Goat hunter

Gerry Newman and Ann Peart hunt goats on contract for the Department of Conservation.

Names: Gerry Newman and Ann Peart
Job title: Goat hunters
Working hours: Eight hours a day for 10 days before a break
Employer: Department of Conservation, regional councils, forestry companies
Pay: from $14/hour plus allowances and rising with experience
Qualifications needed: dog-handling skills, hunting or tramping experience
Career prospects: self-employed contractor, running team of hunters

What do you do?

Gerry: Goats go through the bush like a line of lawnmowers, leaving trees leafless and ring-barking others. In 12 days we've shot 111 goats in the Hakarimatas [hills between Ngaruawahia and Huntly].

We contract hunt mostly for the Department of Conservation but we've worked for forestry companies, regional councils and a professional hunting company. This contract is for 20 days then we have a contract with DoC to hunt at Moehau on the Coromandel Peninsula in November.

We use indicator dogs - mine are Hungarian Vizslas, which have bloodhound lines, and Ann has a Labrador Collie cross. With my dogs it's like following a cat through the bush: they go catlike, slow and low. We try to work smarter not harder - sneak and snipe not spook and shoot or blunder and blast.

Ann: We don't want to herd goats, we want to kill them.

Gerry: Anybody can get one goat. It's a challenge to get every one you get on to. We mostly work an eight-hour day and when we head off in the morning we look for signs of goats, look up on the bluffs because goats like a room with a view.

Goat hunting is not hard: it's where they live that makes it difficult because they like the steep country.

Why did you choose this job?

Gerry: It chose us really. What you think about you bring about.

Ann: We'd been possum hunting for seven years before we moved to goats 12 years ago.

Gerry: You have to like being by yourself, working by yourself. It's a solitary job and you hunt better on your own - you're more focused. I use two dogs at a time - one in front, one behind so they don't compete. They find a trail, indicate [point] and bail.

I do the steepest country and Ann takes the easier ground. Sometimes we work together. You have to love the work and be a dog person. There's not a lot of money but [in the bush] you don't spend it either.

You need a bit of gear. We use .223 rifles with silencers so we don't hurt the dogs' ears [shooting over the top of them] and you get more goats if you don't scatter them. I shot five in a group one day before the rest knew what was happening. We use radios, GPS, a four-wheel-drive, camouflage gear.

What's the best thing about the job?

Gerry: Working well with the dogs. Getting good shots in.

Ann: Being in a nice bush on a nice day. The worst thing is wet, rainy days and you're stuck miles from camp when evening comes and the rivers are coming up.

Gerry: You have to be an optimist.

What unusual things have you seen?

Gerry: I found two billy goats locked together once. One had died. I unlocked their horns and straight away it bunted me.

Ann: I found a plastic bag with something inside. I opened it and it was a goat head. Children must have done it.

What are your strengths?

Gerry: Our ability to work alone, being fit, conscientious and persistent. We're always striving but sometimes the wind is wrong for the dogs to scent the goats and you go right past them. And you can't shoot a goat twice. When they're gone they are gone.

I've spent 10 days at Karioi [near Raglan] and only got two. A good hunter is a dog person, is fit, a good shot and has bush skills. GPS [global positioning systems] and maps make it much easier now.

Where do you want to be in five years?

Gerry: Hunting - as long as I'm still keen.

Ann: Painting - as long as the gardening is done.

What's your advice to job hunters?

Gerry: You can't do it just for the money. It's a lifestyle. If you do it well, the money comes.

Go out for a day or two with a hunter to see if you are still keen. You may be able to start hunting for DoC and when you've got enough experience move on to contract work.