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Abstract
Although recreational hunting is the primary means of controlling Himalayan thar (Hemitragus jemlahicus) in New Zealand, there is no published information describing the characteristics and attitudes of thar hunters. We conducted a postal survey of hunters who held permits to hunt thar in part of Canterbury in 1994–1995, and achieved a 31% response rate (n = 92 replies). Respondents were typically aged 30–39 and had ≤ 5 years experience hunting thar. The primary motivation given for hunting thar was the opportunity of shooting a trophy male. The strong desire to kill a trophy male was reflected in the reported harvest, which was significantly male‐biased relative to the estimated population sex‐ratio. Our results suggest that the ability of recreational thar hunters to reduce thar densities could be increased by; (i) strategic location of new huts, and (ii) managers providing better information about areas of high thar density, perhaps in national hunting magazines.
