A hunting lobby group wants white-tailed deer classed as a herd of special interest as pressure goes on their existence in the South.
The status of both white-tailed deer and wapiti were hot topics at the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association’s annual meeting in Invercargill recently.
Association president Callum Sheridan said there was a lot of interest in the herds of special interest (Hosi) because 1080 poisoning operations on Stewart Island/Rakiura were threatening the geographically isolated white-tailed herds.
The Department of Conservation website says the department administers 44 designated hunting blocks where the white-tailed deer live on Stewart Island.
Herds were also established at the head of Lake Wakatipu: the two South Island locations are home to the only herds in the southern hemisphere.
Mr Sheridan said aerial 1080 poisoning was a big problem.
"Obviously Rakiura is going to be hammered, so that’s really going to impact the white herd. They’re a lot more susceptible to poison than other species."
While it was illegal to kill deer with 1080 poison, they did die as a result of by-kill, he said.
He would like protections and herd management established for white-tail deer similar to those the wapiti species had.
But a dedicated white-tail foundation needed to be established as well as it being officially recognised as a Hosi.
"There is quite a lot of economic value to our deer herds and white-tails [are] one of them."
International hunters came specifically to hunt the species, also known as the "grey ghost".
"New Zealand’s like the last frontier place that you can come and hunt without too much restriction.
"There’s a lot of spending that goes on, especially from overseas ... all sorts of numbers bandied about over the years, right up to about $180 million.
"Every time somebody goes hunting, they’re spending some form of money ... whether it’s buying ammunition, gear or food, or just spending money at the petrol station to get there."
Any sort of game animal was also a resource for people to be able to feed themselves, he said.
Conference guest speaker Hunting and Fishing Minister James Meager said he believed hunters were among the nation’s greatest conservation tools as they were in the bush daily maintaining tracks, huts and animal populations.
Hunters had support from the government for their work and he was supporting new legislation to recognise Hosi, he said.
Submissions on making wapiti a herd of special interest closed last week.
