The NZ Game Animal Council is keen for people to try hunting for Get Outdoors Week 2020.
Get Outdoors Week is a national campaign which encourages Kiwis to get out and explore the great outdoors, safely. This year it begins on Saturday, November 14.
"We know there are significant physicalhealth challenges across our communities, but going hunting, or for that matter, getting involved in other forms of outdoor recreation, has benefits far beyond simply getting some exercise," Game Animal Council general manager Tim Gale said.
Gale said there were mental health and wellbeing benefits from "going on outdoor adventures" and hunting provided significant conservation, community and protein advantages.
This year, the Game Animal Council partnered with Hunting & Fishing NZ to provide a $500 Hunting & Fishing NZ voucher to the winner of the "Try Something New" photo challenge on November 18.
Gale said he hoped the prize would encourage people to try something they hadn't done before.
"While that doesn't have to be hunting - we would love for people to give it a go."
More than 160,000 New Zealanders go hunting every year, but it was still important for the hunting community to "continue to foster new and young hunters and make the sport as accessible as we can for them," Gale said.
"I am often confronted with people who are keen to get into the sport but don't know where to start."
There were "heaps of experienced hunters out there" keen to help new people, Gale said.
"Clubs like the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association are running training courses all over the country, so new hunters can learn to hunt safely and successfully right from the start."
Find out more about Get Outdoors Week and the "Try Something New" photo competition here.
