HUNT IT FORWARD™ COMPETITION
This season, we launched our community initiative, HUNT IT FORWARD™, celebrating the way generous hunters across NZ and Oz share the bounty. In these times, putting fresh, ethically hunted meat on the table is more appreciated than ever.
Our HUNT IT FORWARD™ competition invited hunters to share their stories of gifting wild game to family and friends—whether it was providing a family holiday meal or donating meat to a charity, school, or marae event.
The competition has now ended, and we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who shared their stories. The response was incredible, and we loved hearing how hunting life makes these moments possible.
HUNT IT FORWARD™ WINNER - BEN DRAPER
BEN'S STORY
"I’m starting my first year as a school Principal in the rural King Country town of Piopio this year. The government have a big attendance push going on at the moment so the initiative I’m starting this year is all students with attendance above 90% for the term go in the draw to come out on a hunt with me.
The meat will then be processed by our local butcher who has come onboard as a sponsor and we will distribute the meat to all the students who were above 90% attendance for the term. There will be four draws for the four terms.
Being rural outdoor students who love hunting this will hopefully improve attendance but more importantly get kids outdoors learning new skills and then feeding the community".
TOP ENTRIES
Spoonhead Music
"After work, I headed to Synchronicity, a festival blending stunning locations with incredible music. On the way, I stopped at a nearby hunting block and spotted a deer across the valley. After a careful stalk, I took the shot. Finding it in dense scrub was tough, but I butchered what I could and hiked it out.
Still in my hunting gear, I drove to the festival site with barely an hour to spare. With no time to change, I hit the decks in my blood-smeared kit—a testament to Hunters Element's versatility! The dancefloor was electric, and playing, surrounded by the Southern Alps, was pure magic.
By morning, a storm blanketed the site in snow, forcing an early closure. Before leaving, I shared venison with the organiser—a gift from the land for their hard mahi. Hunting and festivals might seem worlds apart, but in both, you’ll find connection. Sometimes, they collide in the best way."
Matthew Greenland
"Over the past 4 or 5 years, myself and a few others have been donating our wild venison to the local food banks here in Gisborne, and are up to roughly 11 tons of venison mince donated.
All self-funded, from fuel to ammo—we pay for it all and pay it forward to our community. We love every moment of the journey and will continue to do so as long as I can. I’ll share a photo from one of our many hunts."
Phoenix Keeley
"Nothing warms my heart more than gifting to those who don’t have the opportunity, connections, knowledge, or experience to get out there and source venison—or simply gifting to those in need.
Last year (2024), I went hunting every month of the year apart from two, and of those nine hunts, seven of them I gifted deer away. Sometimes one deer, sometimes eight, as well as another time when we gave away a bunch of frozen venison we had in the freezer and needed to make room for more.
We have a local "Pay It Forward" and community page where I post the deer and let my three-year-old daughter choose who we will gift them to.
Pictured below is the most recent time I have gifted deer away, just after Christmas. Each deer goes to one family."
Waka Rimene
"Hunt when I can, but when I have excess or if the marae at the hospital needs a top-up, that’s where it goes.
Te Whare Rapuroa, based at Palmerston North Hospital, provides accommodation for whānau who are visiting whānau admitted to the hospital. All I do is provide venison mince, patties, and sausages.
My colleague at the Grassroots Rescue Helicopter also contributes to the marae when they’re able. I don’t really take photos of the kai gifted, but I’ve added this photo anyway."
Josh Hayes
"Back in November 2022, I visited a mate's property down in Victoria that has always held large numbers of fallow deer, of which I would only ever take what I needed and leave the rest for another day and/or hunter.
On this occasion, I was notified that aerial culling had been taking place regularly in the National Park bordering their grazing land and was due to continue the following weekend. With this in mind, and harbouring strong opinions against the massive waste of natural resources that aerial culling produces, I decided to gift as many deer as I could find with the humane departure they deserved.
I took three spikers and harvested much more meat than I could use or store, but I took all the proceeds back to the campground and distributed as much of it as I could. I scored a freezer full of meat, a few more skins, and even received a dozen free-range eggs from another camper.
Long live the barter system."
