After being made redundant last year, Hunt Mate founder Tristan Corbett decided take some time off and set up a side gig to teach would-be hunters how to hunt.
Mr Corbett said he was surprised by how many people were getting out and learning to hunt not for sport, but to fill their freezers.
He was often contacted by people who had just got their firearms licence and wanted a guiding hand to learn what to do, how to pick a spot to go, as well as general tips for a successful hunt.
Mr Corbett thought people would be more attracted to trophy hunting like he personally was.
"I go out and selectively hunt.
"I look for the oldest and most mature animal out on the hill and try and take that out of the herd because it won’t damage the herd.
"I thought that’s what the majority of the people that would come along would be most interested in ... but people were coming along and they didn’t care about that at all — they just wanted to know how to fill their freezer."
"Beef mince is about $20 a kilo and with just one red hind you can get about 50kg-60kg ... it’ll only cost you about $30 to get that processed into mince by a butcher.
"That’s about $1000 worth of meat from just one animal."
His goal was not to tell people where to go and send them on their way, but to teach people how to decide for themselves.
Mr Corbett showed people what websites to use, what to check for and outlined all the research you could do before heading out hunting to make it as successful as possible.
"In Dunedin, we’ve got so much public land available to us everywhere — we’re very fortunate.
"It’s all just open permits, free for you to go and just knock over an animal."
He encouraged anyone who wanted to get into it and needed some guidance to reach out.
