Newly Appointed NZDA Tahr Rep Intro
Hi I’m Bruce Hansen.
I’m excited to be taking on the Tahr Rep role representing the interests of recreational hunters on matters relating to our precious resource “the Himalayan Tahr”. Much work has been done by so many people within NZDA over recent years to protect Himalayan Tahr which seem to frequently come under attack so to speak. I sense we are now in a reasonable space with Tahr herd management where most parties involved are quite aligned and this is in no small part due to the tireless work put in by many great NZDA members. It’s also encouraging to see interest from some political parties wanting to implement more support for recreational Hunting and Fishing in NZ.
What can I offer - My career skill-set ranges from creating long term strategies to leading short term operational improvements which I feel applies well as we form a Tahr herd management pathway into the future. I’m also keen to get behind hunter education and from my own observations during recent Tahr Ballots I know that the likes of the NZ Tahr Foundation do a great job of promoting good practice and I’m keen to help build on this. During the 75th NZDA Annual conference I had the pleasure of meeting some fantastic Tahr minded people from around the country and can confidently say there is a supportive/experienced knowledge base to draw on.
A bit about me - I grew up in a couple of small rural towns of the Manawatu area and as a young man spent plenty of time hunting wild turkeys, possums and rabbits. As I hit my twenties, I ventured into motorcycle circuit racing and progressed through to NZ Superbikes for a few years until a series of high-speed dismounts encouraged me to take a break from the sport, I then moved to South Island and hatched a couple of children so set aside the racing to be a responsible dad to Tyler (now 12) and Rydah (now 10). With the racing behind me I soon gravitated back to hunting which is not quite so adrenalin filled but certainly has those moments of pushing your mental and physical limits with a decent amount of calculated risk applied. Most important though is having the ability to get some valuable outdoors time with family and friends in some of the most stunning parts of New Zealand.
If you have any Tahr related history to share or queries, feel free to reach out.
Take care out there.
