Catlins hunting

Located in the Otago and Southland regions

Find a hunting area in the Caitlins open hunting permit area.

Catlins open hunting permit area map

The Catlins hunting area consists of over 50 000 hectares of beech, podocarp and kamahi-rata forest. Species present are goats, pigs and red deer.

Most of the area is inland, in the Catlins Conservation Park, a challenging area dominated by a complex series of parallel ridges. On the coast there are blocks with gentler, but still heavily forested, terrain.

Climate

The climate is cool and moist with the watersheds of the Catlins Conservation Park particularly exposed to wet weather.

Kea may be present in this hunting area

Kea love exploring anything new, and are capable of shredding tents, bags and everything else left at campsites. This can be unsafe for kea and become a dangerous safety issue for hunters who rely on their equipment for survival in the hills.

  • Do not feed kea. Hide and/or bury organic food scraps including meat away from your campsite.
  • Where possible, set up camp under forest/scrub cover rather than in the open.
  • Keep your campsite tidy and consider packing gear into hard boxes/bags or covering it with a tarp.
  • Ignore kea as much as possible – interaction can become a game and encourage them.
  • You may need to keep a member of your party on ‘camp guard duty’.

Lead is toxic to humans and kea. Kea are known to feed on wild animal carcasses.

  • Consider using lead-free projectiles.
  • If you do use lead ammunition, try to reduce the visibility/accessibility of lead affected tissue – consider taking the bullet-damaged parts with you, or burying/hiding it.

Kea are an endangered species and it is illegal to harm them. For more information see guidance for hunting in kea habitat.