 shot by the recreational hunters. The governing factor behind this is the venison market.
The 2007 season has been a lot better with 382 animals recovered and with the 169 shot by the recreational hunters we can thank the stronger venison market for this result and certainly in the future the control methods we choose will revolve around the venison markets.
Killing animals costs a lot of money every time the Fiordland Wapiti Trust pays for an animal to be shot it costs them about $73.00. So this shows how important it is that we are able to use a helicopter operator in the Wapiti area that is able to recover animals for the venison market, add the big effort the hunters are making, it saves us, the hunters a lot of money.
A lot of people should be commended for the effort that has gone into the Wapiti battle over the last 5 plus years. What has been achieved would not be possible without the input and support from the hunters. Everything hangs in the balance on the decisions they make, be it in the bush, choosing not to shoot the young Wapiti bulls or supporting the Wapiti Trust. Again in 2007 we had over 95% of hunters choosing to support the donation system that has been put in place to ensure the Wapiti have a future in the New Zealand hunting scene.
Again it is heart warming to see hunters being responsible for there own sport.
The Fiordland Wapiti Trust now have a web site www.fiordlandwapititrust.org.nz. This is being added to all the time and is starting to contain a reasonable amount of information surrounding the Wapiti and as we get closer to the 2008 ballot we will certainly be increasing the data on this site.
Yes believe it or not the Fiordland National Draft Management Plan has been signed off. This hunk of paper that has consumed and changed so many peoples life is due to be released to the public any time now.
When this document was first made public it shocked the Wapiti hunting world, but once we sat back and took a breath, my thoughts were, and this could be the best thing to happen to Wapiti for years. Five years down the track look what hunters have done.
How has this has been achieved? Hunters and hunting groups working together, a force we shouldn’t take too lightly if channelled in the right direction. If every one can take one thing away from this conference I hope it’s this message. “We need to work together”.
Lastly. Again I would like to commend all hunters who have been involved with the Wapiti, I can’t guarantee what is in the due to be released Fiordland National Park Plan but, what I can guarantee is there will have some tough decision a head, stick together and we will have a positive outcome.