Crack marksman also remembered for his kindness
A LEGEND among the generation who professionally stalked New Zealand’s high country for deer and other animals, Alan Duncan, who died on June 17, aged 84, spent most of his working life based at Makarora, near Lake Wanaka.
‘‘Dunc’’, as he was known to his mates, was an outstanding hunter and marksman, described by many as the best hunter of his generation, possibly the best that has ever hunted New Zealand’s high country.
After a career hunting in the North Island, he moved south and met and married the love of his life, Denise, in
Marlborough. They moved further south with their children to Makarora, where he had hunting blocks, later joining Sir Tim Wallis’ company, Alpine Helicopters.
Sir Tim recalled how Dunc came on board with Alpine Helicopters.
‘‘In August 1965, I formed the Luggate Game Packers. Robert Wilson and I were keen deer hunters and knew that deer were a noxious animal. The government employed deer cullers to try and control the expanding numbers.
‘‘I used Hiller 12E helicopters to recover the deer, which was successful. However, I needed hunter pilots. Being able to train Alan Duncan as a helicopter pilot in 1968 was a great move. Getting his commercial pilot’s licence was no easy job.
‘‘I knew once he was trained, Alan would make an excellent pilot, as he was a top hunter. Bob White was his shooter; they communicated without words and using only hand signals. Alan was one of the best venison pilots and one of our top producers. He worked for us from 19681995 — 27 years.
‘‘Alan was based at Makarora with his wife, Denise, who had seven children. They were a great couple. Denise was always concerned when Alan was late home. I’d often get a phone call after dark and would always reassure her that Dunc would show up. He had great survival skills and was a quiet achiever. We were lucky to have him,’’ Sir Tim said.
Dunc is remembered as a very kind man.
His children recall his 4am starts, when they would hear the chopper start up, but not before he left a warm pot of porridge for when they got up to go to school.
They remember his many other kindnesses, including flying them out of Makarora so they didn’t have to go by bus to return to boarding school, and the array of pets he brought home for them — a black baby goat, lambs, baby possums, a kea and fawns, small tahr and chamois.
Sometimes they would wrap the fawns in a blanket and put them on the coal range to keep them warm.
Alan was born in Rotorua on July 11, 1933. The family moved to a dairy farm at Hikutaia, on the Hauraki Plains, in 1938 and later to Opotiki, where he fell in love with hunting.
The family moved to Hamilton when Alan was 15. He tried a couple of city jobs before the bush called and he took a job as a government hunter, working first in Te Uruwera. In his first seven months he killed 1660 deer, demonstrating straight away his marksmanship.
In his early hunting days he was a contemporary and mate of writer Barry Crump, who, through his 1960 book, A Good Keen Man, brought the yarns and the world of hardworking bushmen like Dunc into the living rooms of the nation.
An April 2007 New Zealand Geographic article on the deer recovery industry described Dunc as ‘‘a member of Crumpy’s bunch in the Ureweras and considered — if such distinction can be awarded — the best hunter New Zealand has produced’’.
In 1983 publication The Chopper Boys, author Rex Forrester, who first met Alan in 1951, described him as a ‘‘top hunter, for whatever block he was assigned to he would double the tally of the hunter who was there before him’’.
‘‘He’s revered and respected by all who know him, one of the true greats of hunting professionalism,’’ he wrote.
During his time in the Te Uruwera he earned the respect and lifelong friendship of another distinguished writer, and former deer culler, Jack Lasenby.
‘‘We saw a fair bit of each other in the early ’60s when Dunc was possuming at the Hopuruahine, and had built himself a snug little Aframe hut,’’ Lasenby recalls.
‘‘He had an enormous teapot, the size of a fourgallon kerosene tin, and never threw out the tea leaves, just adding another handful each brew. I was working the Horomanga and we swapped visits, travelling across country. Dunc was good in the bush, as he was good at anything he turned his hand to.
‘‘He was fairly small, but had a tough, efficient body. Crump once said: ‘Put Dunc up Queen Street in Auckland, and he’d come back with half a dozen tails swinging on his belt’.’’
As well as that little hut he shared with Lasenby, there is at least one other of his huts in the high country that is remembered fondly by many.
A 2014 feature in the ODT about Siberia Hut, in the Mt Aspiring National Park, which was razed by fire in 2011, noted that Dunc built its predecessor in the late 1950s as shelter when he was up there deerculling.
He told the reporter he felled a large beech tree and cut it into planks to build the hut.
‘‘It’s amazing what you can do when you’re young,’’ he told the reporter.
It was a great time in his life, he recalled.
When he decided his professional hunting days were over, he and Denise retired to a home they built at Maungawera, Wanaka, running a few deer on the property before moving to Geraldine for their later years. Downsizing only slightly more, they made their final move to Pleasant Point, Timaru.
Dunc is survived by his five children, three grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.
— Sources: Sir Tim Wallis, Duncan family, Jack Lasenby,
New Zealand Geographic, New Zealand Outdoor Hunting,
The Chopper Boys