INTEREST
Hunting for the head Crisp air, snow-capped mountain scenery, earthy smells of manuka and beech forest, heaving lungs and a pulsing heart rate, man did it feel good to be back out in the hills! WORDS BY WILLIE DULEY, PRODUCER, NZ HUNTER ADVENTURES
I could feel weeks of tension, stress and grief (as well as litres of sweat!) simply lifting out of me with every step I took. I appreciate many did lockdown and are still doing Covid-19 much harder than I did in my privileged and opportunity filled Kiwi life so I say all this with a grain of salt, but to be stuck in an old farmhouse miles away from the mountains for the entirety of the roar, well that was pretty tough for me. Rightly or wrongly, Level 4 lockdown saw the recreation of hunting despite its isolated nature 22 RE AL FARM E R
and comparatively low injury rate, deemed off limits and understandably, my business was not considered an essential service, although some diehard viewers might disagree! Could our Covid-19 situation have been handled better given we are one of the most isolated countries in the world? Yeah probably, but I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be in charge of steering the bus through the unknown… The thought of the show now being a whole season behind in production and marketing budgets (which are the bulk of my income) being first on the chopping block, coupled with the tragic loss of a couple of close friends entering the lockdown period, was enough to make me feel a bit like a lab rat in a cage being poked and prodded with no outlet to release what I was feeling. Me ol’ noggin seems to be fairly resilient though and I had an endless amount of work to keep me occupied, but I do sympathise for the many rural folk that find things get on top of them and then struggle to find ways to shake it.
Roll on Level 3 and an allowance was made for hunting to take place on private land within your ‘bubble’. We were back on the hill from that very first morning and absolutely embracing our newfound freedom! But why did it feel so good? I’m a firm believer that the simple task of climbing a mountain is good for the soul and to steal a quote from Newton McConachie, “you’ll learn no harm from the hills”. This year illustrated to me beyond all others just how good hunting is for people’s wellbeing. Beyond the obvious physical benefits of exercise and providing the ultimate ethical and free range source of kai (pipping grass fed beef and lamb at the post in my highly bias and unqualified opinion), I am also becoming ever aware of the mental health benefits gained from hunting. Hunting in the mountains is all consuming, right from the get-go, you become engrossed in small everyday challenges, like getting from Point A to Point B while carrying a heavy pack on your back, scaling mountains, searching out likely
