tahr hunting in nz

[kiwi hunter]

hows that,,i did not put any comparison so you cant tell how small it really is,,but it is cute

 

[TheGrayRider]

My New Zealand hunt was canceled this past May due to the virus. Three years of planning. Now scheduled to go in May or June 2021, if the NZ government lets Americans in. Any updates on their travel policies?

 

[Hawk Tuah]

My New Zealand hunt was canceled this past May due to the virus. Three years of planning. Now scheduled to go in May or June 2021, if the NZ government lets Americans in. Any updates on their travel policies?

I hope your were not planning on a public land tahr. The government just passed a plan to cull 100% of them on Parks lands.

 

[glass eye]

I hope your were not planning on a public land tahr. The government just passed a plan to cull 100% of them on Parks lands.

It actually started last year and now it's round two.
Well, actually last year they left the mature bulls alone but not this time. 100% as you said.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

It actually started last year and now it's round two.
Well, actually last year they left the mature bulls alone but not this time. 100% as you said.

Crappy deal. I knew there was heavy culling through shoots and poisoning for any years, but did not know the 100% thing started last year. Terrible. I've hunted mountain goats here and tahr there, and they are pretty comparable public land hunts....except there you can do it all year without a tag and here you have to wait a million years to draw. A bad deal for the tahr, the NZ hunting community, as well as anyone who likes public land hunts overseas.

 

[okie archer]

Seems sad to me.

 

[Kiwi]

The 2020 cull plan, which is on hold due to legal action, is to shoot most (all?) tahr in National Parks. By far most tahr live outside National Parks. FWIW I've hunted areas that have been culled previously and the numbers have been high, 150+ for 3 days for example. We will have to see what happens but tahr are culled most years and I'd say there will always be tahr to hunt for the foreseeable future.

As for travelling here, this will be a problem for a while longer. We haven't had COVID community transmission for a while, which is great, but means opening the border to non-kiwis may take some time. I'd say you have a decent chance of getting here in May 2021, but might depend on USA COVID numbers being under control or a vaccine. I'm hoping to hunt USA 2021, but guess it will be easier for me as i can enter NZ by right but might need a 2 week quarantine when i return.