Learn to hunt in New Zealand for free

Learn everything you need to hunt safely and successfully in New Zealand through our free public online courses. Learn more about our Essentials programme.

Better Hunting is developed, owned and administered by the New Zealand Game Animal Council (GAC) to facilitate our legislated hunter educational function. Core aims of the platform are to assist all NZ hunters to:

  • maximise their hunting success
  • hunt safely
  • understand their responsibilities and obligations as hunters
  • explain the hunters' role in game animal management and conservation.

Funding for the development of this platform was provided in-part through the Jobs for Nature Community Conservation Fund in partnership with the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (NZDA). The NZDA HUNTS programme is the natural practical training next step for hunters completing Better Hunting online training. 

Better Hunting is generally pitched for learners 16 years and older to match New Zealand’s firearm licencing criteria. Keen younger hunters are welcome to explore Better Hunting, but we recommend this is done with parental or teacher supervision as younger children may find some content challenging or upsetting.

Updates

Better Hunting is a living resource, subject to important ad-hoc updates and scheduled reviews. If you see something in error please let us know. 

See what's new on the updates page.


Acknowledgments

The quality of Better Hunting is only possible through the generous contribution of passionate hunting sector organisations. For their support and contributions, the GAC would like to acknowledge (in no particular order):

Major contributors
Specialist contributors

These works feature material including Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand data which are licensed by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.