Noxious Animal Control

Much of New Zealand is mountainous and rugged country, conditions that suit the Dominion's noxious wild life. Deer, pigs, goats, wild sheep and opossums thrive in it and in doing so cause farmers and various Government departments many headaches. In an endeavour to at least control the noxious animal population, the Forest Service employs hunters to operate in the most serious areas. Many of these men have to be trained and it is at Dip Flat, on the Wairau river and not far from Kikiwa, that trainees learn the life of the hunter. Here, Forest Service instructors put them through their basic training where they learn rifle safety, first aid, camp cooking, shooting and many other aspects of camp craft.

Then follows training in the field under instruction, and the course ends with another fortnight's intensive and rigorous training at the camp. During this period trainees can decide if they wish to stay on the job. Some leave and others do not reach the standard set by the instructors and are screened out of the course. At the conclusion of the course they pass out as second-grade hunters and are posted where necessary throughout New Zealand.

Since the Forest Service took over noxious animal control from the Internal Affairs Department in 1956, its hunters have destroyed over 250,000 deer and a total of 500,000 noxious animals.

In this picture, a hunter rests with his kill and gazes over the rugged country that is typical of so much of New Zealand's back country.

The trainees' camp at Dip Flat. A permanent camp is situated a little down-stream from here. At this camp the conditions are very similar to those the hunter will meet in the field.

The latest intake of trainees with instructors. At extreme left is Mr Peter Logan, hunter training officer, and at extreme right, Sergeant Noel Oxnam, instructor in fire-arm safety.

Two of the boys with the weekend meat.

The flying fox as a means of crossing rivers, and other methods, are taught the trainees. Here Gary Kremmer (Nelson) and Les Hall (Blenheim) show how it is done.

Each tent has its own cooking facilities and here David Fleet (Napier) cooks his lunch.

A hunter's best friend is his rifle and much time is taken in ensuring that these are kept in perfect condition. Nigel Healy (Christchurch) sees to his weapon.

One of the most important lessons learned is firearm safety. Here Sergeant Oxnam demonstrates how rifles can be fired with the so-called "safety catch" on, or at half-cock. His demonstration was an eye-opener.

In the bush you do your own boot repairs. Colin Clarke (Tophouse). an instructor, shows a group just how.

Sergeant Oxnam displays firearms burst and shattered through misuse

Where to aim the shot a lesson by Peter Logan

So much stress is being placed on firearm safety these days, we felt that a series of pictures that demonstrate the stupid ways of handling firearms, might help the publicity campaign. There is no such thing as a firearm accident, says Sergeant Oxnam, only gross negligence. Some of these pics may cause experienced hunters some laughs. Nobody in their right minds would do that, they say. Yet many of these faults are practised and familiarity breeds contempt. We have taken this sequence from the "Ten Commandments for Safe Shooting". Our models are three instructors at Dip Flat.