I cannot get over the greenery of your county. Simply amazing.
Otterhound lives in an area which is termed “sub-tropical” - but to most people, could be tropical!!
Go here to look: http://www.northlandnz.com/about/climate/
The rest of New Zealand calls it “the winterless north” 
[QUOTE=phoebetrainer;5632871]
Otterhound lives in an area which is termed “sub-tropical” - but to most people, could be tropical!!
Go here to look: http://www.northlandnz.com/about/climate/
The rest of New Zealand calls it “the winterless north” :D[/QUOTE]
That is simply gorgeous. I grew up in the hot and humid equatorial tropics where the western Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea.
And the people who actually live here are forever casting scathing comments about the “winterless north” tag! It gets wet as a shag up here in winter, but luckily the real rain doesn’t usually set in until we finish hunting at the end of July (fingers crossed!). We save a lot of our west coast properties for later in the season as they are sand based and remain rideable when much of our east coast properties are sodden. However we never get really cold - maybe 8 - 10 frosts all winter. 
If I had the means I could easily spend a month or more in NZ pursuing country sports.
A week stalking stag and other big game, a week of duck/goose shooting, a week of sailing, and a week of riding/hunting.
Or a month of doing one of these one day a week each - or go duck shooting early in the morning and come home and go hunting all afternoon. Hunts usually cast off at 12:00 noon, so you could certainly fit two in on one day. Deer hunting would probably be better if you went into the bush for a few days.
mildot - geese aren’t very common here in NZ, but there’s a plethora of wild turkeys just waiting to be disposed of! The bane of many farmers lives! Duck shooting season starts at the beginning of May - just happens to coincide with our hunt season! Sounds like you need to start planning your trip over here! :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=otterhound;5646538]
but there’s a plethora of wild turkeys just waiting to be disposed of! The bane of many farmers lives![/QUOTE]
You don’t say?!?
I assume those are introduced species, are they not?
Yep, like all of our pests.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5809954032/ Here’s our American visitor, Master and huntsman of the Sedgefield hunt, with Stephen, at the start of his first NZ hunt. http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5809961518/ and this is part of the property we hunted that day. Fred jumped his first ever wire fence/s!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5847990356/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5847986260/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5847424445/in/photostream
First two are from our weekend away hunt that we just got back from tonight. Other one is from a week and a half ago. Hounds sleeping really well tonight! 2 days hunting, with 2 hares accounted for each day.
Well we’re running out of hunting days here - only 5 hunts left to go before the end of the season. Has been a brilliant season though, with a tally so far of 78 hares! Here are a couple more photos =) http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5904416182/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5904414578/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5903856083/in/photostream/ I guess you guys are all enjoying spring/summer riding, just as we are coming into the really wet weather. Once hunt season closes our horses will be turned out for 4 - 6 weeks while the worst of the weather hits us, so I’ll just have to trudge out through the mud to feed up and change covers, but at least I won’t have to ride! =)
Beautiful pics and landscape! The hounds look like they are having fun! lol
Have fun with the weather if it’s anything like what we are getting right now :S Last few days have been severe wind warnings combined with endless rain. And the forcast only gets better with another 10days or so of rain :S
So glad I live on a sand hill so no mud here!
P.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5967931137/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/huik2em/5967939055/in/photostream
Well our season has ended somewhat unceremoniously with our closing hunt cancelled today 
because of very wet conditions. Hasn’t stopped raining in 2 days, and lots of local flooding. So that’s that for us - hounds and horses on holiday for a month or so, and time to catch up on all the stuff that gets put aside during hunt season. I see you guys are gearing up for the start of your season, so I’ll still be able to get my fix through you!
Finally at a computer where I can see these pics.
Wow. Just. Wow.
OMG
Otterhound - your photos are amazing as is your country and field! NZ needs to be a future COTH hunt destination! Might take a while to put a trip like that together, but WOW! How lucky you are to have such beautiful views every time out. I’m guessing it’s fairly easy to get hunt horses fit with those rolling…hills?
Thank you so very much for sharing!
Just make sure when you do finally get that trip together that you start with NZ’s northern-most hunt - Northland. 
Would be great to meet some of you! I’m now at your mercy for my hunting fix - would love to see some photos from your part of the world:yes:
Hey pleasantmeadowfarm - the penny has just dropped. You’re the person I’ve just added as a fb friend! I was wondering where the connection was =) Love the photos you’ve just put up there!
It’s a small world after all!
Otterhound, after looking at your beautiful photos I had to “friend” you on Facebook… I look forward to more beautiful photo albums of your spectacular country! When does the NZ foxhunting season begin and end?
Well firstly - we have NO wild foxes in NZ! We hunt hares, who provide quite a different challenge. Our season starts mid-March, and ends around the end of July. This is mainly because it gets too wet from then on, and also most farmers are either calving or lambing then. When we lived and hunted fox in Australia, we hunted on through lambing season as farmers were keen for us to deal to as many foxes as possible so try and lessen the mortality rate of their new lambs. Australia also doesn’t really suffer from excess wet!
