New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Recreational Himalayan thar (Hemitragus jemlahicus) hunters in
Canterbury, New Zealand: a profile and management implications
T. R. DAVYS1
D. M. FORSYTH2
G. J. HICKLING
Department of Entomology and Animal Ecology
P.O. Box 84
Lincoln University
Canterbury, New Zealand
1 Present address: 138 Waimanu Road, R.D. Pukeatua, Te Awamutu, New
Zealand
2 Present address (to which all correspondence and offprint requests
should be sent): Centre for Biodiversity Research, Department of Zoology,
University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada V6T 1Z4 (email: Forsyth@zoology.ubc.ca)
Abstract Although recreational hunting is the primary means
of controlling Himalayan thar (Hemitragus jemlahicus) in New Zealand,
there is no published information describing the characteristics and attitudes
of thar hunters. We conducted a postal survey of hunters who held permits to
hunt thar in part of Canterbury in 1994-1995, and achieved a 31% response rate
(n = 92 replies). Respondents were typically aged 30-39 and had <= 5
years experience hunting thar. The primary motivation given for hunting thar
was the opportunity of shooting a trophy male. The strong desire to kill a
trophy male was reflected in the reported harvest, which was significantly
male-biased relative to the estimated population sex-ratio. Our results suggest
that the ability of recreational thar hunters to reduce thar densities could be
increased by; (i) strategic location of new huts, and (ii) managers providing
better information about areas of high thar density, perhaps in national
hunting magazines.
Keywords big game; Hemitragus jemlahicus;
Himalayan thar; hunting; recreation; Southern Alps; wildlife management
Z98014
Received 26 March 1998; accepted 8 August 1998
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (749K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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