9-DAY HUNTING COURSE November 11, 2023
A comprehensive 9-day hunting course that includes transport and accommodation. Prior experience is not necessary to attend this course.
9-day Hunting course overview
This 9-day comprehensive hunting course will teach you all the skills needed to become a safe and successful hunter in the New Zealand Backcountry.
On this hunting course, we spend the first two days wild camping and learning how to navigate using a map and compass. Followed by a day spent refining river crossing techniques and hunting theory back at the lodge in Arthurs Pass Village. Days 4 & 5 focus on tracking, bush stalking, fly camping and glassing techniques. Leaving Arthurs Pass, we visit a taxidermist on the way to the shooting range and private hunting estate in South Canterbury. Rifle safety, marksmanship, long-range shooting, and rifle maintenance will be covered on days 6 & 7. Days 8 & 9 are set aside to practice all the new skills and go hunting. We guarantee at least two animals are secured on the course; therefore, a comprehensive field butchery session will wrap up the course before heading back to Christchurch.
*At the bottom of this page, you will find a more detailed course outline that can be downloaded.
Prerequisites
Prior skills and experience are not required before attending this course. You will learn everything you need to know to become a safe and successful hunter.
Age limit
To attend OENZ hunting courses, the participant must be 18yrs or older on, or before the first day of the course. Persons 16 yrs or older may attend OENZ hunting courses if they are attending with a legal parent or guardian.
Do you need an NZ firearms licence to attend this course?
To attend this course, you do not need to hold an NZ firearms licence or have any experience using firearms.
If you do not hold a current firearms licence, you will be able to shoot under the direct supervision of our guides. Under NZ law, an unlicensed person may use a firearm under the direct supervision of a current NZ firearms licence.
Can I bring my rifle to this course?
Yes, you can. However, you do not need to.
If you wish to bring a rifle, you will need to hold current NZ firearms or have organised a “visitors firearms licence” (if travelling from overseas).
Please note – The first five days of this course focus on navigation, river crossing, bush survival skills, stalking, tracking and glassing. This part of the course is delivered without firearms, and all firearms will be stored by a local gun shop, “Shooter Supplies“, in Christchurch until day 6.
You can send your rifle to “Shooter Supplies” before the courses using the “gunshop-to-gunshop” courier method, or we can drop it in for you on the first day.
Hunting course location
This hunting course starts and finishes in Christchurch. You will visit multiple locations throughout this course. The first two days are delivered in the Craigieburn Forest Park. Days 3 through 5 are delivered in Arthurs Pass National Park, with the remaining days spent on a private state in South Canterbury.
1st day – Craigieburn Forest Park. Near
Castle Hill Village, Canterbury.
2nd day – Craigieburn Forest Park. Near Castle Hill Village, Canterbury.
3rd day – Mt White bridge, Arthurs Pass National National Park.
4th day – Arthurs Pass National Park.
5th day – Arthurs Pass National Park.
6th day – Travel/Taxidermist/Shooting range, South Canterbury.
7th day – Shooting range, South Canterbury.
8th day – Private Hunting Estate, South Canterbury.
9th day – Private Hunting Estate, South Canterbury, travel back to Christchurch.
Accommodation
Accommodation is provided for the duration of this hunting course.
You will stay in a variety of locations and accommodations throughout the course.
1st evening – Wild camping (tenting) in Craigieburn Forest Park.
2nd evening – Lodge accommodation in Arthurs Pass Village.
3rd evening – Lodge accommodation in Arthurs Pass Village.
4th evening – Fly camping, Arthurs Pass National Park.
5th Evening – Lodge accommodation in Arthurs Pass Village.
6th Evening – Farmhouse, South Canterbury hunting estate.
7th Evening – Farmhouse, South Canterbury hunting estate.
8th Evening – Farmhouse, South Canterbury hunting estate
Arthurs Pass lodge
The lodge has bunk beds across three bedrooms and can sleep up to 20 people. It has a kitchen stocked with utensils, cookware, a fridge, and ovens. You will also be treated to power, bathroom facilities, hot showers and heating. All you need to bring is your sleeping bag, pillow and food.
Camping/fly camping
This course’s camping and fly-camping locations are situated away from away marked tracks or facilities. Tents and fly camping equipment can be hired if arranged in advance.
Farmhouse South Canterbury
The farmhouse we use in south Canterbury is fully self-contained. Includes a kitchen, hot showers and sleeps up to 12 people.
Gear and equipment
A complete packing list is available to download
Transport
Return transport is provided from Christchurch for all of the OENZ hunting courses.
If you’re travelling from out of town and staying in a hotel
Free transport is available from any Christchurch accommodation if you’re travelling from out of town to attend one of our courses.
If you live in Christchurch, have transport or can get dropped off, please meet us at one of the following locations. From here, you’re welcome to drive your vehicle out to our training location or jump into one of our vans and ride with us.
Meeting locations (catch a ride with us)
Yaldhurst McDonald 7:30 (see on google maps)
*Darfield Bakery 8:00 am (see on google maps)
Castle Hill Village 8:45 am (see on google maps)
*Our preferred meeting location is Darfield Bakery.
This Hunting course includes
Reading Topographic maps (NZ topo50)
- Colours and symbols
- Learning map features
- Scale and distance
- Orientating a map using features
- 6 figure grid references
- Spacial awareness
- Using a GPS/Smartphone GPS
Interpreting contour features
- Ridges
- Spurs
- Gullies
- Valleys
- Saddles
- Highpoints
Using a compass
- Clothing & Equipment selection
- Finding North
- Orientating map with compass
- Follow a compass bearing
- Field: map bearings
- Map: Field bearings
- Taking resections/triangulations
Gear & Equipment
- Packs
- Boots
- Walking poles
- Personal clothing
- Emergency communications
Camping skills
- Selecting a suitable campsite
- Tent pitching
- Fly camping set-ups
River Crossing
- Mutual support
- Solo crossing
- Hazards
- River characteristics
- River crossing principles
- Decision Making
- River crossing methods
- Recovery
Hunting skills
- Scat ID
- Footprint ID
- Tracking
- Stalking
- Bush Stalking
- Glassing (use of binos)
- Spot searching
- Grid searching
- Staking out
- Hunting photography
- Species identification
- Trophy potential ID
- Planning a hunt
- Sessional habits of animals
Rifle skills & safety
- NZ firearms coad
- The seven basic rules
- Cleaning and maintaining a firearm
- Rifle calibres explained
- Choosing a rifle & scope
- Correct fitment of rifle, scope & hunter
Marksmanship
- Sighting in a rifle
- Shooting positions
- Bench shooting
- Prone (lying down)
- Sitting
- Standing
- Kneeling
- Shooting long range
- Truing rifle and load
Butchering & Skinning
- Field butchery
- Skinning
- Trophy caping
- ID cuts of meat
- Management of meat in the bush
Hunting ethics & regulations
- Hunting areas
- Private land
- Doc land
- Permits, licences & permissions
- Herd management
- Ethical kill shots & distances
*A full course outline is available to download at the bottom of this page
Hunting course FAQ
Do you need a firearms licence to attend this course?
To attend this course, you do not need to hold an NZ firearms licence or have any experience using firearms. You can participate in all aspects of the course, including shooting under the direct supervision of our qualified guides and range officers, even if you do not hold a New Zealand firearms licence.
Can I bring my rifle to this course?
Yes, you can. However, you do not need to bring a rifle or hold a New Zealand firearms licence to attend this course. If you hold a current NZ firearms licence, you may bring and use your rifle.
Please note – The first five days of this course focus on navigation, river crossing, survival, stalking, tracking and glassing. This part of the course is delivered without firearms, and all firearms will be stored by “Shooter Supplies” in Christchurch until day 6.
You can send your rifle to “Shooter Supplies” before the courses using the “gunshop-to-gunshop” courier method, or we can drop it in for you on the first day.
Can you fly domestically around New Zealand with a firearm?
Yes, It’s quite simple to fly domestically around New Zealand with your firearm. You will need a current NZ firearm licence or a Visitor’s firearm licence & import permit if you have travelled from overseas. Also, make sure to inform your airline in advance.
Travelling from overseas?
If you are travelling from overseas and wish to bring and use your own rifle, you will need to organise a “visitors firearms licence” and “import permit” with the NZ Police in advance.
You can find out more information about travelling with firearms in New Zealand from the NZ Police and Air New Zealand websites:
https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/
Will I get an opportunity to shoot an animal on this course?
Yes, everyone will be offered an opportunity to shoot an animal on the course. The last part of the course is delivered on a large, high fenced hunting estate. OENZ will supply two animals to demonstrate stalking, shooting, skinning & butchering skills. Additional animals can be shot for a small fee (approx $100 per hind) payable directly to the estate owner. Meat from these animals is divided up at the end of the course.
Why do you deliver part of your course in a high fenced hunting estate?
Hunting on wild public land in New Zealand is extremely rewarding, but it can also be fickle. Recreational hunting pressure, WARO (Wild Animal Recovery Operations) and pest control measures used on public land make it challenging to locate animals within the time constraints of a hunting course.
What is “fair chase”?
FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animals.
“‘Fair Chase’ is the term given to a hunt that takes place on public or private land, either free-range or game estate, where the hunted species can express natural behaviours and has a reasonable and realistic chance of evading the hunter.” Source -NZPHGA (New Zealand Hunting Guides Association).
To deliver our range of hunting courses, we use a mixture of public and private. Our private land partnerships have been carefully selected to ensure that we offer experiences that fall in line with a “fair chase” hunting experience.
9-DAY HUNTING COURSE DOWNLOADS
Course outline
