Newsletter May 2018 & AGM has gone out to members : Check it out.
Presidents Report 2018 Another positive year here at the Southern Lakes Branch with 2 different venues for our meetings but I think we have a winner at the Arrowtown Bowling Club, a Big thank you to Wayne for keeping us Hydrated during these meetings. Each year the club is bringing in a lot of new members, who are new to the region or new to hunting and also getting some locals joining up! A few of our members have moved regions but all have joined their new local Deer Stalkers branches and we have welcomed some new, existing members to our branch. Everyone is probably getting sick of us talking about the Range and how close we are to getting our own range but i think for the future of our Branch and growing more members, this will still be a big focus over the next 12 months. The process of obtaining a consent for this range is still challenging as we are dealing with a private land owner, DOC and QLDC. Having several landowners adds complexity. Whilst the process is slow we have made some progress with a consent application having been drafted, ongoing communications with the land owner, meetings held with the Police and QLDC and APL (QLDC property manager). The next steps are to seek affected party approvals from those affected and then lodge a resource consent application. We had Bill O’leary come to our region and ran a ‘Range Officers’ Course so we now have several members who are qualified range officers Thanks again to everyone who has been helping in this range process over...
Newsletter April 2018 has gone out to members : Check it out.
In January we reported that Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP), in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Predator Free 2050 Limited, had started a new research programme in a 12,000 hectare area within the Perth Valley (South Westland). The programme aims to develop an approach to completely remove possums from large areas and to prevent them from re-establishing. Possums are the initial focus of the research, but the programme will also seek to develop the approach for ship rats and stoats. READ MORE ...
Are you working or playing in the backcountry this Winter or Spring ? With winter just around the corner it’s timely to think about preparing for the upcoming snow season. The guys at Aspiring Guides are scheduling in Avalanche Courses for this coming winter season. Aspiring Guides are at the forefront of Avalanche Education in New Zealand and one of the leading providers of Recreational Avalanche Courses. The courses are New Zealand Mountain Safety Council accredited and use professional NZMGA and IFMGA qualified mountain or ski guides to deliver the courses with experience in mountain and ski guiding, ski patrol, heli-skiing and mountain instruction. Courses are focused toward outdoor enthusiasts and also those working in the industry who regularly head into the backcountry - skiers, snowboarders, snow shoers, mountaineers, hikers, outdoor workers, deerstalkers and the like… They believe it’s important for people working or recreating in the snow to have an understanding of avalanche awareness and we want to work with the members from your club to provide avalanche awareness training. We have different courses from basic introductory to more comprehensive training: 1. 5 day Introductory Avalanche Awareness Course. This course involves a 3 hr evening theory session, followed by a full day in the field putting it all into practise. The course is an introduction into understanding the avalanche phenomenon, decision making and rescue. Upon completion participants will receive a MSC Avalanche Awareness Course Certificate, workbook and rescue card. 4 day Backcountry Avalanche Course. A comprehensive course delivering 4 days of instruction based locally from our ski resorts in Wanaka/Queenstown and classroom lectures at our office in Wanaka. Understanding of weather, snow and the avalanche phenomenon is developed with the focus on good decision making, risk management and rescue skills for those venturing outside the ski area boundary. Upon completion participants will receive a MSC Backcountry Avalanche Course Certificate, Transceiver Competence Certificate, Avalanche Awareness in the NZ Backcountry by Penny Goddard, workbook and rescue card....
