Student Hunter

Student hunter is about the three years the author spent as an undergraduate student at University of Canterbury. Hunting and exploring the hills of Canterbury and South Westland. Living as a poor student should, money was always a limiting factor. Harvesting meat was reason enough to spend every last dollar on petrol to head out of Christchurch into the hills. Most of the more than 100 hunting trips undertaken in those three years started with a note or a txt passed between mates during a boring lecture where a wandering mind always ended up in the hills, much the same as it still does today. “Hunting is in my blood, always has been. Ever since I can remember I have hunted however I could. My earliest memories of hunting are memories I share with my Grandad. I would join him whenever the opportunity arose to go and shoot a rabbit or trap cats and ferrets in the haysheds scattered around the family farm I grew up on. “During my high school years I was introduced to big game hunting which sparked a love for not only the animals but the adventure, places and people I met wherever my hobby took me. My time was never more mine, and never more invested into hunting as it was recently when I found myself at university; organising my own way in the world. I enjoyed my days as a student living like no other period of my life and I am glad I made the most of it. Recording the hunting I did in those years has been a great project because although the memories are fresh now, I know once life in the real world kicks in they will fade into only distant dreams of a past life.”