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Tēnā koe,
As a current recreational hunting permit holder, I’m contacting you to provide a further update on the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) Himalayan tahr control programme in the central South Island.
Some of you may not have received my earlier update on 14 July so I have left that below – it includes an update on the High Court case relating to tahr and some key tahr facts.
Read on for a tahr control update and links to maps showing the locations where hundreds of bulls have been recorded and left for hunters during recent control operations on public conservation land.
Tahr Control Update:
As you know, we were able to undertake up to 125 hours of aerial tahr control inside of the feral range while we consulted with tahr stakeholders on the Tahr Control Operational Plan for 2020/2021.
We have analysed 77 hours of aerial control undertaken between mid to late July. Additional control is still underway and further analysis will be released once information has been verified.
We have only flown 10 percent of the 425,000ha of public conservation land available for tahr hunting outside of the national parks, but we have already seen close to 700 mature bulls for trophy hunters to target.
From the 42 hours of aerial control targeting high densities of females and juvenile tahr outside the national parks we have removed more than 1950 animals and we’re regularly removing large groups of between 10 and 30 females and juveniles.
Our focus has been in targeting localised high-density groups and leaving small groups and all bulls for hunters. We have tried to avoid controlling tahr in popular and accessible hunting spots.
We’re also not targeting 133,000ha of Crown pastoral leases and private land which is where the vast majority of commercial hunting takes place.
We have spent 35 hours protecting Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks, where DOC aims to reduce tahr to the lowest practicable densities to meet the requirements of the Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993.
Out of the 1200 tahr removed from the national parks last month, 75 percent were females and juveniles.
Tahr maps:
We have uploaded maps to the DOC website showing the locations where bulls have been left across 425,000 ha of public conservation land for hunters. Note that the bull sightings are from less than 10 percent of the public conservation land outside of the national parks where control has been undertaken.
These maps show where more than 550 bull sightings have been recorded which are a useful tool for those planning a hunting trip.
Remember you can contribute to tahr management by recording the results of your hunting using the Tahr Returns App - Visit the Game Animal Council website to download the app.
Consultation update:
We recently met with stakeholders as part of the consultation process to finalise the Tahr Control Operational Plan 2020/2021. Oral and written submissions were received from stakeholders that include members of the Tahr Plan Implementation Liaison Group. DOC expects to announce its finalised Tahr Control Operational Plan for 2020/2021 later in August once a decision is made on its content
It’s important to remember we’re interested in control, not eradication, and there will continue to be thousands of tahr for recreational and commercial hunting across 425,000 ha of public conservation land outside of the National Parks, as well as another 133,000 ha of Crown pastoral lease and private land.
At this point we would like to thank all permit holders for the constructive feedback we have received to date.
We will provide you with another update in the near future with answers to some of the more common questions that have been raised.
Ngā mihi nui,
Dr Ben Reddiex
Operations Director
