Trespassing hunters

A recent practice is for helicopters, particularly at this time of the year when stags are roaring, to drop hunters off on high mountain ridges. Normally subject to a hunting permit from the Department of Conservation, this is fine but unfortunately a number of recent incidents have involved hunters being dropped on the back of Marlborough high country stations.

Thus the hunters are on high country farm land without permission. In a word, poaching.

The Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust (SHOT) has had a number of reports from hunters with permission on Marlborough high country stations, encountering or seeing, such trespassing hunters.

The potential for a hunting accident is real. A hunter with permission from a farmer has every expectation of there being no other hunters in the area.

Trespassing hunters are not always experienced being ‘‘once a year’’ hunters in the ‘‘roar’’. At times, helicopter-borne hunters can have a tendency to carry alcohol into camp.

Helicopter operators should be