Big 3 hunting competition nets 1500kg of meat
Freezers overflowed with 1500kg of meat from the annual Te Anau Helicopter Services Fiordland Big 3 hunting competition.
Te Anau events organiser Melissa Fletcher said hunters had the choice to donate their venison to the Southland community via Deer to Care Southland, which would distribute the meat to multiple food banks and social services in the region.
There were many benefits to removing feral pests from the environment, she said.
"Pigs are quite pesky. They can rip up a paddock overnight so the farmers are quite happy with getting rid of them."
The team named Outdoors with Tom pretty much cleaned up most of the major categories with a massive stag.
"That's what happens when you've got one really good animal ... "
But Team Outdoors With Tom did not win all the prizes — they missed out on The Best Hunting Story, which was won by team Predator Patrol.
Ms Fletcher said the wee boy in Predator Patrol had been confused about the entry field — mixing best "Pest" with "Pet".
"He was willing to give up his dog — the dog is still alive — but that's dedication."
Hunting began last Thursday evening amid heavy rain and severe gale force wind warnings.
Hunters had to shoot a deer, a pig and one other feral animal to qualify for the Big 3.
Entry numbers were down on previous years, but organisers suspected the severe weather might have influenced the turnout.
Altogether, 32 four-member adult teams, (including six women's teams), eight Mums and Kids, six youth teams and 29 children's teams rolled up to Sunday's weigh-in, vying for a prize. Fiordland Big 3 contest results
Major prize (barrel drawn): Hard Rated
Heaviest combined weight: Outdoors with Tom
Heaviest pig: Outdoors with Tom
Heaviest deer: Outdoors with Tom
Highest Douglas score (stag): Outdoors with Tom
Most outstanding animal: Outdoors with Tom
Best youth team: Summit Seekers
Best mums and kids team: Thwaites Crew
Pilot's choice: Blackmount Boys
Best pig tusks: Fang and Rack
Best female team: Win or Lose, On the Booze
Team closest to overall avg: Up Da Gully PIG CARRY
Men: Cameron Jarvie, 35.01s
Women: Charlotte Clarke, 49.80s
Adult & child: Ollie and Jack Jones, 41.23s
Kids: Ollie Jones, 35.01s POSSUM THROW
Men: Taylor Malzard, 20.35m
Women: Renee Graham, 11.80m
13-16 years: Archie Jones, 14.17m
7-12 years: Josh Porteous, 8.74m
6 & under: Maggie Russell, 3.72m PHOTO COMPETITION
Bucken Beauties KIDS
Heaviest hare/rabbit: The Three Pests (4.35kg)
Heaviest possum: Two Little Rascals (4.55kg)
Best kids team: Hey Presto's
Best hunting story: Predator Patrol
Average weight: G
Best team name: Two Little Ferrals
Jock Armitage Memorial Trophy — Encouragement award: Silverstream Shooters
By Toni McDonald
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Training pays off for fencing pair
Long nights of training under car headlights have paid off for Geraldine High School's Tom Batty and Cullen Bolt after they beat the big names at the Fieldays Silver Staples pairs fencing competition. A 60.7 point total was cemented by an outstanding performance in the post section where they only had 13.3 points docked from a potential demerit position of 30 points. Runners up in the under 23 contest were Puemiro Station One's Ben Soloman and Holly Bird on 74.1 points and third was Smedley Station One's Will Long and Ged Billing on 78.6 points. The second GHS team of Cayden Howell and Isabelle Atkinson were fifth with 98.8 points in the six-team field. GHS is the first South Island team across any age group to win a fencing category at Mystery Creek after competing the past three years. GHS Primary Industries Academy head Sarah Foley-Smith said it was also the first time high school students had won a category typically dominated by cadets at Smedley and Puemiro stations. "We were the only school there and everyone else is the big stations in the North Island so we should come last on paper. So we are very happy to have done so well. Oomph, enthusiasm and hard work got them there. They have been fencing in the dark to practise because they could only fence after school on the field with the truck headlights on." She said their training was limited because they had schoolwork and all of them worked on farms outside of school hours. The students made a competition area, backfilling competition lines with sand to mimic ground conditions at Mystery Creek. Mrs Foley-Smith said the biggest challenge for the fencers during the training phase was having to dig into clay and rocks, but the easier sandy conditions in the competition might have been to their advantage. Mrs Foley-Smith said they had worked hard to reduce their fencing times and were second to complete the course by about four minutes at a cost of losing a point a minute. The school's second pair shaved more than one hour from their first training run to the competition, she said. At Mystery Creek they had to dig in two 2.4m flat bottomed strainers 30m apart with breast blocks, then dig in six intermediate posts and a bungy gate, erect three wire electric and tension it all. Repeat competitor Tom is in his final year at school and comes from a spraying contractor family, while Cullen is a year 12 student on a dairy farm. Cayden's family is on a lifestyle block and Isabelle has been raised on a dairy farm. In previous appearances the school had come fourth on debut followed last year by a team, including Tom, finishing runners-up and another third. Mrs Foley-Smith said they were nervous before the final, but had prepared well for the event and spared no effort in their performance. "Everyone in the school is really happy. We have a reasonably high profile through our Primary Industries Academy anyway, but they have been made quite a wee fuss of us and lots of kids have come up to talk to us." The win might act as an incentive for other students to consider agriculture as a subject, but the academy already has a full roster with 41 year 11 to 13 students. There will be little rest for the winning pair who compete soon in the Young Farmer's national fencing final after winning the Aorangi competition, followed by the national secondary school fencing championship in Taupo in August. Mrs Foley-Smith said the Fieldays event was a learning experience for the four fencers who also had to fulfil duties for the national fencing association. A team of managers including Dan Douglass, Struan Moore and Quinn Foley-Smith helped them prepare for the event.
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Waka's pace-setting fullback
Conner Hamlin. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER Give the ball to 'Vegas'. Wakatipu Premiers' speedy fullback Conner 'Vegas' Hamlin has been the rugby side's not-so-secret weapon this season, so far dotting down for seven tries after scoring nine in his first season with the team last year. The Dunedin-born 32-year-old, who moved to Queenstown early last year to be a PE teacher at Wakatipu High, would be one of the Central Otago comp's quickest players. But he also works well in tandem with Wakatipu's other pacy outside backs including Jamie Natapu and newcomer Jack Caunter. "It's good to be a part of like a back three where we can all rely on each other and we know where we're going to be and read the game really well," he says. At 78kg, Hamlin's also on the small side but doesn't lack for courage on defence. "I would say I would probably be on the lower side of most collisions I run into. The fact I've split my head open twice already this season is probably a good sign of that." The latest happened playing for Central Otago during the first half of their thrilling Topp Cup win over South Otago during King's Birthday Weekend, so he sat out Wakatipu's game against Matakanui Combined last weekend. Hamlin's played senior rugby for 12 years including about 85 games for Canterbury's Springston club, rep games for Ellesmere and Otago Country and even some games in the United States — his nickname springs from a 'court' session with Wakatipu team-mates when telling a story from his time in Las Vegas. Playing for Waka, he declares, "has probably been the most enjoyable footy I think I've played in my senior career, just because everyone gets along with everyone else". "And you enjoy turning up to Tuesday, Thursday trainings, no matter what the conditions are." He was on the field for the team's amazing come-from-behind win over Alexandra last month, but says his favourite was their White Horse Cup win over Upper Clutha last year. Handing it back this year was disappointing, Hamlin says. "[Veteran Bradley Cross] said, 'I think we were playing not to lose, rather than playing to win' — that's what you've got to. "If we could go and take it off Upper Clutha in the last round this year, that would be very handy." Hamlin, who'll be fit to take on Maniototo this Saturday, says it's healthy for the team and the club's future that five players who took the field last Saturday left Wakatipu High only two years ago. Out to square the ledger Having suffered a first-round away loss to Maniototo, 22-19, one of only two this season, Wakatipu will be out for revenge when they host the Ranfurly-based team at the Queenstown Recreation Ground this Saturday at 2.30pm. Wakatipu "warmed up" with a hard-fought 23-7 win over bottom-placed Matakanui Combined in freezing conditions last weekend — Waka's flying lock Josh Aperahama-Paenganui is pictured securing the ball during the game at the Rec Ground. Wakatipu's flying lock Josh Aperahama-Paenganui's pictured securing the ball during his team's game against Matakanui Combined at the Queenstown Rec Ground last Saturday. Co-captain and second-five Rube Peina starred by scoring all his team's points including two tries. Arrowtown, whose only win came in their season-opener against Matak, travel to play Cromwell this Saturday, seeking to go one better after drawing 26-all with them at home in the first round. Arrowtown lost 41-14 away to Alexandra last weekend.
Otago Daily Times
12-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Over 20 medals won in competitions
Posing with their medals from karate events over King's Birthday Weekend are (from left) Bruce Potter, Abigail Conradie, 14, Elijah Knights, 15, Angel Bruce, 13, Sharon Ferreira, Angelo Javier, 9, Zachary Struthers, 15, Daniel Conradie, 14, Curtis Melton, 15 and Petri Conradie. PHOTO: SUPPLIED An Alexandra karate club achieved remarkable successes at tournaments over King's Birthday Weekend, with the club winning more than 20 medals. Counties Shotokan Karate Alexandra Dojo instructor Petri Conradie said he was really proud of the efforts of the martial artists who took part in the tournaments. "They have been working hard for the past, it's about three months, that we've been working towards going to compete at this tournament and it's great to see that all the hard work is rewarded." The club took part in two events over the long weekend, the first of which was New Zealand South Island Schools Tournament held on the Saturday. It included competitors from both primary and secondary schools. The second tournament, held on the Sunday, was the Karate New Zealand Otago Southland Regional Championships, which drew competitors of all ages. Club members participated in both events. "In total per day, there was about 130 participants across various divisions," he said. At the event on Sunday the club got 17 medals, the fifth-most of all the clubs that competed, Conradie said. The events are a stepping stone for the young martial artists to compete in South Island-wide and national events. "The kids really get to measure themselves quite well against who else is out there, and then at the nationals, then it's a combination of the South and North Island and kids that almost do it professionally." For the children to perform at the South Island or national level was really good, he said.
