Suddenly everyone wants to be a culler but who will make the cut? Books about culling start to attract all sorts of men to the job. But while some are experienced shooters, others are bank clerks or shop managers with no experience in the bush.
Photo: Supplied by Paul Roy
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Applicants from all over New Zealand try out for a rigorous and no nonsense six week course in Marlborough run by the NZ Forest Service . The primary training camp, called Dip Flat, covers key bush skills but also puts them through their paces.
They tackle river crossings, firearms safety, camp cooking and a ruthless assessment of their physical fitness for the job. Then there’s the infamous "gut buster " - a gruelling 1500 metre climb up to the snowline which weeds out the unfit pretty quickly.
Around the same time, the overseas venison market is booming and private hunters can now make good money shooting. Previously treated as a pest, deer become very valuable and hunters take to the hills in their droves to retrieve deer anyway they can.
Photo: Dave Osmers
Soon, very basic airstrips are being hacked out with pick and shovel in the mountains and alongside (or in) river beds. Small planes like Austens and Piper Cubs can land and take off without crashing and deer are stockpiled and flown out six or eight at a time.
This is the first venison gold rush and serious money can be made and lost.
Follow Deer Wars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can hear it on Sunday mornings after 7am on RNZ National from Sunday 22 October.
Written and presented by Paul Roy.
Sound engineer - Alex Harmer.
Additional sound engineering - Jeremy Ansell and William Saunders.
Executive producers - Katy Gosset, Justin Gregory and Tim Watkin.
Deer Wars is made with the support of a Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho, Piki Ake! Kake Ake! New Zealand Oral History Grant from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage to Iguana Productions.
