Thank you for informing us all abut about these restrictions. Do you know if NZ Customs would process muzzleloader guns differently? I found the NZ visitors section in the Arms Code. Says we need a visitors firearms license as well as an import permit. And we ought to bring all certificates from home country to prove we’re legitimate. NZ actually states “bona fide shooter”.
I would say muzzleloader would be treated the same as a rifle. Muzzleloaders are very uncommon here and the police / immigration will probably default to rifle rules. I have been told by Air NZ that my bow is a weapon and need the rifle paperwork!
And there is the simplest solution, if I were to ever hunt in Montana again I would seek to borrow a rifle, it has been ball ache each time I've flown from the UK to the US, and its always the UK side!
This sounds no different than Canada and South Africa. I think the rules are there to stop international gun runners who supply guns to gangs and terrorists. I don't have a problem with that. I float back and forth across US and South African borders with guns every year and never had a problem. Just do the paperwork and follow the airport/airline regs that are published on line. However, the US import/export regs on gun parts are way over the top ridiculous!
Got to car tour your South Island in '07(the cathedral in Christchurch was still intact, beauty). An amazing, beauty country and the folks are down to earth, loved it.
Those outfitters have a way of working that "this may be your last chance" angle. In Africa I had budgeted for two expensive animals: Barbary sheep and red lechwe. Of course, they knew I'm a sucker for kudu hunting so no surprise when I fell for that opportunity. Then the lodge owner phoned down with a price for a nyala that was impossible to refuse without insulting someone. "You'll never get a price like that again." Same thing last year put a sable on the wall. Again, an animal I did NOT expect to hunt but a price that can't be refused. Playing it by ear can be advantageous.Like Kiwi and others have posted, New Zealand has plenty of DIY open hunting. For my probably once in a lifetime trip to NZ, I chose to hunt with an outfitter. My Chamois and Tahr hunts were free range, although I did use a helicopter to get me up into the high peaks, but my Red Stag and Fallow Deer hunts were in high fence enclosures, which with this outfitter were many thousand acres, much like many of the South African properties.
I have no trouble hunting high fence properties as long as the property is at least a section (640 acres) or more in size that the animals have plenty of area to get away or hide from hunters. Its really no different than farms or ranches here at home where a hunter gets permission to hunt there. The animals are free to leave the property, but the hunter is not.
Anyway, back to my New Zealand hunt, after my first day of Stag hunting, I knew that this was probably going to be my only hunt in NZ, so I upgraded my hunt to one for a gold medal Stag, and ended up with this Stag of a lifetime...
It's embarrassing for right lane drivers. You turn on the wipers when you think your turn signaling. Everyone knows you ain't from there!!And of course, like me, you drive on the correct side of the road!
