Hunting year
The New Zealand hunting year
When the animals rut, when ballot applications open and close, and when the drawn blocks are hunted — the next twelve months on one chart. The rut is behaviour, not permission: whether you may hunt comes from DOC, Fish & Game, the council or the landowner.
Right now, in October
- Next ballot date
- Greenstone/Caples fallow ballots: applications open Thu 29 Oct.
- On now
- Goat competition, until Thu 26 Nov
The next twelve months
- Ballot application window — the one thing here you act on
- When the drawn parties hunt
- The rut — behaviour, never permission
Every ballot date is quoted from the organiser and checked against their page every day. If a check fails, that ballot comes off the chart until it passes again.
Ballot applicationsapply inside these windows
- Molesworth roar blocksApplications Thu 1 Oct – Mon 30 Nov
- Waikaia Forest roar blocksApplications Thu 1 Oct – Sat 31 Oct
- Leithen Bush roar blocksApplications Thu 1 Oct – Sat 31 Oct
- Catlins-Maclennan roar blocksApplications Thu 1 Oct – Mon 30 Nov
- Winter tahr ballotApplications Thu 8 Oct, 9 am – Fri 30 Oct, 4 pm
- Greenstone/Caples fallow ballotsApplications Thu 29 Oct – Mon 30 Nov
- Wānaka roar blocksApplications close Sat 31 Oct
Balloted huntingwhen the drawn parties hunt
- Molesworth roar blocksHunting Wed 10 Mar – Tue 13 Apr · Seven-day periods
- Waikaia Forest roar blocksHunting Mon 15 Mar – Sun 18 Apr · Two- or three-day blocks through the roar
- Leithen Bush roar blocksHunting Mon 15 Mar – Sun 18 Apr · Two- or three-day blocks through the roar
- Catlins-Maclennan roar blocksHunting Sat 20 Mar – Tue 20 Apr · Two- or three-day blocks through the roar
- Haast roar blocksHunting Sun 21 Mar – Sat 17 Apr · Four seven-day periods
- Wānaka roar blocksHunting Sun 21 Mar – Sat 17 Apr · Four seven-day periods
- Greenstone/Caples fallow ballotsHunting Thu 1 Apr – Sun 30 May · Five-day periods, April to May
- Winter tahr ballotHunting Sat 24 Apr – Fri 25 Jun · Nine weekly periods, with aerial access
The rutbehaviour, not a season
Also on
October 2026
November 2026
March 2027
- Rut starts: Red deer, Wapiti
- Molesworth roar blocks: hunting Wed 10 Mar – Tue 13 Apr
- Waikaia Forest roar blocks: hunting Mon 15 Mar – Sun 18 Apr
- Leithen Bush roar blocks: hunting Mon 15 Mar – Sun 18 Apr
- Catlins-Maclennan roar blocks: hunting Sat 20 Mar – Tue 20 Apr
- Haast roar blocks: hunting Sun 21 Mar – Sat 17 Apr
- Wānaka roar blocks: hunting Sun 21 Mar – Sat 17 Apr
April 2027
May 2027
June 2027
July 2027
- Balloted every month: Blue Mountains fallow blocks
- Next dates not published yet: Woodhill fallow ballot, Wainuiomata deer ballot, East Harbour deer ballot
- Being re-checked against the organiser’s page, so no dates shown: Fiordland wapiti ballot
Who sets each date
Legal season dates are not on this page, on purpose. They change, they differ by region, and getting one wrong from us would put you in front of a ranger — check them at the source every season. Ballot dates are the exception: each is quoted from the organiser and checked against their page every day.
- Game bird season Fish & Game New ZealandDuck, swan, pukeko and the rest. Set every year, and different in each of the twelve regions.
- The Wapiti ballot Fiordland Wapiti FoundationFiordland. Applications close months before the block dates, and during the bugle it is the only way in.
- Balloted and restricted blocks DOC, regional councils and forest ownersRoar blocks, Woodhill, the Blue Mountains, Wellington’s regional parks, Stewart Island — how to get on each, with dates.
- Hunting permits and area rules DOCPublic conservation land needs a permit, and individual areas carry their own conditions and closures.
National Wild Goat Hunting Competition
Run by DOC and the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, with the Firearms Safety Authority, Hunting & Fishing NZ and Federated Farmers. It is free, and there is nothing to register — you hunt goats in the window and take eligible heads or tails to an official entry point.
- Hunters
- Sat 1 Aug 2026 – Thu 26 Nov 2026
- Landowners
- Wed 10 Jun 2026 – Thu 26 Nov 2026
Landowners get their own categories and can register interest in having vetted NZDA members on the place without hunting themselves — the same arrangement this site exists to make easier, run by people who have been doing it longer than we have.
Rules, categories and entry points, on DOC’s site — we take nothing from this and have nothing to do with running it. If ours is out of date, tell us.
Where each one is
The half that decides whether a rut is a weekend or a trip. Tahr rut in May, but they live above the bushline in the Southern Alps — from Whangārei that is a holiday. 10 of these animals have no rut worth planning around, so their behaviour changes little month to month.
- Red deerrut Mar–Apr
Everywhere except the far north — the most widespread deer in the country.
- Wapitirut Mar–Apr
Fiordland National Park, between Charles Sound and Sutherland, across to the Doon and Worsley Rivers. Nowhere else in the country.
- Fallow deerrut Apr
Scattered herds: Blue Mountains, Wanganui, Bay of Plenty, Otago.
- Sika deerrut Apr
Central North Island only — Kaimanawa and Kaweka ranges.
- Sambar deerrut Jun–Jul–Aug
Manawatū, Rangitīkei and Bay of Plenty. A small range for a big animal.
- Rusa deerrut Jul–Aug
A very small range near Galatea, Bay of Plenty.
- White-tailed deerrut Apr–May
Stewart Island / Rakiura and Lake Wakatipu — nowhere else.
- Feral pigall year
Both islands, and most farmland with bush behind it.
- Feral goatall year
Both islands. Often the animal a landowner most wants gone.
- Himalayan tahrrut May–Jun
Southern Alps above the bushline. South Island only.
- Chamoisrut Apr–May
South Island high country, and lower than tahr.
- Bennett's wallabyall year
South Canterbury containment area.
- Dama wallabyall year
Bay of Plenty containment area, around Rotorua.
- Parma wallabyall year
Kawau Island.
- Brushtail possumall year
Everywhere. Fur is prime in winter.
- Rabbitall year
Everywhere, and thickest on dry eastern country.
- Brown hareall year
Everywhere, more visible on open farmland in spring.
- Wild turkeyall year
Rough farmland across the lowland North Island, the Marlborough Sounds and parts of the eastern South Island.
- Peafowlall year
Mainly the upper Whanganui River catchment, northern Māhia Peninsula and South Kaipara Head, with small groups in Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury.
When the helicopters stand down
On public conservation land you are not the only one hunting the herd. Commercial recovery — helicopters taking deer, chamois, pigs and goats under concession — works the same blocks you walk into, and a catchment worked recently can hold animals and still feel empty.
It runs to a published schedule. DOC sets where recovery may operate, closes some areas to it year-round, and sets exclusion periods when the machines stand down — at a minimum over Christmas, the Roar and Easter. Those windows exist so hunters on foot get a clear run, which makes them worth planning around.
Which areas and which exact dates are DOC’s to set, and they are reviewed, so we point at the schedule rather than reprint it. DOC: wild animal recovery operations · Game Animal Council on WARO
Two things this page does not tell you
Exact rut dates. A rut moves with altitude, weather and the year — a warm autumn pushes the roar later, and it starts earlier on the tops than in the valley. Treat the rut lane as the fortnight either side, not a diary entry.
Whether you may hunt at all. A rut is not permission. Whether you can hunt a given animal, in a given place, on a given day turns on a DOC permit, a ballot, the rules for that area, or the landowner saying yes. The bodies that decide it are listed above.
How to get on restricted blocks Find country to hunt Make a hunt plan