HUNTS Course
South Canterbury HUNTS Courses
HUNTS (Hunter National Training Scheme) is a training programme that is run by both the Deersalkers Association and the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council.
The programme syllabus covers the knowledge and skills to operate safely as a hunter in the New Zealand outdoors and teaches the ethics of fair chase and the principles of managing a sustainable game resource. Besides ecology and ethics, the course includes training in equipment, clothing, navigation, firearms, hunting techniques, photography, first aid and bush craft.
The course has proved popular with young adults and new members of the Association and NZDA is committed to continuing to deliver a quality product. Increasingly, specialist instructors have been brought in to deliver specialty items in the curriculum. The programme manual has been extensively revised and NZDA plans to develop, in partnership with other national organisations, a qualification based on unit standards and recognized by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.