Ethical and humane hunting

The Animal Welfare Act 1999 sets out how people, including hunters, must treat animals. If you ill-treat an animal while hunting, you could be prosecuted.  

Animal Welfare Act 1999 – New Zealand Legislation 

In general, you should consider these things when hunting:

• Firearms or archery equipment must be of sufficient power and accuracy for the purpose of humanely killing the hunted species. Only centre fire rifles of calibre .222 Remington or larger may be used. Crossbows and bows must meet the minimum standard specified by DOC.
• Only shoot if a humane kill (rapid insensibility and death) is judged as highly probable. 
• If any animal may have been wounded but not quickly killed by a shooting attempt the hunter must promptly make a thorough effort to locate and humanely kill it. Thorough effort must be made to locate and humanely kill any dependent young if the parent has been killed.  
• Any use of dogs as an aid to hunting must also comply with the Animal Welfare Act.
• Methods of hunting and killing should be generally accepted practices. It is recommended that the hunting practices described in codes of conduct/practice by the hunting organisations listed in resources below are followed.

Training for hunters

All hunters are encouraged to use the Game Animal Council online training platform Better Hunting. This includes a module on ethics and sustainability that covers animal welfare requirements and how these practically apply to hunting situations. The course is free.

Hunting essentials enrolment options – Better Hunting Aoteroa

Codes of conduct

Most hunting groups have a code of conduct that sets out their expected standards of behaviour.

NZDA Code of Ethics and Field Guidelines | New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Inc  

New Zealand Pig Hunting Association Code of Conduct for Pig Hunting 

New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Code of Ethics and Field Guidelines 

New Zealand Bowhunters Society Ethics and Fair Chase Rules