By Dave Gousmett

This year has seen a marked drop in the amount of game claimed. For instance the total number of deer fell from 167 last year to 117 this year. Our membership remains the same and our members haven’t stopped hunting, they just aren’t claiming all the game they shoot.

I do like to see those game claims coming in. They count towards game awards and our annual game trophies. All big game is listed in our magazine along with corresponding photos and stories and of course they make my annual game report look better. We have a new on-line claim system now to make it easier to claim game and I urge all members to use it.

However while the quantity of game may be down, the quality certainly isn’t. The Ingerson Shield competition this year was between three superb trophies; a 26 pt Fallow buck, our new number one Sika stag, and an 18 pt Red stag.

During the year I received a total of 769 game claims which was well down on last year. 131 members claimed game and I sent out 60 game awards.

Statistics from Big Game Animals (excluding Wallabies):

Distances:
The distance of the first hit varied from 3 metres to 68 metres, with an average distance of 22.3 metres. The distance the animal travelled after being hit varied from zero to 500 metres and the median distance travelled was 35 metres.

First Hit:
The location of the first hit on the animal was in the heart/lung area for 81% of all animals taken. Individual totals included: Lungs 135, Heart 30, Neck 13, Liver 12 and Spine 10.

Broadheads:
Grim Reaper broadheads have retained their lead in this category. They accounted for 63 animals while Slick Trick broadheads were close behind with 53 animals. Northern broadheads were well back in 3^rd place with 14 animals.

Bow Type:
Compound 212, Longbow 3, Recurve 3.

Bow Make:
Mathews continue to be our most successful bow manufacturer accounting for 128 animals this year. Elite bows have moved up to 2^nd place with 27 animals ahead of PSE with 24.

Bow Weight:
From 13.6 kg (30 lb) to 36.3 kg (80 lb), average weight 28 kg (62 lb).

Wallabies:
11 members shot a total of 29 Wallabies this year, 19 from the Bay of Plenty and 10 from the South Island.

Small Game:
106 members claimed a total of 7710 small game points.

The individual small game tallies were:

Finally I would like to thank our website manager, Rob Love, for his work in establishing the on-line game claim system. This is of great benefit to our members and also makes my job as game recording officer much easier.