When he checked one of his hive sites at North Taieri, south of Dunedin, on Friday, he saw a "sickening" sight - hives had been knocked over, some had been flattened and his bees were in a distressed state.
What he believes was a truck with bull-bars broke through a gate before crashing into and repeatedly running over his beehives.
He lost 10 hives and about 800,000 of his bees were dead or dying, he said.
"I didn't know I've got any enemies that bad."
Whoever did it must have been "very determined", as the hives weighed up to 200kg each.
The attack could not have come at a worse time in the season as the bees had finished producing honey and were now defending it.
"It's a shocking waste. Ten days ago, they were fine. From my point of view, most beekeepers have had a hard year, but this site has done well," Mr Sales said.
Having been in the bee-keeping business for 30 years and owning 650 hives in the Dunedin area, he had never seen such destruction, although he believed it was becoming more common.
National Beekeepers Association president Frans Laas, of Mosgiel, who helped Mr Sales tidy up the smashed hives on Saturday, said vandalism of beehives was "surprisingly common".
Some beekeepers had lost honey to thieves while others had had bullets fired through hives, both in New Zealand and overseas.
Senior Sergeant Chris George said police were following a line of inquiry about the North Taieri incident.
