Hunters putting pūkeko on the food bank menu
Pūkeko sausages will be on the menu for families using Nelson food banks, thanks to a Fish and Game initiative that will also help kārearea (native falcons).
Fish and Game Nelson Marlborough organised a hunt earlier this month to provide meat to Nelson charities and to feed injured native falcons.
The resulting harvest of over 180 game birds is being turned into small goods, made from a variety of fowl: mallard, paradise shelduck, Canada goose, swan, shoveler and pūkeko though it’s the latter bird that makes up the ‘‘vast majority’’ of the sausages.
Nelson Marlborough Fish and Game councillor David Haynes said the pūkeko snags tasted ‘‘absolutely beautiful’’.
‘‘It’s a dark meat, it’s very low fat, and very high in nutrition and minerals,’’ he said. ‘‘I would describe it as a sort of very, very delicate liver-like flavour.’’
Around 50 to 60 hunters from across the region turned out for the shoot. The birds collected had the meat removed from the chest area, which was then examined with a metal detector to check that it did not contain any steel shot that could damage the mincer when made into sausages.
Game bird hunting is only per
‘‘I’m just amazed about how many shooters out there are so keen to help us.’’
David Haynes
Nelson Marlborough Fish and Game councillor
mitted with non-toxic or steel shot.
Meat Solutions in Richmond is turning the meat into sausages at a heavily discounted rate, which will be delivered to Nelson food banks on Tuesday.
Leftover carcasses are given to recovering kārearea in Blenheim.
Marlborough Falcon Conservation Trust falconer and aviculturist Diana Dobson said the trust was totally reliant on donations of wild game to feed their recovering falcons.
‘‘We can’t go to a supermarket and buy what falcons need to eat, so without the support of local game bird hunters, we wouldn’t be able to help our injured birds.’’
Since doing the hunt Haynes said he was approached by the Nelson branch president of the Deer Stalkers Association, who donated a deer to be turned into around 60 half-kilogram packages of venison sausages and patties.
He also got a call from the man who runs the Molesworth Canada Goose Shoot, who is going to chip in with goose meat as well.
Haynes said the phone had been ‘‘ringing off the hook’’ with a groundswell of bird and game hunters who wanted to help with the food bank donations.
‘‘I’m just amazed about how many shooters out there are so keen to help us,’’ he said. ‘‘Everybody wants to be part of this giving.’’
While it took ‘‘a bit of work’’ to get all the necessary approvals in place, it was worth it to help the wider Nelson community.
Haynes hoped to have donated one tonne of meat by Christmas.
‘‘I’m pretty proud to be part of that hunting and shooting community,’’ he said. ‘‘Although I will add that when I went on the shoot, the only thing I shot was some clouds.
‘‘They call me the sky buster.’’