In the USA, on the Apache reservation, imprisonment was commonly part of the sentence. Fish and Game officers carried firearms, batons and handcuffs. Indeed Fish and Game people told Alain they had more powers against poachers than the state police.“ They could even shoot to kill, if poachers tried to run away.”
Alain believes that in New Zealand, if hunters had good ethics, asked permission and hunted selectively and responsibly without being greedy, most farmers would willingly grant them access.
On stag management, Alain says a red deer is typically at least eight years old before it reaches full antler potential. He quotes Hungarian and German research that says red deer develop heaviest timber and best antlers at 12 – 14 years of age.“ Here in New Zealand, shooting spikers may be gunning down a potential trophy,” he adds.
In Europe, he says, game managers can assess stag quality at two different stages – first as a spiker and then
as an eight-pointer.“ But around Gisborne I’ ve noticed there are few eight-pointers. Owing to the present extremely good antler genetics, many stags seem to go straight from spiker to 10 or more points. This suggests the New Zealand trophy hunter needs to be more discerning and know what they’ re looking for. Frankly, in good areas they shouldn’ t be shooting spikers at all.”
Conversely, Alain says that if a stag has only, say, eight points but has the body of an older animal, it should be culled because it will probably never grow into a good trophy.“ The oft-held opinion in New Zealand that a big body is a good indication of trophy potential is totally wrong if the animal carries few points. Young stags with better-sized antlers – even if they are light in the timber – are the trophies of the future. Hunters need to carefully assess a stag’ s characteristics with an eye to the future.”
After a lifetime of hunting and the Grand Slam, what has motivated Alain?
“ Ha! It’ s my genetics,” he says. Because, while he was born in New Zealand, his parents were French immigrants and the family has a long history of European hunting in their blood.
“ Many moons ago our family on my mother’ s side owned a large property in France. Hunting and fishing were all-important in my grandfather’ s life. So my love of the outdoors and hunting and fishing is hereditary, I guess.”
Fishing? Well to prove the genetic theory, Alain has also twice achieved a Grand Slam in big game fishing for billfish and tuna. He was once judged“ Fisherman of the Year” and has twice been awarded the NZ Sport Fishing Council’ s“ Old Man and the Sea” award for the most meritorious catch of the year.
But that’ s another story.
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NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196- Autumn 2017 31