This week is National Volunteer Week and the Game Animal Council has decided to celebrate this by giving a shoutout to the hundreds of volunteers who dedicate their time and efforts to making contributions to New Zealand's hunting sector.
Tim Gale is the General Manager of the Game Animal Council and told REX host Dominic George a lot of work goes into volunteering, especially in the hunting sector.
"When you look at the numbers, we've just captured just a few efforts of organisations from around New Zealand. Just in terms of the thousands of hours, the hundreds of mandates and the cost that comes to people's families in their time," he said.
"It's massive what volunteers do for New Zealand."
As an example, Gale said the Sika Foundation in the Taupo/Turangi area contributed 7000 volunteer hours to game animal management. That's things like taking out and checking traps, donating wild venison to food banks and general track maintenance.
Another group he highlighted was the New Zealand Deer Stalkers Association which have 63 volunteer hunter-training instructors that give over 200 hours each year as well as 521 volunteer range officers who help to administer the extensive network of rifle ranges and make a significant contribution to teaching firearms safety.
"We just want to say thank you to those volunteers across New Zealand, just to give a shoutout to the massive amount of work that they do."
Every little thing helps, he explained, and without these volunteers constantly chipping in, the hunting sector wouldn't be anywhere near as successful and busy as it currently is.
"The return on investment, just how much dollars there are to leverage through volunteers is just huge (sic).
"We wouldn't have the quality of tracks and of huts in New Zealand if we didn't have those volunteers to do their work."
Listen to the full chat between NZ Game Council Association GM Tim Gale and Dominic George above.
To check out more episodes listen to the REX Today Podcast anytime on your favourite streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Rova or tune in to REX Today live on Magic from 5 am to 6 am every weekday.
Visit the Rural Exchange Facebook or Instagram page for more information and regular updates from the REX team.
