New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Wairarapa Branch Incorporated Newsletter for April 2018 General meeting Wednesday 18 th April 2018 7:30 pm Parkvale Hall Speaker: Bruce Slater General Meeting 18 April 2018 Our guest speaker this month is Bruce Slater speaking on his adventures on the West Coast in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of you will remember that Bruce gave a talk a couple of years ago on rusa hunting in New Guinea, and he is an entertaining speaker with a great selection of slides. Promises to be an interesting presentation on hunting in the old days. Invite a mate, come along, listen to the talk, compare roar stories, and stay for a cuppa afterwards. The guest speakers give up their evening to entertain us so please support them and your club by turning up to our general meetings! Key Dates - Upcoming Trips and Events 29 APRIL BRANCH CLAY TARGET SHOOT. A chance for the duckshooters to get their eye in, or just to have a good afternoon blasting clays! To be held at Alex Beesley s place at 493 Waiohine Gorge Road starting at 1 pm on Sunday 29 April. Cost will be $20 for clays. Ammunition available for $12 per box. Stay for a barbeque afterwards. Club will provide sausages and bread. Bring your own drinks, salads, and anything else that you want to eat! 16 MAY GENERAL MEETING Parkvale Hall 7:30 pm. Roar de-brief! 24-28 MAY NELSON LAKES TRIP. Now full Thursday to Sunday. Staying at Red Deer Lodge in St Arnaud and hunting round Lake Rotoiti with access by water taxi. 1
Recent Events 21 MARCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING was attended by 15 members. Wairarapa Hunting & Fishing kindly sponsored an assortment of outdoor clothing, which was drawn as a door prize with Kerry Fitzgerald the lucky winner. President s address Wow another year has passed! Welcome everyone and many thanks for your attendance tonight. Yet again OUR branch has had a very busy 12 months! We have a "GREAT" committee dedicated to providing the members with ample activities many thanks to: Alex, Richard, Aidan, Adam, Phil, Andrew, Tracy, Brad, Steve, Pete, Sean and Lloyd. I would like to acknowledge Steve Playle who has stood down from the committee for his services, wisdom and enthusiasm. Steve has been on the committee for 9 years and with Sharron have been hard working supporters of the branch. Aranui Station in Wanganui thanks Andrew Wilkinson and Owner Rick Collins Rangitata Tahr hunt down south was organised by Garry Warren and Derek Williams I attended this trip along with 7 other people, a great trip had by all. We would love to have another opportunity to go again this year. Fly-in trips -to the Tararuas unfortunately this was limited to only 1 trip due to weather! Next fly-in trip for financial members is yet to be confirmed. Shooting Competition: special thanks to Range Master Alex Beesley, thanks for organising various shooting competitions throughout the year. Last year's main shooting competition (the Grahame Hamilton memorial Shoot) was very well attended. The shotgun shot before duck shooting was a great event, one which we hope to repeat this year. Working Bees FIREWOOD have been well attended, remember this subsides your fly in trip so no contribution NO FLIGHT! Remember PPE gear as this is a HSE requirement. This years working bee raised approximately $2500. Also I would like to mention Paul for his input of carting the trees, Phil for providing a tractor and Aidan for supplying the wood. Hall bookings- have increased in the last 12 months and now the Police are using the hall for sitting firearms tests and due to this we have had some new members from just seeing what we have to offer, and even bookings for next year have come in! Hut working bee Sayers Hutt south wall to be done, in the near future, nothing at Neil Forks and a new addition to the hut family Cow Creek (piles have now been done). Search and Rescue: Thanks to Phil who is the branch rep. Members have been involved in a number of searches so thank you for your time and commitment. If anyone in interested in getting involved please contact Phil. Annual dinner was well attended again, I would like to thank all of our sponsors for generous donations for our silent auction. Also thanks to the many branch members (and families) who contributed to its success. Antler, horn and Tusks and the Photo Competition had good entries. Steve Playle has stood down as Convener so thanks very much for your service. Joe Hansen and Greg Hamilton have kindly agreed to take Steve s position, Joe being the Convenor. We are looking forward to this year's entries to see if we can top last years. Check the Web site page for categories. General meetings We understand that not everyone is interested in all topics; however we haven t had any requests for specific subjects, if you have any requests please let myself know or any committee member and we will try to source those speakers. Please don t be the person known as the armchair critic, give us some suggestions. However general meetings off site have been very well attended. Website- thanks to Chris Cherry again for continuing with our website. Chris requires more stories, so with the up and coming roar, put pen to paper and snap a few photos. Newsletter. This has gone out every month, thanks to Richard, Tracy and Sharron who have put this together and got the hard copies out to members. As usual we could do with more articles and photos. 2
DONT FORGET TO PAY YOUR SUBS!! They are now due!! Shoot a good head in the Roar and subs aren t paid...sorry... no entry!! Passing of Members / Partners Branch member Grahame Hamilton, former branch member Bill Benfield, and Bill Gray, Phil Gray s father. In closing the committee has decided to grant Frances Hamilton (Grahame's wife) with an Honorary Member Certificate. This is to acknowledge her support of the branch and her attendance at so many of our activities. Martin Amos Branch President Treasurer s report Aidan Bichan presented the club s accounts on behalf of Richard O Driscoll, who was overseas. The financial statement was prepared by Bill Duncan Financial Services. Total society funds were $114,454 made up of $91,883 of assets, $15,000 in 12-month term deposit, and an account balance of $7,571. Total income for 2017/18 was $11,623 which was made up mainly from subscriptions, firewood sales, and tickets and the annual dinner. Annual expenditure was $10,354 which included hall costs (insurance, rates, power etc), subsidised trips, as well as costs associated with the dinner. The full financial statement is available at www.societies.govt.nz. Click on search for a society under online services and enter the organization number 216621. Bill Duncan was re-appointed as auditor for 2018/19 and subscription fees for 2019/20 were set to remain the same as in 2018/19. Election of officers for 2018/19 President: Martin Amos Vice-president: Tracy Amos Secretary: Aidan Bichan Treasurer: Richard O Driscoll Committee: Phil Gray Alex Beesley Pete Cunningham Andrew Dennes Adam Kenning Designated club roles 2018/19 Newsletter: Richard O'Driscoll Website: Chris Cherry AHT: Joe Hansen Memberships: Tracy Amos DOC Liaison: Martin Amos Huts and Tracks: Mike Thrupp Range and shooting: Alex Beesley Hunting trips: Martin Amos Brad Gardiner Lloyd Rainer Sean Roberts Craig Hansen Shane Dougan Wanganui trips: Andrew Wilkinson Hall hire: Martin Amos Hall maintenance: Andrew Dennes Search and Rescue: Phil Gray & Pete Cunningham Deer park: Phil Gray, Brad Gardiner, Craig Hansen Guest speakers: Shane Dougan Grant applications: Sean Roberts Youth members: Adam Kenning Please support your committee and others with designated responsibilities. A successful club is one where all the members pitch in! 3
6-8 APRIL WANGANUI FALLOW RUT HUNT. The weather was kind and the deer were plentiful and fat! Twelve members shot a total of 15 deer and numerous goats. No massive trophies were taken, but a couple of good ones were spotted. Everybody enjoyed a relaxed and friendly weekend. Thanks to Andrew Wilkinson for organising this. A selection of photos is in the Hunting Reports section. News PARKVALE HALL For more information or to make a booking contact Martin 379 5454 or 027 3671635. SEARCH AND RESCUE All quiet this month. Phil Gray is Branch rep but keen to get others involved. If you re interested in joining SAR please contact Phil on 027 4740717. HUTS A DOC huts and tracks meeting was held in Porirua on 9 April (report next month). There are still plans to reclad the south wall of Sayers Hut. DEER PARK The big news of the past month! Some vandals cut the fence into the red deer enclosure on Easter Sunday and all 5 red deer escaped. The 4 hinds and yearlings were quickly rounded up by Ray and helpers, but a member of the public called in to say that she had a near miss with the stag in Colombo Road. A great team effort followed to try and recapture the stag, with up to 12 branch members involved, along with the police, media, general public, and air support from Amalgamated Helicopters. The stag was tracked for about 5 km up the Ruamahanga River, but could not be located before dark, or on Easter Monday. With the situation looking grim, we were delighted to learn that he had returned of his own accord to the Sports Bowl early Tuesday morning. Although agitated, he was successfully coaxed back into the enclosure with the hinds. A really successful outcome which generated a huge groundswell of public interest and support for the branch. In case you missed it we made front page of the Wairarapa Times Age (twice), the Dominion Post, and Tracy had over 1000 likes on Facebook As noted last month, the branch was looking into costs to set up CCTV security cameras overlooking the deer park. This has been prioritised by the Masterton District Council and cameras integrated into the Council system will be installed soon (maybe even by the time you read this). We are also working with the Council on getting signage put up advising the general public of the danger posed by the deer during the rut. 4
NATIONAL OFFICE Heritage Trust Late last year, with the blessing of the NZDA Wellington Branch and the Trust, Trustee Tim Watson engaged Silverwood architects to take our scope and produce plans to double the size of the Trust s current home at 3 Collina Tce into a purpose-built museum & hall. This will provide valuable storage and more importantly display space, where the Trust can start to exhibit some of the great items in its collection. It will also provide a library and study area, so researchers, authors and deerstalkers can come to learn and read in a suitable environment. It has obvious others uses too- for the Wellington Branch, Natex & HUNTS course meetings. New accessible facilities- internal lift & chairlift from the carpark will ensure that our older generation of deerstalkers will be able to visit and see all the museum has to offer. Conference The conference is being held in Wellington, 13th to 15th July 2018. The conference venue is the Thorndon Hotel and Conference Centre in Wellington, very centrally located a hop skip and a jump to Parliament, NZ 5
Deerstalkers National Office, the vibrant Wellington waterfront and The Thorndon Hotel. Planning continues and more information will be forthcoming. Wellington branch have established their Conference committee and are plans are progressing. AERIAL POSSUM CONTROL NORTHERN REMUTAKAS OSPRI New Zealand have advised that there will be aerial 1080 drops in the northern Remutakas in July- August 2018 (see map below). 6
Hunting Reports 6-8 April 2018 Wanganui Fallow Rut Hunt photos by Richard and Peter O Driscoll. There must be others who got out over the roar? Compiling the monthly newsletter is a big enough job, so please give me some help with content! We want to include your hunting stories and photos in the newsletter too. Stories can be sent to the newsletter editor at wairarapanzda@gmail.com 7
BRANCH ANTLER, HORN, TUSK, AND PHOTO COMPETITIONS Hope that you have some entries lined up. Another reminder about the categories: Red deer, public land (Avon Tatton Shield) Red deer, private land (Steve Ticehurst cup) Classic Red deer (J.M. Jury shield) Best goat head (Crawford Cameron shield) Best head where a trophy fee is paid (Playle trophy) Best pig jaw undrawn tusks (Harvie Morrow shield) Best pig jaw Drawn Tusks (N. Tilsey Sheild) Aggregate, two or more species (V.V. Donald shield) Best head other species Best trophy head under 20 Tahr / Chamois (Max Cole Barometer) Photographic categories are: Game animals in their wild, outdoor state (W.F. McIntyre Cup) Other Wildlife in its wild, outdoor state and not in any form of captivity (V.V. Donald Shield) Scenic relative to the sport of hunting (B.W. Newport Cup) Other not covered in other categories (K Gear Cup) Junior photograph (Amos Cup) Buy, Sell, and Swap If you have hunting or outdoor related items that you want to buy, sell, or swap, then we ll include these in the Newsletter free of charge (better than TradeMe). Send items (with picture if you wish) to wairarapanzda@gmail.com PERSONAL LOCATOR BEACONS The four club PLBs purchased with a grant application from Trust House Wairarapa are available for hire for $10 for a weekend or $20 for 3-14 days. Contact Aidan on 027 432 3410. 8
Final Thoughts Be safe be sure. Assume it is a person not a deer. No meat is better than no mate. Identify your target. A big thank you to the team at Wairarapa Funeral Services for your printing of our monthly newsletter this year we really have appreciated your assistance. Hard Copy Newsletter Recipients if you are receiving this newsletter by post but also use email, please contact the editors at wairarapanzda@gmail.com so your newsletter can be sent electronically. Disclaimer: The contents of this Newsletter come from various sources, and the opinions or ideas expressed are not necessarily endorsed by this committee or by National Executive, nor may they reflect Branch policy. Check us out on Facebook: We have just hit 1000 likes!! https://www.facebook.com/wairarapanzda Thanks to Chris Cherry who keeps the branch website up-to-date. You can even look through previous newsletters! Check it out on: http://www.wairarapanzda.org.nz/ 9