Sat Shri Akal --- Newbie on the forum

[Inder]

Hi, yes, welcome to the forum and hopefully soon to New Zealand.

As said, a few Indian people come on the HUNTS courses and I'd be interested to know how they get on shooting a few goats afterwards. The Sikhs are well thought of in New Zealand. There's also a NZ Bowhunters society and they may give you a good lead to where you can get goats. Goats and pigs are the mainstay of bowhunting in NZ. But I'd do the NZDA HUNTS course too for the bushcraft skills and to meet some good blokes. NZDA has a lot of politics so don't worry about that too much. For bowhunting, you need easy open country, preferably private land which can take a lot of effort to secure permission for. However up towards the Wanganui river there are numbers, I hear, on public land.

Palmerston North isn't the most exciting, great climate part of NZ but it is close to good deer hunting in the Tararua Ranges and the Ruahines. You'll need your buschraft for those places. Look on the NZ Mountain Safety Council web site. See if your wife can get you a copy of the bushcraft manual. One of the great NZ hunting writers, Roger Lentle, did his PhD at Massey. His books may be hard to find in shops now. "Red Deer in New Zealand" is still the classic current reference. To learn what keen can be, look for a copy of Barry Crump's "A Good Keen Man". It is set about 60 years ago in a different hunting era but is still hilarious reading (for kiwis).

"Palmy" is a great centre of practical science and good place for a Masters. There will be a few jobs around there too. The PhD isn't really a ticket to a secure high paying job like it is in other countries like England, so don't sacrifice too much to do one unless you can get do it from a regular salaried position.

Thanks for the welcome Bagheera (Jungle books fan? .. eh )

My coreligionists usually stay out of any kind of trouble, glad to know that they are doing good in NZ too

I do intend to join bow-hunters society and NZDA hunts course. To learn , re-learn the basics and meet like minded mates. Part of few groups and rifle association here too, never enjoyed the politics and stayed out of it.

Thanks for the pointers on the books. Will surely look them up. I enjoy reading and really would like to learn about hunting in NZ and how it was in years gone by.

I am not sure if I will be ready to hunt at least for a few months before i feel confident enough to shoot a live animal. I am reasonably okay with Sage but will have to learn the new longbow. Apart from that need to go through the rigors of arrow selection and tuning a traditional longbow. Till then may be a rabbit or two with the airguns.

I completed my masters long time ago and have no intention of going to school again. Usual IT up-gradation courses and certifications are enough education for me for this lifetime . PHD is for wife, she has gone into learning mode and not sure what she will decide after her masters, I will do my part of dissuading her though

Thanks a lot for the long post and pointers.

-Inder