Hunting & Fishing Adventures – Clearing The Air
There is a major misunderstanding circulating that we need to straighten the record on. Our summer catalogue featured an advertisement for the travel agency Hunting & Fishing Adventures. Part of the advertisement was intended to invite more existing commercial operators (hunting guides, hunting estates, fishing guides, charter boats, farm or lodge accommodation providers etc) to come forward to list their services with the agency. Instead the way the advertisement was worded, it looked like the ‘Adventures’ agency was looking to commercialise locations where current free access might exist which would then deny hunters and anglers like you and I, access we had traditionally enjoyed. Trust us that this was never the intention (although yes it did read that way). It’s my job to oversee the proof reading on the Hunting & Fishing New Zealand catalogue so the buck must stop with me when a major error like this gets through. I wish to apologies for the concern we have caused many outdoor enthusiasts, but we must say it is great to see the depth of passion that exists to keep as much of the New Zealand hunting and fishing resource open and accessible to the public as possible.
For the record we wish to make a few facts known…
- Hunting & Fishing Adventures is a stand-alone company which on a trial basis has been permitted to use part of our name and to be hosted on our website because we believe it has the potential to provide a service to our customers that does not currently exist.
- Hunting & Fishing Adventures is not owned or even partly owned by Hunting & Fishing New Zealand or anyone involved in or working for us. Hunting & Fishing New Zealand store owners wanted it known that they do not and will not ever receive one cent from Hunting & Fishing Adventures.
- Hunting & Fishing Adventures used its own advertising agency to make its own catalogue advertisement which was supplied to us in a PDF format – just prior to catalogue publication. Even if the gravity of the mistake has been picked up during proof reading it would have been difficult to change it.
- Hunting & Fishing New Zealand is 100% opposed to the commercialisation of land, public or otherwise where existing legal free public access exists to hunt or fish. Hunting & Fishing Adventures has a similar view which is stated in a letter from the company owner Harald Bettin on the home page of the Hunting & Fishing website.
With an urbanised population and people with much busier lifestyles, there is a need in New Zealand these days for a services that provides organised recreation in the outdoors. Father and son deer hunts on the safety of private land, guides that coach fly fishing one on one in a fishing environment, accommodation adjacent to hunting and fishing opportunities etc.
But how do you get in touch with the businesses set up that can provide these services? And were you aware that many of these at prices the average kiwi can afford? The Adventures agency is being hosted by us on a trial basis to link these two groups together. Hunting & Fishing New Zealand is free to walk away from its association with Adventures at any stage. However we believe it has not had a fair chance to prove itself one way or the other yet and so we are sticking with it as we genuinely believe it can be an extra service we can provide for those customers of ours who want it. Time will tell!
Dianne Brown
CEO
New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association Inc