Host of the award winning podcast series Deer Wars, Paul Roy brings you his next series - Search & Rescue NZ. Head to the hills, scour the bush, and dive deep into the caves with a series that takes you behind the scenes of the rescues in New Zealand’s unforgiving outdoors. Go out with the volunteers who put themselves on the line to rescue complete strangers. Host Paul Roy looks at the evolution of rescues from the do-it-yourself operations of the 1960s to today's highly managed efforts. Th...
Oct 21, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 10
The era of live deer capture had an aura of glamour to it. But the reality for those involved was very different. The era of live deer capture had an aura of glamour to it, much as ground hunting and aerial venison hunting had previously. But the reality for those involved was much different. Families lost their fathers. Wives lost their husbands. Some such as pilot Dave Richardson carried lifelong injuries suffered in crashes. "And I lay there and I thought, 'oh god, I've smashed my bloody mach...
Nov 16, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 9
The success of live capture and the skyrocketing prices inevitably encourage poaching. The success of live capture and the skyrocketing prices in the mid 70's (up to $4-5,000 per animal) inevitably encourage poaching. Opotiki-based Milton Kuri sums it up well; "I used to wake up in the morning and open your arms up wide and whatever was out in front of you was all yours, and that's how you looked at it." Poaching was widespread and indiscriminate. Deer were poached off paddocks or the bush edge ...
Nov 14, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 8
By the mid 70's things were about to change dramatically. The hunters had become so efficient they were shooting themselves out of a job. From 1967 on, businessman Tim Wallis had exclusive hunting rights to all of Fiordland National Park and was taking out deer in their thousands. Resentment from other operators at being excluded came to a head in 1973 in the so-called Helicopter Wars with constant poaching in the park. It went too far with helicopters being sabotaged and eventually the RNZAF st...
Nov 09, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 7
The mid 1960's are the golden years for aerial hunters. Venison prices are high, fuel costs low and there seems no end to the deer. But something has to change. The numbers of animals are now dwindling. Deer start to become wise to the danger of choppers and hide in the forest, laying down in the tussock or rocks or change their feeding patterns so they only come out at night. It becomes harder to find deer and harder to cover flying costs and make a profit. So the pilots and shooters take more ...
Nov 07, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Shooting from choppers is a game changer but teams are learning from scratch, working at break-neck pace in such dangerous terrain that an accident is always on the cards. Shooting deer from choppers may be a game changer but everyone is learning from scratch. Working in such dangerous terrain, an accident is always on the cards. As shooter Jeff Carter puts it, "there were no margins for error." Pioneering pilot Tim Wallis crashes his first chopper within ten days of getting it. A series of acci...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 5
The arrival of helicopters turns the culling business on its head. Hunters shoot deer from the air and with big money to be made, venison recovery will never be the same. It's the early 1960s and helicopters have turned the culling business on its head. Aerial hunters are shooting 150 or more deer a day, chasing big profits but courting incredible dangers. With low fuel prices and venison selling for a pound a pound, this is an absolute gold rush. Fortunes are being made and, in some cases, lost...
Oct 31, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Suddenly everyone wants to be a culler but who will make the cut? Suddenly everyone wants to be a culler but who will make the cut? Books about culling start to attract all sorts of men to the job. But while some are experienced shooters, others are bank clerks or shop managers with no experience in the bush. Applicants from all over New Zealand try out for a rigorous and no nonsense six week course in Marlborough run by the NZ Forest Service . The primary training camp, called Dip Flat, covers ...
Oct 26, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 3
The elimination strategy hasn't worked. In 20 years, the cullers have shot perhaps 10% of the deer. It's time to up the ante. By the early fifties, it's become apparent that the deer elimination strategy isn't working. One report estimates that in 20 years the cullers have shot just 10% of the deer. So, in 1956, the well-funded Forest Service takes over the deer control programme building a network of huts (the basis of today's backcountry huts) and wire bridges across rivers. Now, in theory, a ...
Oct 24, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Red deer run rampant across the high country in New Zealand, causing extensive environmental damage. A 50-year effort to control the invasive animal gets underway. By the 1930's the deer population in New Zealand was out of control and causing serious environmental damage through grazing, severe soil erosion and slips from the thousands of hooves ripping up the ground. Even today you can find deer trails several feet deep crossing major passes. The Department of Internal Affairs creates an ambit...
Oct 19, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Deer Wars tells the story of the 50-year struggle to control New Zealand's red deer population. Lives were lost and fortunes made. Deer Wars tells the story of the 50 year struggle to control New Zealand's red deer population. Numbering in the millions, the deer were causing serious, escalating damage in the backcountry. The estimated two million deer shot by ground cullers made little impact. It took the arrival of helicopters with deadly shooters onboard and then a dramatic switch to live capt...
Oct 05, 2023•4 min
