Pureora Hunting Competition

The competition has been running for more than 30 years and is open to all hunters with a valid hunting permit for Pureora Forest Park.

This year the competition started on Saturday 16 March 2024 and it runs through until the prizegiving on Sunday 28 April 2024.

Deer and pig entries need to be pre-registered at one of the recording centres listed below within 72 hours of being taken or registered fresh at the prizegiving day. Junior entries are registered at prizegiving. See the rules section for details.

Prizegiving

Date: Sunday, 28 April 2024
Location: DOC Field Base workshop, Barryville Road, Pureora Village. Location map (JPG, 252K)

Registration will run from 9 am to midday – no late entries will be accepted.

Measuring will start from 10 am.

Presentation of prizes will begin when measuring is completed and the prize list has been compiled and checked – usually by about 1:30 pm.

The kiwi aversion training schedule is now full. Thanks to trainer Willy Marsh and to Otorohanga Kiwi House for making this training available.

There will be free tea, coffee and milo available, and Benneydale School will be running a sausage sizzle.

Categories

Prizegiving 2023
Image: DOC

Deer

• Top Douglas-score head – with prizes for the top 5 heads
• Jaw draw – the more jaws you enter, the greater your chance of winning
• Ugliest head
• Top Douglas-score head – Junior (hunter 15 years old or younger)
• Average head

Pigs

• Heaviest boar or barrow – with prizes for the top three entries
• Top undrawn tusk
• Average weight sow

Junior competition (15 years or younger)

• Mustelid draw (ferret, stoat, weasel)
• Goat tail draw
• Rat draw

Hunters with at least one entry in each of these categories will also go into the Three Pest Prize draw.

Roar

• Senior (16 years +)
• Junior (15 years and younger)

For health and safety reasons, please bring your own horn if you wish to use one.

The focus is on participation, not just on the biggest/heaviest animal, so every entrant has a chance to win spot prizes. Read the competition rules to ensure you are eligible for prizes and draws.

Prizes

A range of prizes and vouchers have already been donated by:

AC Petfoods, Appliance Plus Te Kuiti, Ata’s Bar and Eatery, Back Country Cuisine, Benneydale Café, Blackfern Lodge, Dave Gibson Locksmith & Gun Shop, Earth Sea Sky, Farm Source Otorohanga, Forgotten World Adventures, Killwell Sports, Mac's Meats Home Kill, Mid West Helicopters (NZ) Limited, NZ Hunter Magazine, Otorohanga Kiwi House, PGG Wrightson Te Kuiti, Pitcorn Engineering, Pratt Motorcycles, Sika Country Taxidermy, Timber Trail Lodge, Trek N Travel, Work and Safety Supplies Limited, Wright Fishing and Outdoors Te Awamutu.

Recording centres

Fresh deer heads and pig jaws caught earlier in the competition must be sited fresh and preregistered at one of the recording centres below. Please call during business hours to arrange a suitable time.

Competition rules

All categories

• All deer and pig entries must be wild animals taken from within Pureora Forest Park, and contiguous forest, during the competition period. Organisers appreciate the honesty of hunters in complying with this requirement, but reserve the right to refuse any head or jaw should they doubt its eligibility. Judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• Participants must be present at the prizegiving day and have registered their entries to be eligible for category or spot prizes.
• All deer jaws and junior pest category entries are to be left on site for research purposes and disposal by DOC.
• DOC employees are not eligible to enter.

Deer

• Deer heads must be presented fresh (within 72 hours of being taken - with scalp and ears attached) at a recording centre before 5 pm on Wednesday 24 April 2024 or between 9 am and midday at the prizegiving on Sunday 28 April 2024.
• Only fresh or clean heads will be accepted for measuring on prizegiving day.
• Official measuring will be based on the Douglas Scoring System and will be carried out by approved measurers from the NZ Deerstalkers Association.
• Only one head per person will be eligible for top-5 consideration.
• All clean jaws taken from Pureora Forest will be accepted for the jaw draw.
• The average deer head prize will be determined by finding the most common number of points among pre-registrations. The winner will be drawn randomly from all pre-registered entries with that number of points.

Pigs

• Pigs presented for weighing must be caught with 4 days of the prizegiving and be in edible condition.
• Fresh jaws can be pre-registered at the recording stations or at the prizegiving.
• Only fresh or clean jaws will be accepted for measuring at prizegiving.
• Measuring will follow the Douglas scoring system and will be carried out by approved measurers from the NZ Pig Hunting Association.

Junior categories

• The hunter must be aged 15 years or younger.
• Each animal/tail registered constitutes one entry.
• All mustelids, goat tails and rats must be registered and presented at the prizegiving event in a clean and countable condition. They may be presented fresh, individually frozen, or effectively dried.
• Animals/tails in poor or rotting condition will not be accepted.
• If animals/tails are frozen together in a manner that makes counting difficult, they will only be counted as a single entry.
• Hunters must enter at least one animal/tail in each of the three junior categories to be eligible for the Three Pest Prize draw.

Contact

For further information email Senior Community Ranger Julie Taylor at jutaylor@doc.govt.nz.