Maybe you’ve never considered tramping and hunting, but a new, free online programme called Better Hunting may convince you to give it a go. Wilderness chatted with Game Animal Council general manager Tim Gale about the resource.

Why a hunting programme?

Traditionally, learning to be a safe and effective hunter has involved personal connections with family and friends willing to take you out on your first few hunts. Couple that with most formal hunter training being practical classroom and hands-on stuff, and you had to be well-connected and committed to take the leap. Better Hunting is intended to provide new and inexperienced hunters with an avenue to learn the fundamentals of outdoor and hunting safety, as well as how to be a responsible and ethical hunter in the NZ context.

What will a tramper learn if they’re not already a hunter?

Many hunters joke that they’re really just ‘armed trampers’. For 99 per cent of the time hunters aren’t using their firearms or field-dressing animals, they’re just getting around the backcountry like many other advanced backcountry adventurers.

However, if you are a tramper keen on exploring off-track areas, trip planning, constructing survival shelters, learning about navigation, river crossings and weather forecasting – you’ll find some great modules on these topics in the Hunting Essentials component of the programme.

What’s the most important element of the programme?

The guiding principles are success, safety, ethics, responsibility and the hunters’ role in conservation. Of course, there’s a big focus on personal safety and the safety of others. Coming home in one piece without worrying Mum is the key objective of every outdoor adventurer, is it not?

See the programme at betterhunting.nz