Any Hunting Firefighters on this Forum?

[OregonJake]

Hi all, my name is Jake. I'm a firefighter based in Oregon in the US and I'm currently planning my first venture into out of country hunting in 2024. If there are any NZ firefighters/hunters out there, I was hoping to maybe make a good contact for when I do make it out to hunt there. A little bit about myself, I'm a passionate elk hunter and I spend all of September during our elk rut out in the mountains of Oregon. All the hunting I do is DIY and generally backcountry, backpack style hunts on public land. A trip to New Zealand has always been a dream of mine and I plan on hunting in the same style. I'm not interested in pay to hunt or guided hunting, and I plan spending a month traveling around your country and putting lots of miles on the boots. I'm neck deep in the planning stage of this trip and I'd love to be able to chat with someone with some experience and local knowledge about the NZ hunting program and the logistics aspects of the trip. I know chances are slim of any of you traveling to the US Pacific Northwest, but if you do, I'd be more than happy to share my local hunting knowledge or take you salmon fishing.
Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to exploring your awesome country,
Jake