Chopper to Wapiti

BARRY HARCOURT/The Southland Times

HUNTERS: Hunters (from left) Grant McKerchar, Hamish Campbell, Tom Edmonston and Ben Hewitson, hold on while Southern Lakes Helicopters pilot Richard Hayes lands at Te Anau Downs.

South Canterbury hunters Grant McKerchar, Hamish Campbell, Tom Edmonston and Ben Hewitson, were among 140 wapiti hunters who were selected in a ballot to head into the wapiti area in Fiordland for the start of the wapiti bugle.

Fiordland Wapiti Foundation marketing manager Roy Sloan said about 1200 entries were received for the season this year.

Numbers were restricted for two fortnight blocks during the bugle, or mating season, because of safety issues, with only those drawn from the ballot able to hunt wapiti.

Entries in the ballot had increased by about 600 per cent during the past six to seven years, Mr Sloan said.

The foundation had done extensive work to keep red deer out of the area to reduce food competition and weakening the gene pool through cross-breeding, which was leading to better quality wapiti.

Shooters could hunt the area once the bugle finished but needed permits to hunt on Department of Conservation land.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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