Two Hawke’s Bay veterinarians who hatched a fledgling pheasant-rearing business four years ago now produce up to 40,000 of the game birds every season.

Jeff Niblett and Bridgette Karetai’s venture, New Zealand Game Birds Ltd, is run from their property near a quiet bend of the Tutaekuri River at Sherenden, west of Hastings, but it had its origins in Dannevirke in 2003.

Jeff had always been keen on hunting and shooting and had reared partridges and pheasants as a youth in Marlborough. His father and others had breeding programmes to get the game birds established in the wild during the l980s.

After two years as a new graduate in Dannevirke, Jeff went to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a game bird veterinarian for five years. Around 20 to 30 million game birds are bred in the UK each year, mainly ring-necked pheasants and grey and red-legged partridges.

The job gave him a valuable insight into the pheasant-rearing business during the game bird breeding season while he worked with large animals during the off-season.

When he returned to Dannevirke in 2003, he approached several game bird preserves and he and Bridgette began rearing pheasants, producing around 2000 birds in a borrowed paddock in their first season.

Toward the end of the summer floodwater went through the property but the couple had delivered their birds to prospective clients and were hopeful that orders would continue the following year. Among their recreational shooting customers were John Wells of Titoki, Bill Beamish from Whana Whana and Simon Dickie from Glencoe, both in Hawke’s Bay.

Jeff and Bridgette decided to move to their present property at Sherenden, west of Hastings because of its relatively isolated situation at the end of a no-exit road, the dry climate and the beautiful river.

In the first season at Sherenden they produced 10,000 birds. Both he and Bridgette were also working as vets and bringing up two youngsters, Georgia (5), Angus (3) with their third, Daniel, arriving five months ago.

Production doubled to 20,000 pheasants the following year and in the past two breeding seasons they have raised up to 45,000 birds. They also have a contract to breed partridges for Hawke’s Bay developer Andy Lowe.

Each year they have continued to build more huts and pens, using a 3-metre pen section held by cable ties so it can be moved for regrassing in autumn.

Rearing pheasants is a labour-intensive business with the eggs having to be picked up twice a day at 1pm and 5pm. That means up to 1100 eggs per day from the 50 pens and six to eight hours work. Once the chicks begin to hatch, the workload increases exponentially.

The hens are able to lay about 60 eggs during the season, approximately one every 27 hours or so. They are smaller than hens’ eggs and weigh just over 30 grams. And with a plentiful supply, Jeff and Bridgette’s family eats pheasant, rather than hens’ eggs.

“Anything with any flaws goes to the pigs or the house,” said Bridgette.

The laying season starts in September and finishes around Christmas, with some continuing until the end of January. As the day length increases, the bird’s melatonin system stimulates egg production, and this tapers off again as the days begin to shorten.

The Sherenden rearing operation is based on the traditional United Kingdom system and services six or seven main clients.

“We’re getting more people wanting to release 100 or so on their farms for shooting and for aesthetic appeal” said Jeff.

“We try to give advice on how to release the birds, whether for shooting or just to have them on the farm. You have to look after them if you want them to survive.”

Pheasants are woodland-edge birds and like a mixture of tall trees, smaller shrubs and grassland. They like variety in their environment with plenty of sun and undergrowth to go back into, and taller trees to roost in.

Jeff said the key to keeping pheasants on a property is to provide feed for them. Most are fed on maize or wheat although maize tends to be better because there is not as much competition from sparrows. Feed hoppers made from 44-gallon drums can hold 100kg of feed and will last a long time.

“They really like maize through the winter, rather than just insects and vegetation,’ he said.

Rearing the chicks under bantams, as is sometimes done, helps them to become better “mums” themselves.

Jeff and Bridgette sell eggs and day-old chicks to people who like to rear the pheasants themselves. Some put the eggs under clucky fowls.

Pheasants have a white meat but tend to have more flavour and texture than chicken bought in supermarkets.

“They taste like bantams,” said Bridgette.

The birds are not hung like ducks or other game birds but are killed and processed within a day. A plucking machine bought last year has taken some of the work out of the processing.

Rearing pheasants hasn’t been without its problems. In their first season an imported incubator was filled with more than 3000 eggs, but due to some design faults only one egg hatched. Since then the incubator room has been lined and fitted with climate control air conditioning and the incubator has had some structural changes.

Jeff and Bridgette were both working as vets until recently and although the arrival of their third child has changed that, Jeff plans to go back to veterinary work in some way. Bridgette also intends to resume her career in the near future.

Developing the pheasant-breeding business has been a hands-on affair for both with the couple, and two employees, building the 100 pens, huts and A-frames on their property. While breeding pheasants is their passion, it’s both time and money-consuming.

“You can make a living out of it but there’s a lot of infrastructure and it’s high-risk,” he said.

Jeff and Bridgette also have a business partnership, Tuna Nui Gamebirds, with friends and neighbours Andrew and Pip Russell. Together they run a driven pheasant shoot on nearby Tunanui Station, owned for generations by the Russell family of Hawke’s Bay. The large 700sqm Charles Natusch-designed homestead contains war memorabilia, reflecting the proud military background of the family.

Three successive generations were named Andrew Russell, the first arriving with the 58th British Regiment in 1844.

Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell led the Wellington Mounted Rifle Brigade at Gallipoli in 1915. Then he went on to command the entire New Zealand Division on the Western Front for three years from 1916.

This winter, Tuna Nui Gamebirds will offer seven days of English-style driven pheasant shooting, run in conjunction with the Russell family. Groups of eight or nine people, many of them mates out for a day of shooting together, take part in a colourful event which closely resembles the traditional British pheasant shoots, complete with tweed jackets, cloth caps and teams of beaters flushing the birds up over the waiting guns.

Wines from Hawke’s Bay’s Gunn Estate Wines, sponsors of the shoots, are provided at the homestead during lunch in the station’s130-year-old woolshed and at drinks at the homestead at the end of the day. The Gunn family have been farming in Hawke’s Bay since the 1920s and growing grapes since the 1980s.

Between 3000 and 4000 birds are released at various sites around Tunanui before Christmas and the rest in late February for the shoots which start in May. About a third are downed by the shooters’ guns.

“They’re free-range and fairly wild,” said Jeff.

A group of beaters uses dogs to help flush the birds in carefully orchestrated directions towards the waiting “guns”. There are many high flushing points on Tuna Nui in order to give the birds more than a sporting chance to fly over the guns.

Jeff said pheasants were good fliers, capable of relatively long distances and fast speeds, especially with the wind behind them.

“They’re the best game bird because they’re quite elusive, they fly so well and they look fantastic.”

The birds are also inquisitive and alert to any change around them. They are skilled at avoiding predators, capable of running fast and getting airborne quickly. Cock birds will stand up to predators but cover or flight are their first instincts.

Wild cats are the main predators with Jeff and Bridgette having to kill about 20 each year. Some game bird preserves kill up to 70 or 80 a year.

At this time of the year the egg trays in the big cabinet incubators are empty although there are plenty of birds scuttling about in the mesh-covered pens on the property.

With production now around 40,000 birds a season, Jeff and Bridgette believe there is potential to expand their venture but feel they’ve got enough eggs in their breeding basket for now.

“If you get to Sherenden School then you’ve gone too far,” instructs Pip Russell. “The guns start at 8.30 sharp.” By “guns” Pip means hunters, eight of whom are spending the day at a pheasant shoot.

It’s being operated by Tunanui Gamebirds, a partnership between the Russell family of Hawke’s Bay’s Tunanui Station and NZ Gamebirds, a company run by the Russells’ neighbours Bridgette Karetai and Jeff Niblett.

A winter’s day out with shotguns and hounds might be enough to tempt hunter-gatherer types but this girl needs more. So when the promise of fine wine, hot food and good conversation was made I grabbed my gumboots and got there without too much protest.

Gunn Estate Wines has sponsored these shoots for the past two years – its wines are poured at the luncheon held in the 130-year-old woolshed and at the post-shoot drinks at the homestead.

The Gunn family – farmers since the 1920s and grape growers since the 1980s – are also, according to chief winemaker Denis Gunn, mad-keen hunters. Their family history and love of the outdoors and farming life is reflected in the names given to their much-lauded Skeetfield chardonnay, Skipper’s Pool sauvignon blanc, Woolshed merlot and highly praised Silistria syrah.

“Silistria was the name of the ship my great-grandfather sailed to New Zealand on in 1862,” says Denis. “Skipper’s Pool is a little pond on our farm. For years a guy called Skipper used to catch eels there and smoke them. We reckoned smoked eel and our reserve sauvignon were a perfect match.”

Coincidentally, Tunanui means “big eel” in Maori. Tunanui Homestead is a sprawling, 700sqm Charles Natusch-designed treasure trove of long-loved artefacts and furniture. Lived in by many generations of the Russell family, it comes complete with an amazing (although slightly shambolic) war memorabilia museum in the attic.

“Go for your life. Have a look around,” urges Pip as she, Bridgette and Bridgette’s sister, winemaker Maarea Karetai, prepare morning tea in the kitchen. I almost miss the dark little wine cupboard just off the main hall. Supplies of new-release Gunn wines are jumbled together with Kiwi classics like McWilliams Bakano 1962 and good old 1982 Cresta Doré Dry White.

After stuffing myself with fruit cake, I’m squashed between ruddy-cheeked blokes in a ute that bounces out to the bull paddock for the second shoot of the day.

“As a safety measure we’ll put a minder on guns who haven’t shot before,” explains Andrew. “It’s a lot harder than it looks, plus they can aim only at birds with a blue-sky background [ie not on the ground or flying close to a slope] – although today it’s just sky,”  he says through a thick veil of rain.

In just over an hour we’re rolling across to the historic woolshed for lunch. Soaking wet and starving, I gratefully accept a glass of Silistria to wash down one of Bridgette’s steaming pheasant pies. Minutes later I opt for merlot when attacking the cheese platter and home-made damson plum paste.

But it’s chardonnay that has been the star for Gunn Estate – the Skeetfield has won golds, trophies and five-star ratings across the board, and the white label unoaked chardonnay has done exceptionally well, not only here but in Australia and the United States.

“Listen up, guns.” The call to get going again halts the conversation. Seventeen-year-old Hugo Rittson-Thomas, a newbie, shrugs on his wet-weather gear and joins the team of beaters, picker-uppers, retrieval dogs, minders and guns as they trudge out into the chilly afternoon.

I have some recipes in mind for the pair of donated birds in my boot, and a contact who’ll weave their feathers into cloaks, so I leave them to it, opting instead to pour another wine, cuddle up by the heater and make friends with the leftover cheese. Ah, nice.

Pheasants are one of New Zealand’s most sought after game birds. Their bright plumage and superb eating qualities make them popular with all game bird hunters. Pheasants are primarily found in the North Island while smaller populations can also found in Nelson and Canterbury.

Habitat

Pheasants have no down and dislike damp conditions. They are found in coastal dune country, exotic forestry, lupin, broom, box-thorn, ink weed and briar patches.

Hunting

The pheasant hunting season begins on the first weekend of May and generally lasts until mid-August.

However regulations vary between each Fish and Game region and it is important to check local game bird hunting regulations. Please remember that it is illegal to shoot hen pheasants (females).

The PheasantIn some regions exotic forestry blocks are available for pheasant hunting under the control of local Fish and Game Councils. Some forestry blocks are ‘open’ which means they can be hunted by any number of people.

Other blocks operate on a ballot system where hunters require a permit that must be applied for well before the start of the game bird hunting season. Most forestry companies require you to obtain a hunting permit.

Pheasants are vocal birds particularly towards the end of the season as territorial disputes are settled. As a result they can be easily located.

They have good hearing and sight and successful hunting requires elements of silence and surprise. When pheasants are flushed they often glide for quite a distance before landing and running at high speed. Often they will sit tight in dense vegetation.

The best pheasant hunting occurs on bright days. Sunny spells have the birds moving about from daybreak to mid morning and again from mid afternoon to dusk.

Gun Dogs

The use of a gundog is essential. While cock birds are easily located and flushed, shot birds can be difficult to find. Breeds like labradors, pointers and spaniels are very useful as they flush and retrieve the birds.

Equipment

Open choked shotguns used in conjunction with number 6 shot offer hunters a good chance of bagging a pheasant.

Because of the terrain and weather, pheasant hunting requires different clothing than waterfowl hunting – lightweight boots and clothing.

Because pheasant hunters often hunt in a group through scrubby terrain many hunters use brightly coloured hunting vests or hats as safety items. Vests also have plenty of room for ammunition and retrieved birds

If you want more information on pheasant hunting in your area please contact your nearest Fish and Game New Zealand office or the New Zealand Council on (04) 499 4767 or fax (04) 499 4768

Editor Bob South visits a remote part of Hawke’s Bay and finds a remarkable young couple raising 20,000 pheasants in what amounts to their backyard.

Winding along the narrow single lane that is Lower Flag Range Road near Sherenden in the Hawke’s Bay, it’s easy to feel the space and isolation. The nearest sizeable town is Hastings, but that’s 45 minutes away and already the sun-baked brown hillsides gently mixed against the greenery of rolling farmland and pine forests confirms that this location is near enough to the back of beyond. It feels good.

After opening the gate at No 12 on Lower Flag Range Road — which is off Flag Range Road, which is off the Napier-Taupo ”Gentle Annie” Road — and then carefully descending the long, steep-graded dusty gravel driveway, the fi rst glorious sight that greets visitors is the picturesque Tutaekuri River shaping a giant oxbow on one boundary of a 50 acre natural amphitheatre of idyllic property owned by Jeff Niblett (34) and Bridgette Karetai (32).

The next sight is more perplexing. Reaching the bottom of the drive, several acres of white netting enclosures erupt from the long grass atop flat terraces stepped up from the riverbank. Is it some sort of campground? An organic market garden perhaps? The netting being the same used to cover grapevines, could it be a vineyard, orchard, or even a kiwi fruit plantation? Not a secluded commercial cannabis plot, surely?

On closer examination — which helps explain the abundant feed trail of grain down the entire length of the entrance — it more clearly transforms into a gamebird hatchery, home to some 20,000 pheasant poults aged from day-olds to six months.
This is New Zealand Game Birds Ltd, one of the country’s largest pheasant breeding facilities, owned and operated for the last two years by qualified veterinarians Niblett and Karetai.

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Editor Bob South visited Tuna Nui gamebird preserve and relates his experiences as one of the shooters.

New Zealand Game preserves: the mere mention of these four words still polarises bird hunters. But this story isn’t so much about taking sides. It’s about actually shooting a typical preserve in this country — whether or not some consider them elitist; or prohibitively expensive; or the best or worst thing since canned corn; or contrary to Section 23 of the Wildlife Act; or, in fact, whether a few punters continue to argue that preserves fly in the face of the New Zealand tradition of egalitarian hunting.

Mainly, this story is meant to help gamebird licenceholders become more knowledgable about what constitutes Kiwi preserve shooting. The New Zealand Fish & Game Council resolved in 1999, and reconfi rmed in 2000, to “accept gamebird preserves as part of the lawful hunting process”. Any that exist – and no fewer than 19 are now sprinkled around the country – must be gazetted in the Minister of Conservation’s Game Notice and operate under strict Fish & Game regulations. Sixteen preserves, spread across five Fish & Game regions, are currently gazetted, with several others seeking, or waiting to be granted, similar status. Of the 16 gazetted, Northland has one, Eastern seven, Hawke’s Bay four, Central South Island two, and Otago two.

I felt it would be professionally remiss, as editor of a widely circulating publication that focuses often on bird shooting, if I did not pay to experience the preserve phenomenon. That decision has facilitated my ability to discuss, with greater understanding, whatever controversy still surrounds them.

The preserve experience I had in late August was testing sport and darn good fun. Preserve pheasants, flushed and driven by beaters and dogs, mostly are extremely high and hard to hit, moving faster than any clay fl ung from a trap, or any bird stalked, held, and flushed on a walk-up ‘wild’ shoot. The hatchery-reared birds, in every sense, fly, run, hold, and react like wild pheasants. And, unlike most gamebird hunting scenarios, the pheasants mostly are coming flat-out directly at you, not flying away. That takes some getting used to.

The morning started over tea. Gathered on a perfect early spring day at the stately 94 year-old Russell homestead on the 2300 acre Tuna Nui Station in Sherenden, Hawke’s Bay were a diverse mix of six hunters from Turangi, Palmerston North, Christchurch, and Mt Maunganui. We were hardly an example of “a wealthy little niche clique”, as one correspondent sweepingly described all preserve participants in this Issue’s Letters pages. At least half, if not four of us were in a class that made us necessarily discreet with our recreational dollar.

Refreshingly, refreshments were shared with local beaters, including 78 year-old Springer spaniel breeding legend Jim Clarke, while sundry animated, but impeccably behaved dogs (all Springers bar one black Lab) lapped up the pre-shoot attention. The shoot organisers were Andrew Russell of Tuna Nui and nearby friend, neighbour, and veterinarian Jeff Niblett, who runs New Zealand Game Birds Ltd and is one of the country’s leading pheasant breeders (ref: Issue 52, Cock Sure). Niblett also supplies birds for Glencoe Station, Whanawhana Trust Property, and several other preserves.

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