Otago > Hunting News July 08

The tenure review brings new upland game hunting opportunities

The tenure review process has seen a significant area of central Otago upland game habitat return to crown ownership. Much of this area was previously unavailable to the average hunter as access was controlled by the manager of the pastoral lease. Otago Region Environmental Officer John Hollows said that the transfer to DOC of hundreds of hectares scrubby gullies on some recently completed tenure review properties should be good news for keen hunters. “The best part about this is that under the settlement, the public will have free access to get to these locations and while a permit from DOC to hunt them will be required, hunters have few other restrictions”. Keen hunters are urged to contact the Central Otago DOC Offices to obtain permits and location information. The Quail hunting season runs through to the end of August.

New rangers in hot locations

Five new rangers have been appointed in Otago Region over the last month with many of them in places where a compliance presence is light. Operations Manager Ian Hadland said that the new recruits were ‘keen as mustard’ to get going and looking forward to meeting anglers in their local areas. While one of the rangers is in Dunedin the others are in Queenstown, Makarora, Albertown, Alexandra. These appointments in particular have helped the region achieve almost complete coverage with the only real gaps being the deep south of Otago and the far north.

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